Plymouth's First Talkies

It's hard to imagine a time when people went to the cinema to watch a film that had no soundtrack, included subtitles and was, often, accompanied by music from a pianist.
Asked which was the first talking film to be shown in Plymouth and many people would probably say that it had to be The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson in 1927, which included the classic line 'You ain't heard nothing yet!'
However, the first talkie that was shown in Plymouth was called 'The Singing Fool' and it played during August 1929 .
The Western Morning News of the 8th of July 1929 carried the story:

'TALKIES FOR PLYMOUTH

Kinema enthusiasts in Plymouth will shortly have an opportunity of seeing and hearing the talkies.

The Western Morning News in officially informed that the Savoy Picture House is being wired for the new films and that during August, the first talkie film to be shown in Plymouth will be presented.'

The talkies didn't please all and the first film to be shown in Plymouth was soon reviewed in the Western Morning News of 15th August 1929:

'THE TALKIE COMES WEST

One cannot doubt after hearing the 'talkies' that they have come to stay. Despite a certain harshness and, of course, the slow drawl of the American voice, they have a dramatic force unattainable in the silent film.
This is simply illustrated in 'The Singing Fool' showing at the Savoy, Plymouth this week. Sonny Boy, the child on who the story hinges, lies seriously ill in hospital. His mother, by the bedside, suddenly observes a doctor and a nurse draw a sheet over his face. Piercing the quietude of the kinema comes the agonized scream of the distraught mother. This is a melodramatic illustration but it explains the wide difference between the silent and the talking film. The 'talkie' is a new and totally different form of entertainment, demanding the concentration of other senses. No longer can we affect a languid interest in the screen, for music and speech will soon dispel any drowsiness. Critics must remember that the 'talkie' is in its infancy and naturally will improve every year. It is to be hoped, at the same time, that our friends in America will eliminate their pronounced drawl from the films sent over here and that British enterprise will rapidly afford us opportunities of hearing our own artistes and music.'

The Singing Fool, like The Jazz Singer, also starred Al Jolson. It featured the song 'Sonny Boy' which was the first recording to sell a million copies.
The Savoy announced another talkie on its theatre posters which was due to show the next week following The Singing Fool. Entitled 'The Doctor's Secret', Vide Press called it 'the best talkie yet'. A long-forgotten film, it is thought that no copies still exist.
Many people were enthralled by the new medium. However, not everybody was pleased about the new talkies. Hatty Baker, a resident of Pomphlett, wrote a letter to the Western Morning News which was published on 30th August 1929. It read:

'Much has been written, more spoken, about the nerve-racking noise of the present day. Now, noise has invaded the silent film. The talkies are all very well in their way - a very noisy, somewhat chaotic and metallic way - but to women like myself who went at times to a kinema for rest and quiet, they are disappointing in the extreme.
When the talkie started and the noise banged out from a kind of box contraption (I do not know what it is called), the contrast after the human performers was painful in the extreme. The twang of the speech might, perhaps, be endured, though one hardly goes to an entertainment for that, in spite of one woman's remark : 'I enjoyed it so much; I cried all the time!', some people having curious ideas on enjoyment, but the metallic bang, bang of the box-band was hideous.
I returned with a headache, saying never again to the talkies.
Am I alone in such critisism? Are there not others who would like to see at least one good silent film with accompaniment?
All things pass and when this age of noise and turmoli passes, the talkie will surely (we hope and trust) will pass also.'

Hatty, like many, couldn't have predicted the future. Silent films were on their way out and in a very short time, every film would be accompanied by a soundtrack. The age of the silent film seems to come from a different world from nowadays where we are bombarded with sound from televisions, ipods, computers, radios and of course, incredible stereo sound systems in every cinema.