Dan Navarro's Movie Reviews

Some film fans who were raised on Singin' in the Rain (1952) and its tale of Hollywood's wrenching transition from silent films to the talkies may still think that Al Jolson's The Jazz Singer (1927) was the first sound movie.

In fact, there were sound motion pictures as early as 1902, and synchronized sound became a reality in 1922, when inventor Lee DeForest patented a method of recording sound on a wax disc that kept perfect time with the action on the screen.

But the early sound films were all short subjects. One year before The Jazz Singer, the first feature-length film with synchronized sound was born: Don Juan (1926), starring The Great Profile himself, John Barrymore.

Barrymore, with his striking matinee-idol looks, had become a Broadway star in 1909, and was his generation's most acclaimed Hamlet, in New York and London. In silent motion pictures his work was extraordinary, in particular his brilliant turn in both title roles of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920). When Warner Bros. decided to launch the first full-length sound picture in 1926, it turned to the stage and screen's most charismatic star: Barrymore. Both the film and its star were runaway hits.

Don Juan premiered in August 1926 at the Warner Theater in Times Square, New York, and a very big deal it was, too. The presentation was preceded by a lavish program including Jascha Heifetz playing the violin, tenor Giovanni Martinelli singing an aria from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, and live dancing acts. The film's sound track was played by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and it included special sound effects as well.

Supposedly, the story of Don Juan was based on Lord Byron's epic poem of the same title. But scenarist Bess Meredyth apparently disregarded most of the characters in the poem, and placed Don Juan in the Borgias' 16th century Italy. There, he encounters Adriana (Mary Astor), a spotless maiden, and falls desperately in love... a sensation the "great seducer" had never known before.

To win the lady's favor, Don Juan must fight a duel with his rival, Count Donati (Montague Love). It is in this sensational battle that Barrymore shows his athletic and sword-fighting skills. The rivals battle up stairs, across hallways, and throughout the courtyard before Don Juan finally, inevitably, conquers his foe.

John Kobal's 1970 volume "Gotta Sing Gotta Dance" quotes "one critic" (without naming him or her) as follows:

"It is an interesting fact that the swishing of the swords can be heard with startling clarity throughout the action of the duel, and as soon as the duel is over, the swishing stops. Not one swish too many."

Don Juan, though its dialogue is mute, was the beginning of the sound era. From that summer evening in 1926, motion pictures would never be the same again.