Scottish film screened in 1926 may challenge The Jazz Singer’s talkie milestone

Scottish film Till the Bells Ring was screened in Edinburgh in October 1926 with synchronised dialogue, according to contemporary reviews described in reports published this week. That puts its reported screening a year before The Jazz Singer, the Hollywood film often cited as a landmark in the arrival of talking pictures, and raises a question about which film deserves recognition as the first feature-length talkie.

Historian Marc David Jacobs brought the film back to attention while researching a book about early British sound films, The Guardian reports. The evidence described so far supports an earlier screening of a substantial talking film. It does not establish that no comparable film was made or shown elsewhere before it, so the claim to a world first remains open.

What the 1926 Edinburgh screening shows

The BBC dates the screening to 11 October 1926 at Poole’s Synod Hall in Edinburgh. It says the film was advertised as a ‘super talking picture of Victorian Scottish life’ and ran for a week. The Guardian also reports a week-long engagement and says it found no evidence of another public screening after that run. Those details describe a film presented to an audience, rather than an unshown experiment.

Reviews from the time are central to the case for its sound. The Guardian quotes the Edinburgh Evening News praising the synchronisation of on-screen images and broad Scots dialogue. The BBC cites The Scotsman’s assessment that movement and sound were ‘perfectly synchronised’ and that the spoken words became intelligible once the listener grew accustomed to them. The BBC says The Scotsman sent a reporter back for a second screening.

Who made Till the Bells Ring

Graham Moffat, a Scottish playwright, created the domestic comedy, which was set in Glasgow. According to The Guardian, it was performed by his six-person touring company, including his wife Margaret and daughter Winifred, in what he called ‘lowland braid Scots’. The film drew on a stage work rather than beginning as a wholly new screen story.

The BBC reports that Moffat approached London-based De Forest Phonofilm, whose system recorded synchronised audio directly onto film. At the time, the technology was mostly used for shorter variety and music-hall performances, the BBC says. Filming a complete play with the company’s dialogue made the Moffats’ production a more ambitious use of that system.

Why The Jazz Singer remains the familiar milestone

The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, reached New York screens in 1927 and became the film widely celebrated for introducing synchronised dialogue to feature cinema, The Guardian reports. The newly reported Scottish evidence challenges that familiar account of priority. It does not by itself settle every question behind a ‘first’: the available reports do not show that every earlier film with comparable length and recorded speech has been ruled out.

The film’s later history may help explain why it faded from view. The BBC recounts Jacobs’ finding that an exhibitor presented it again in 1933 as a new film, prompting Moffat to sue. He won in 1935 and copies were returned to him, according to that account. The Guardian says Moffat died in 1951 without making another film, and it found no evidence of further public screenings after the original Edinburgh run.

What survives and what remains uncertain

Two reels comprising more than half the film survive in the BFI National Archive in Hertfordshire, according to The Guardian. It reports that they had not been screened since their acquisition more than 50 years ago. The BBC likewise reports a surviving print there and says Jacobs hopes it can be examined and restored. Neither report establishes a scheduled screening or restoration.

Jacobs has also expressed hope that archives might locate the missing material. He suggested to The Guardian that the surviving reels could one day be shown alongside a stage performance of the missing section, drawing on surviving play manuscripts. That is his proposal, not an announced production. Examination of the reels and any additional material could clarify what survives of the film; the broader claim to a world first would still require comparison with other early sound works.