1926: The Vitaphone sound-on-film process is announced by Warner Bros. studio. It’s the death knell for the age of silent films.
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Vitaphone was prone to human error, since the alignment of the film projector and attached phonograph had to be precise even though it was set by hand. Nevertheless, it represented a marked improvement over previous sound-on-disc technologies.
The process also helped usher in the era of the 33-1/3 rpm phonograph disc, which offered increased playing time to match the 11-minute running time of a reel of film.
The first full-length film to appear using the Vitaphone process was Don Juan, starring John Barrymore, which premiered Aug. 6, 1926. It featured a musical score and sound effects, but no dialogue, so it is still classified as a silent film. Warner Bros. also screened some short subjects that did include spoken words.
In the end, Vitaphone was a short-lived technology because the sound-on-film process, which was already in existence when Vitaphone made its bow, was poised to dominate the industry.
(Source: Wikipedia, IMDb)