by 1908 in reference to films exhibited without recorded sound, as opposed to talking pictures, described (Carl Herbert, "The Truth About Talking Pictures," The Moving Picture World, March 20, 1909) as of three types: phonograph recordings played along with the film, or live actors, either behind the projection screen improvising "more or less plausible dialogue" to what is on it, or reading dialogue specially prepared for the movie.
See silent (adj.) + film (n.). In the 1910s silent film-play was used among theater writers for "motion picture," as opposed to stage play. From 1913 silent film was often in contrast to the Edison Company's talking pictures, a system involving a phonograph recording synchronized with the motion picture (the phonograph and projector were connected by a pulley), which debuted in 1913 but was abandoned in two years.
The modern era of talkies is held to have begun in 1927 or 1928 ("The Jazz Singer" released Oct. 6, 1927).
Is there not something of eternal justice in the mute films which render life as a silent spectacle, unbetrayed by lamentations or revelry? At sudden noises the eye closes. Under prolonged din it grows watery and uncritical. Let us regain our sure judgments by examining our life of action in the hush of the kinetoscope. ["Collier's," Jan. 11, 1913]
