The following is an overview of 1928 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths. Although some films released in 1928 had sound, most were still silent. This year is notable for the introduction of the official mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey Mouse, in the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first film to include a soundtrack completely created in post production.
Fritz Feld was a German-American film character actor who appeared in over 140 films in 72 years, both silent and sound. His trademark was to slap his mouth with the palm of his hand to create a "pop" sound.
Lois Moran was an American film and stage actress.
The Godless Girl (1928) is an American sound part-talkie dramatic directed by Cecil B. DeMille. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the RCA Photophone sound-on-film system. The cast features Lina Basquette, Marie Prevost, Tom Keene and Noah Beery.
Phonofilm is an optical sound-on-film system developed by inventors Lee de Forest and Theodore Case in the early 1920s.
Four Sons is a 1928 American synchronized sound drama film directed and produced by John Ford and written for the screen by Philip Klein from a story by I. A. R. Wylie first published in the Saturday Evening Post as "Grandmother Bernle Learns Her Letters" (1926). While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the sound-on-film movietone process.
Earle Foxe was an American actor.
Broadway is a 1929 film directed by Paul Fejos from the 1926 play of the same name by George Abbott and Philip Dunning. It stars Glenn Tryon, Evelyn Brent, Paul Porcasi, Robert Ellis, Merna Kennedy and Thomas E. Jackson.
María del Pilar Margarita Casajuana Martínez, known professionally as Maria Alba, was a Spanish-American film actress.
Black Magic is a 1929 American sound drama film directed by George B. Seitz. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The sound was recorded using the Movietone sound system sound-on-film process and then transferred to sound-on-disc format for those theatres who could only play the sound-on-disc format. As of 2020, no prints of the film survive in archives.
Outcast is a 1928 American synchronized sound drama film produced and distributed by First National Pictures. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the sound-on-disc Vitaphone process. It was directed by William A. Seiter and stars Corinne Griffith, often considered one of the most beautiful women in film. This story had been filmed in 1917 as The World and the Woman with Jeanne Eagels. In 1922 a Paramount film of the same name with Elsie Ferguson reprising her stage role was released. Both films were based on a 1914 play, Outcast, by Hubert Henry Davies which starred Ferguson. The Seiter/Griffith film was an all silent with Vitaphone music and sound effects. In the sound era the story was filmed once again as The Girl from 10th Avenue starring Bette Davis. According to the Library of Congress database shows a print surviving complete at Cineteca Italiana in Milan.
Taxi 13 is a 1928 sound part-talkie film comedy produced and distributed by Film Booking Offices of America and directed by Marshall Neilan. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the RCA Photophone sound-on-film system. The film stars Chester Conklin in what is FBO's first film with a pre-recorded soundtrack.
Fugitives is a 1929 sound American pre-Code drama film directed by William Beaudine and starring Madge Bellamy, Don Terry and Arthur Stone. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. Future stars Jean Harlow and Virginia Bruce both had small parts in the film.
Don Terry was an American film actor, best known for his lead appearances in B films and serials in the 1930s and early 1940s. Perhaps his best-known role is Naval Commander Don Winslow in two Universal Pictures serials of the early 1940s, Don Winslow of the Navy (1942) and Don Winslow of the Coast Guard (1943).
Me, Gangster is a 1928 American synchronized sound gangster film directed by Raoul Walsh. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the sound-on-film movietone process. The film stars June Collyer, Don Terry, Anders Randolf and a young Carole Lombard.
The River Pirate is a 1928 American synchronized sound drama film directed by William K. Howard and written by Malcolm Stuart Boylan, Ben Markson and John Reinhardt, based on the 1928 novel by Charles Francis Coe. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the sound-on-film movietone process.
True Heaven is a 1929 American sound drama film directed by James Tinling, written by Malcolm Stuart Boylan and Dwight Cummins, and starring George O'Brien, Lois Moran, Phillips Smalley, Oscar Apfel, Duke Martin, and André Cheron. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. It was released on February 17, 1929, by Fox Film Corporation.
Joy Street is a 1929 American sound film directed by Raymond Cannon and starring Lois Moran, Nick Stuart and Rex Bell. Ihe film was produced by the Fox Film Corporation. The sound was recorded using the Movietone recording system. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process.
Kid Gloves is a 1929 American sound part-talkie pre-Code drama film directed by Ray Enright, and starring Conrad Nagel, Lois Wilson, Edward Earle, Edna Murphy, and Maude Turner Gordon. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. The film was released by Warner Bros. on March 23, 1929.
Tom O'Brien was an American silent and sound character actor known for his burly serio-comic roles.
