Did a Scottish film ‘beat Hollywood to the punch’ as the first ever talkie?

“Wait a minute. You ain’t heard nothing yet.”

That promise, spoken by Al Jolson in the 1927 film The Jazz Singer, made movie history.

The first recorded dialogue on film, Jolson’s eight well-chosen words marked the birth of the “talkies”, delivered by one of the biggest stars on Earth.

The moment has long been celebrated in popular culture – most memorably in the 1952 film Singin’ in the Rain – and there are plans for a variety of events to mark the centenary next year.

But what if those words weren’t the first?

Researcher Marc David Jacobs has uncovered evidence that the first-ever talking feature film was Scottish.

And it was screened in Edinburgh – a whole year before Jolson’s voice hit the cinemas.

Graham Moffat was a Glaswegian playwright who wrote plays for his touring company. In 1925 he decided to turn his debut play, Till the Bells Ring, into a film.

He approached a London-based company called De Forest Phonofilm, which had patented a system which allowed synchronised audio to be recorded directly onto film.

The early quality was poor, and it was mostly used to record short performances such as vaudeville or music hall acts.

But the Moffats had a much more ambitious plan in mind.

They wanted the entire company involved in a 45-minute feature film with synchronised sound and dialogue throughout.

The cast of six included his wife Margaret – a noted actress and one of the first suffragettes to be arrested in Scotland – and his daughter, Winnifred Moffat.

There was even a role for their dog.