Final answer:
Silent films used intertitles for dialogue and narrative. The Jazz Singer's release in 1927 marked the shift to talkies, changing film history by combining sound with moving images.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the history of motion pictures, silent films primarily dominated the early 1900s. It wasn't until the late 1920s when "talking pictures" or talkies emerged, revolutionizing film. A significant milestone in this transformation was the release of The Jazz Singer in 1927, which featured synchronized dialogue and thus ended the silent film era. This film not only utilized new sound technology but also encapsulated a story that resonated with American audiences and marked a shift towards modern cinema. The transition effectively combined film and text captions, a practice until then that involved silent films using intertitles to communicate dialogue and narrative information. The success of The Jazz Singer and the technological advancements in film led to the widespread adoption of sound in movies, making silent cinema a thing of the past.