The first feature film with all synchronous dialogue. It was released a year after The Jazz Singer (1927), the first feature film with limited dialogue sequences.
Microphones were strategically placed on sets. One noticeable microphone was in the telephone on Hawk's desk.
Filmed in the Vitaphone sound-on-disc sound system, it is the first all-talking, full-length feature film, released by Warner Bros., who had introduced the first feature-length with sound The Jazz Singer (1927) in the previous year. The film, which cost $23,000 to produce ("B" picture), grossed over $1,000,000. The enthusiasm with which audiences greeted the talkie was so great that by the end of 1929, Hollywood was producing sound films exclusively.
Director Bryan Foy had no previous experience directing features. He had been a gag writer and supervised a multitude of Vitaphone musical shorts shot in New York.
Originally approved for production as a 2-reeler. Albert Warner approved expanding it to a 57-minute feature despite an untested director. Its $75,000 cost returned $2 million to the studio.