FBO's The Perfect Crime, starring Clive Brook and Irene Rich, opened on August 4, 1928, at the Rivoli movie palace in Manhattan's Theater District.Crafton (1997), p. 140. According to Crafton, The Perfect Crime was first released on June 17. At a time when few theaters in the country were wired for sound, many of those with only the incompatible Vitaphone sound-on-disc system—see Block and Wilson (2010), p. 56; Crafton (1997), pp. 148–49—the film's limited run before its Rivoli debut was in the silent version in which it was shot. In the fifty-two pages of color ads Kennedy bought at the front of the May 19 Exhibitors Herald to promote FBO's upcoming slate of pictures, the two-page spread for The Perfect Crime has pride of place behind only Kennedy himself. There is no mention of sound. Another two-page ad, in the July 7 issue, claiming the film has "Amazed...and Astounded the Critics" and is the "First Real Hit of 28-29", again makes no mention of sound. Finally, a spread in the August 11 issue blares, "FBO Sound Sensation Scores Solid Broadway Smash", asserts that the film has been "A Hit in Silent Form" in Los Angeles and Detroit, and reassures that "FBO has not forgotten the thousands of showmen who have not yet obtained sound installations". For the Rivoli, see The first film directed by admired cinematographer Bert Glennon, it was also the first feature-length "talkie" to appear from a studio other than Warner Bros. since the epochal premiere of Warners' The Jazz Singer ten months before. The Perfect Crime had been shot silently in anticipation of a silent release. Using the RCA Photophone sound-on-film system, dialogue and "mystery sound effects" were dubbed in afterward.Crafton (1997), pp. 140, 304; Koszarski (1990), p. 169; Savaging it as a "jabberwocky of inane incidents", the New York Times review concluded, "What it is all about can be called only an open question. A guess at the solution, however, would be that FBO had a mystery story, and in an effort to keep up with the times had synchronized it.... The synchronization is faulty in many, many places, and several vocal selections are added in curious out-of-the-way scenes." A trade paper report described the studio's plans to add "synchronized music, sound effects and dialogue" to five other silently shot films. The language in the report referring to a Detroit release is ambiguous: "'The Perfect Crime' has already been given a two weeks' test engagement at the United Artists theatre, Detroit." Given the phrasing in the FBO ad in the same issue cited above, this refers either to the silent run that had already happened or a talkie run that was going to happen when the theater was at last set up for sound, as was scheduled for August 15. To date, FBO's experiments with sound had all been funded by RCA; on August 22, as Kennedy was crossing the Atlantic for a European vacation, Variety announced that he had finally signed a formal licensing agreement to pay for his studio's use of Photophone recording.Beauchamp (2010), p. 203; Lasky (1989), pp. 29, 33; Crafton (1997), p. 141. Lasky's claim that Kennedy at that point also tendered RCA an option to acquire control of FBO appears to be erroneous (the claim is echoed by Crafton, citing only Lasky); neither Kennnedy biographers Goodwin, Beauchamp, or Nasaw nor preeminent RKO historian Jewell offer any support for it. Lasky and Crafton both mistakenly state that Kennedy left on vacation after the August 22 announcement; in fact, his ship sailed on Friday, August 17. Nasaw (2012), p. 126; Beauchamp (2010), pp. 206–7. While Kennedy traveled, RCA launched a bid to acquire control of and combine the Keith-Albee-Orpheum chain with FBO, as talks began between Sarnoff and the lead investment firm behind KAO. After his return in late September, Kennedy ultimately agreed to the plan, which would involve his divestiture from both businesses.Nasaw (2012), pp. 129–31.
