(85 min) Released 1936-04-03
Directors: William Keighley, Busby Berkeley (uncredited)
Stars: Al Jolson, Sybil Jason, Beverly Roberts, E.E.Horton, Allen Jenkins
Bobby Connolly ... numbers staged by
William Keighley ... numbers staged by
Genres: Drama | Musical | Romance
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028257/
Release falls between The Great Ziegfeld and Captain January.
Jolson keeps singing his hits, reprising them from movies he already made, and previewing them for movies to come. Some are in my head from cartoons. It's a little confusing, because some of those song titles are also movie titles. And this title is too similar to 1928's The Singing Fool. But I like him. And his songs.
Welcome addition: Cab Calloway and his orchestra. Even though we have 2 dance directors, and 1 is BB, the dancing didn't impress me.
Full songs by AJ:
- 3:00 I Love to Sing-a, sung by AJ & CC w/orchestra on facing penthouse balconies (great matte work!)
- 24:00 The Swingin'est Man in Town, sung by CC w/orch & black chorus girls and dozens of extras on stage for theatre performance, joined by AJ in blackface; shifts to
- 26:00 Save Him, Sister, above joined by Wini Shaw in blackface
- 59:30 You're the Cure for What Ails Me, AJ & Sybil Jason (child) while fishing in country
- 1:05:30 I Love to Sing-a, AJ broadcasting, moves out to the street, still singing with Yacht Boys, blending in Mammy. They're trying to convince him to update his style: become a crooner.
- 1:22:00 reprise of Cure by CC and Sing-a by AJ
Nice to see integrated cast. Too bad there's so much blackface.
Warner, dir. Keighley & Berkeley; 6+
