The son of a Jewish Cantor must defy the traditions of his religious father in order to pursue his dream of becoming a jazz singer.
(88 mins.) Released 1927-10-06
Director: Alan Crosland
Stars: Al Jolson, May McAvoy, Warner Oland, Eugenie Besserer
drama, music, musical, romance
The first feature film with synchronized dialogue in PARTS of the film: songs by Jolson. He did a great job acting here. Although some might call him hammy or corny, his enthusiasm while singing up-beat tunes, and his melodramatic interpretations of those songs are all appropriate. I can really imagine that he would be mesmerizing in person.
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The movie has sound throughout, including some singing scenes that are NOT synchronized with the video. Non-synced scenes have the typical look of silent films, where the uneven movement of the characters comes from the hand-cranked filming. So the synced scenes really "come alive" in part because the visuals had to be captured by a motorized camera. Here the motorized film also looks higher contrast; not sure why that would be; did they invest in better film stock or better lighting for the motorized camera? (The sound was recorded on disc, so that doesn't suggest different film stock.) Best example: the Toot, Toot, Tootsie number which inter-cuts silent clips of the audience with Jolson's sound performance.
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Jolson does perform in blackface, but the commentators point out that he never changed his demeanor: no stereotypical minstrel act here. Supposedly he just wanted to emphasize his lips, eyes and hands (white gloved) to a large auditorium. (They also mention Bert Williams, a black vaudeville comedian who would cork-up, but I've heard deeper psychological reasons for him.) I'll have to watch for that in Jolson's other movies.
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Best extra feature with this movie: a 10-minute 1926 (released a full year earlier) short "A Plantation Act" featuring Jolson in blackface, dressed in rags, on a plantation set singing 3 hits in the standards canon.
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Fun, but too brief, supporting appearances: William Demarest, Roscoe Karns and Myrna Loy (don't blink!)
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This is Darryl Zanuck's 6th listing (out of 230) as producer in IMDb, although he is officially uncredited.
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Warner Brothers, dir. Crosland; 7
