★ 6 / 10
Al Jolson's "Jakie" is to be the sixth
CinemaSerf
Al Jolson's "Jakie" is to be the sixth in a line of cantors from the Rabinowitz family. He has a fine voice and some musical talent - he just wants to take…
Al Jolson's "Jakie" is to be the sixth in a line of cantors from the Rabinowitz family. He has a fine voice and some musical talent - he just wants to take them to Broadway instead of to the synagogue. His father (Warner Oland) is horrified, his mother (Eugenie Besserer) disappointed but he still decides to follow his star! He loves the music of the 1920s - jazz, ragtime, swing - and changing his name to "Jack Robin" and after a decade of slogging, and travelling the world, manages to enlist the help of established star "Mary Dale" (May McAvoy) and look set to get his very own "Follies" show on stage. With less than 24 hours to go, his father's rather malevolent friend "Moisha" (Otto Lederer) shows up to tell him that his dad is poorly and that there is nothing the old man would like better than for his son to sing at the Day of Atonement - the same day as the show! Now we know that the last encounter between the father and son had led to the latter banishing the former from their home, so what might the younger man do now? Much is made of the last few scenes from this film, but I think this story is more interesting when we consider that the real thrust of it has nothing at all to do with colour, but with a sort of cultural evolution. Of a rebellion against a religiosity that older, often themselves from persecuted generations, people are desperate to see continue despite it being something that their offspring cared far less about preserving. "Jakie" has been brought up by two loving and caring people, yet he has chosen a path that creates an insurmountable barrier - but need it be. Is it just belligerence? Intolerance? Ignorance? The acting, writing and the singing, unfortunately, don't really do it any favours - the sound quality and the production limitations render the numbers a bit wooden and sterile, but as a technical example of where films are heading - and of the freedoms of expression that they were soon to provide - it's worth a watch.
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★ 6 / 10
You need to see Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer and it'll all start to make sense.
Ziggy5446
Director Alan Crosland's and Warner Bros.' 1927 historic milestone film entitled The Jazz Singer was not the first sound film, nor the first "talkie" film or…
Director Alan Crosland's and Warner Bros.' 1927 historic milestone film entitled The Jazz Singer was not the first sound film, nor the first "talkie" film or the first movie musical. It's completely baffling to hear many people actually associate this film with the visitation of sound, however, if one can recall the 1926 silent film featuring John Barrymore entitled Don Juan, than they would know that it was the first feature film with a Vitaphone soundtrack, though, like The Jazz Singer, it is by no means the first sound film either. The first sound film can be dated as far back to 1895.
Though, not being the first "talkie", The Jazz Singer, is certainly a remarkable film; it still holds its place as an cinematic landmark for being the first feature-length Hollywood "talke" film in which "spoken dialogue was used as part of the dramatic action." However, it's still largely a silent film with a synchronized musical score and a handful of sound sequences built around singing. It's also become something of a controversial case because of Al Jolson's (arguably the most popular entertainer of his time) use of blackface in some of the musical sequences, forgetful of the fact that this was a theatrical artifice from the era; it wasn't intended as "mean-spirited" as so many claim it to be. It was actually praised by black newspapers in 1927, and was being done by another much defamed minority, a Jew.
You can see what an impact sound must have had in 1927, because it certainly wasn't the movie that made this production a phenomenon. Though, the film itself, is more than just a movie about a guy who likes music. It's also a story about a Jewish kid who turns his back on his heritage to try and make it big on the stage - exceptionally daring subject matter for its era, and still enthralling today. It's certainly not ragged and dull, though, the magic moment when Jolson turns to the camera to announce, "You ain't heard nothing' yet" - a line so loaded with unconscious irony that it still raises a few goose bumps. Audiences were captivated by this and still are to this very day. A must see!!!
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Mammy...mammy.... you know I loves ya...mammy.