The first talking picture, 1927's "The Jazz Singer" is the story of a young man (Al Jolson) who wants to break from the family tradition and become a jazz singer.
I have to agree with some of the reviewers - though there are some absurd things in this film, it has to be viewed in the context of the time it was done without today's focus on political correctness. One needs to look at the history of blackface and do a little research about Al Jolson before jumping in with reviews. Otherwise you come off like the guy who asked if Gandhi was a fictional character - which, by the way, happened on this site.
What's excellent about "The Jazz Singer" is its look at the immigrant Jewish life in New York City at that time. Jolson is Jakie Rabinowitz, whose father (Warner Oland) wants him to pursue the family tradition of being a cantor.
Even as a young boy, though, Jakie is interested in singing and performing jazz, which causes a rift -- so big a rift that he leaves home for good, breaking his mother's heart. He changes his name to Jack Robin and has success on the road. Big success comes when he is hired to costar in a Broadway show. This means a return to New York and a chance to see his parents.
When his father falls ill, his mother begs him to sing Kol Nidre at the synagogue, but it's on Jack's opening night, and he feels that he has made his choice.
Many people can relate to defying one's family to follow a dream. It is handled somewhat simplistically in "The Jazz Singer," because obviously, if you're contracted to do a Broadway show, you can't walk out on opening night unless you want to pay the rent on the theater and make up for the loss in box office and somehow stay out of court. Here it's treated, in scene after scene, as if Jack really has a decision to make, with his mother pulling at his heartstrings and his girlfriend (May McAvoy) yanking him the other way. Also, I just have to put this in - what producer in his right mind would schedule an opening night on Passover? Anyway, none of this was meant to be looked into too closely.
I will be honest and say I always thought this landmark film only contained one spoken line, and I thought it was "You ain't heard nothing' yet." Turns out, Jolson does what amounts to a monologue, with his mother (Eugenie Besserer) making comments along the way. She's not miked. It's fascinating.
The history of the Vitaphone license is even more interesting. Sam Warner (who died before this film's release) wanted the Vitaphone license, but anti-Semitism ran very high. When he went to meet with the Vitaphone people, Sam, a big, redheaded guy, asked his Catholic wife, Lina Basquette, to wear her Catholic cross. He got the license. Fox had a competing sound systems, and Vitaphone was junked in 1932. Studios couldn't convert to sound immediately after "The Jazz Singer" - at first, sound was considered a fad, converting the theaters was a huge expense, the studios didn't actually have a plethora of equipment to do sound films - and then there was the European market. It all took a while, but this is the film that started it all.
After George Jessel starred in the stage version on Broadway, and both he and Eddie Cantor turned down the film, the producers settled on Al Jolson, an electrifying performer and a powerful singer. It's hard today to measure his impact, as Jolson really needed a live audience. But the effect of his voice and his obvious energy is still present.
Nowadays some of the acting will seem hammy. Jolson actually comes off very well, as does Warner Oland, who is best known as Charlie Chan. Besserer uses her hands a lot in gestures long gone - grabbing her heart, for instance, but this was the style of the day, and her performances comes off as being a warm and sweet one. Otto Lederer as the kibitzer is a riot.
A very important film that deserves to be seen. Sadly with the advent of sound, no one was interested in anything else, so Abel Gance trashed his early Cinemascope-type invention, which we got to see for the first time in the 1980s with the restoration of his "Napoleon." But everything happens in its time. And in 1927, it was time for the movies to start talking.
I have to agree with some of the reviewers - though there are some absurd things in this film, it has to be viewed in the context of the time it was done without today's focus on political correctness. One needs to look at the history of blackface and do a little research about Al Jolson before jumping in with reviews. Otherwise you come off like the guy who asked if Gandhi was a fictional character - which, by the way, happened on this site.
What's excellent about "The Jazz Singer" is its look at the immigrant Jewish life in New York City at that time. Jolson is Jakie Rabinowitz, whose father (Warner Oland) wants him to pursue the family tradition of being a cantor.
Even as a young boy, though, Jakie is interested in singing and performing jazz, which causes a rift -- so big a rift that he leaves home for good, breaking his mother's heart. He changes his name to Jack Robin and has success on the road. Big success comes when he is hired to costar in a Broadway show. This means a return to New York and a chance to see his parents.
When his father falls ill, his mother begs him to sing Kol Nidre at the synagogue, but it's on Jack's opening night, and he feels that he has made his choice.
Many people can relate to defying one's family to follow a dream. It is handled somewhat simplistically in "The Jazz Singer," because obviously, if you're contracted to do a Broadway show, you can't walk out on opening night unless you want to pay the rent on the theater and make up for the loss in box office and somehow stay out of court. Here it's treated, in scene after scene, as if Jack really has a decision to make, with his mother pulling at his heartstrings and his girlfriend (May McAvoy) yanking him the other way. Also, I just have to put this in - what producer in his right mind would schedule an opening night on Passover? Anyway, none of this was meant to be looked into too closely.
I will be honest and say I always thought this landmark film only contained one spoken line, and I thought it was "You ain't heard nothing' yet." Turns out, Jolson does what amounts to a monologue, with his mother (Eugenie Besserer) making comments along the way. She's not miked. It's fascinating.
The history of the Vitaphone license is even more interesting. Sam Warner (who died before this film's release) wanted the Vitaphone license, but anti-Semitism ran very high. When he went to meet with the Vitaphone people, Sam, a big, redheaded guy, asked his Catholic wife, Lina Basquette, to wear her Catholic cross. He got the license. Fox had a competing sound systems, and Vitaphone was junked in 1932. Studios couldn't convert to sound immediately after "The Jazz Singer" - at first, sound was considered a fad, converting the theaters was a huge expense, the studios didn't actually have a plethora of equipment to do sound films - and then there was the European market. It all took a while, but this is the film that started it all.
After George Jessel starred in the stage version on Broadway, and both he and Eddie Cantor turned down the film, the producers settled on Al Jolson, an electrifying performer and a powerful singer. It's hard today to measure his impact, as Jolson really needed a live audience. But the effect of his voice and his obvious energy is still present.
Nowadays some of the acting will seem hammy. Jolson actually comes off very well, as does Warner Oland, who is best known as Charlie Chan. Besserer uses her hands a lot in gestures long gone - grabbing her heart, for instance, but this was the style of the day, and her performances comes off as being a warm and sweet one. Otto Lederer as the kibitzer is a riot.
A very important film that deserves to be seen. Sadly with the advent of sound, no one was interested in anything else, so Abel Gance trashed his early Cinemascope-type invention, which we got to see for the first time in the 1980s with the restoration of his "Napoleon." But everything happens in its time. And in 1927, it was time for the movies to start talking.