Not all early talkies were all-talking. One of the most notable of the hybrid's is 1928's "The Singing Fool" in which Al Jolson makes a valiant attempt – despite a sticky script and Lloyd Bacon's uncertain direction – to outdo his "The Jazz Singer" (1927). The movie is about three-quarters talkie, one quarter silent. Aside from the jarring of sudden swings from spoken dialog to title cards and the camera fluidity of Bacon's direction in some of the silent sequences versus the static camera set-ups of the sound, the movie succeeds in holding attention thanks to the charisma of its two lead players, Al Jolson and the lovely Josephine Dunn, who, alas, was unable to capitalize on her success here because she was then cast in a series of either indifferent or silent vehicles (when the public was screaming for sound). Within a year, she ended up in support slots. In this movie, despite the magnitude and importance of her role, Miss Dunn is actually billed under Betty Bronson who not only has a minuscule part but a totally inept voice that lacks projection. She seems to be whispering her lines (some of her words are inaudible) rather than speaking them. But never mind, all the film's audio defects were of no importance to moviegoers. They loved Jolson's full-blooded singing and the sheer novelty of sound. Initial domestic rentals topped $5 million, supplanting the $4.5 million takings of 1921's "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse". It wasn't until 1938 that this record was broken by Walt Disney's truly colossal $8 million domestic gross for "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs".
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JohnHowardReid24 April 2010
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AlsExGal14 November 2009The Singing Fool" is relatively unknown compared to the previous year's "The Jazz Singer", probably because it was the first feature film with synchronized dialogue. However, 1928's "The Singing Fool" is important for a number of reasons. For one, it was the first talking picture many people ever saw. Remember that in order to exhibit a talking picture special equipment had to be installed in the theater, and theater owners weren't sure enough of the future success of talking pictures to invest in that equipment until well after "The Jazz Singer" came and went. Also, "The Singing Fool" was the top box office draw of 1928. In fact, with the Great Depression just over the horizon, no film made more money until "Gone with the Wind" in 1939. Finally it is one of the very few talking pictures that survive from the year 1928 due to the ease of breakage of the Vitaphone discs.
The story behind "The Singing Fool" is not that remarkable. It is overly sentimental and you can see from the start exactly where it is headed. Jolson plays singing waiter Al Stone who loves snobby Molly, a singer at the night spot where he works. Likewise, Al is loved in secret by the cafés's cigarette girl. When Al makes a big hit with an agent, Molly suddenly finds Al - and his money and fame - very attractive. Of course Al is blind to Molly's poisonous ways until it is too late. You have to remember that the whole purpose behind the film is to give you a chance to see and hear the world's greatest entertainer, Al Jolson, singing on screen in his prime. In this film you get that in bigger doses than you got in "The Jazz Singer". So, if you are a Jolson fan, you are in for a big treat. However, be warned this film is what was known in 1928 and 1929 as a "goat gland" movie. That is, it is part silent. The exact ratio is about 75% talking, 25% silent. How it is chopped into sound/silent portions is particularly baffling. Some dialogue is sound, then will abruptly transition to silent. Warner's had already made an all-talking picture, in fact they made the first - 1928's "The Lights of New York". That film was supposed to be a two reel short that grew to six reels when Jack Warner was out of town, but it was a huge hit and sent the march towards talking pictures into overdrive. With the technical challenges of making an all-talking picture behind them, you would have thought Warner Bros. would have made Jolson's second talking picture an extra special effort and given it the all-talking treatment too. They didn't, but it was still a huge success. In conclusion, if you are a Jolson fan and you are interested in the early sound era of motion pictures, you'll love this film. -
bkoganbing6 May 2011Herbert Goldman's recent biography of Al Jolson makes the case that with the release and success of The Singing Fool Jolson was at the height of his career. His big Broadway successes and all the songs associated with them were behind him and his future song hits would be identified primarily with film. And the incredible profits The Singing Fool was bringing to Warner Brothers because people could not get enough of the novelty of sound was giving Jolson new vistas for his talent. More people saw him in The Singing Fool than ever did on Broadway or all the road tours he made with his stage shows.
If The Jazz Singer was mawkish and sentimental, The Singing Fool doubled the bet in that pot. Jolson plays a singing waiter who gets a big break because a Broadway producer spots his act. A woman who is played by Josephine Dunn who wouldn't give him the right time of day before now sees success and its tied to Jolson. She and Al marry and they have a child whom we never hear identify as anything else, but Sonny Boy.
In fact the child is the only thing Jolson really cares about other than his career. When one is taken the other goes downhill.
A lot of Jolson's previous song hits were interpolated into The Singing Fool as in The Jazz Singer. Two new songs were written for him and became identified with him, There's A Rainbow Round My Shoulder which to me fits his style perfectly and is the best thing in the film. The other is Sonny Boy.
In the film The Best Things In Life Are Free there is a scene where Jolson played by impersonator Herbert Brooks calls Gordon MacRae, Ernest Borgnine, and Dan Dailey who play the songwriting team of DeSylva, Brown and Henderson and asks them to write a maudlin sentimental ballad he has to sing to a child. They sit down and write one to those specifications and the three of them as well as Jolson are shocked it becomes a hit. Goldman's book says there's reason to believe the story is true.
For nearly the entire film Jolson plays it without blackface. Then the finale with him singing Sonny Boy again he dons the minstrel cork to me for no apparent reason. It will forever be a mystery to me why Jolson continued to use the blackface long after he didn't need to.
Fans of Al Jolson should see The Singing Fool and folks who want to know about his performing art should see it as well. It is mawkish, maudlin, and sentimental and all Jolson. -
dfarmbrough1 November 2000The movie is obviously designed as a Jolson vehicle. It is pretty obvious that the star came first, and everything else followed.
Despite being made in 1928, the film holds up remarkably well today, the humour being one aspect that hasn't dated. Jolson sings Sonny Boy to great effect three times, although he puts so much emotion into it that I was left wanting him to sing is straight just once. The film may seem oversentimental but if you engage with this and look at it from the point of view of a contemporary audience you will enjoy it more, and the film's shock ending is, in my opinion one of the bravest I have seen Hollywood do. In fact the only shock endings which I think compare with this are Terry Gilliam's Brazil or Doctor Who: Earthshock.
The supporting performances are sterling, but there's no other actor who has the Charisma of Jolson. It's apparent to me that nowadays, the film's leading lady, Josephine Dunn, playing a singer, would have been given one or two songs to sing, but the producers rightly realised that the audience was there to see Jolson and Jolson alone.
The film is also of historical interest, being one of the first talkies. It's apparent that synchronised sound is used sparingly, and, like its near-contemporary The Jazz Singer, the opening parts use caption slides in place of speech.
Enjoy it for its Jazz age settings, the grand costumes (Miss Dunn's gowns are particularly exquisite) and of course for Jolson's singing. -
wes-connors30 November 2014Singing waiter Al Jolson (as Al Stone) wants to be song-writer. Inspired by the woman he loves, beautiful blonde Josephine Dunn (as Molly Winton), Mr. Jolson becomes a Broadway musical sensation. Attracted to success and money, Ms. Dunn marries Jolson. From the onset, we know Ms. Dunn is fonder of handsome gangster-types, like Reed Howes (as John Perry). She eventually leaves Jolson, taking his beloved son Davey Lee (as "Sonny Boy") from the singer. Consequently, Jolson falls on hard times. He returns to Blackie Joe's cafe, where he started as a singing waiter, and becomes reacquainted with pretty cigarette girl Betty Bronson (as Grace)...
This follow-up to "The Jazz Singer" (1927) attracted even more box office money than its revolutionary predecessor. The earlier film was considered the first popular "talkie", but was really a "silent" with some dialogue used on the synchronized soundtrack. Quigley Publications, known presently for their annual top 10 money-making stars list, named "The Singing Fool" as their Best Picture of the year. This one has some silent sequences, possibly intending to recapture the magic of hearing Jolson break into the silent medium; the attempt is successful, but may be lost on modern viewers. Today, this looks like hokum of the highest order...
However, Jolson is entertaining and director Lloyd Bacon does well with the players. The plot is trite and obvious, but parts of the film are quite artful. "Sonny Boy" b/w "There's a Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder" went to #1 on the record charts and stayed there for nearly four months, becoming one of Jolson's biggest million-sellers. He was the first recording star to rack up repeated "gold records" and this film preserves his "Sonny Boy" as a video visual. Seeing Jolson sing this song as he held his "Sonny Boy" was what viewers went to see, again and again. It's a great song and effective representation; and, it certainly started a trend.
******* The Singing Fool (9/19/28) Lloyd Bacon ~ Al Jolson, Josephine Dunn, Betty Bronson, Davey Lee -
ptb-830 December 2009So said Cosmo Brown about effervescent Don Lockwood in talkie satire SINGIN IN THE RAIN....and so can be attributed with equal exuberance to Al Jolson in this prehistoric box office blockbuster gramophone talkie from 1928. It is famous for a dozen reasons... all of which you can read on the other posts which explain them in detail. I waded through THE SINGING FOOL for several reason of my own: I wanted to see such a successful film from 1928; the fantastic deco atmosphere of genuine flapper 20s in the nightclub scenes, the idea this film is part talkie and part silent is quite fascinating; and is a terrific example of emerging technology of the time. The clothes furnishings and art direction are easily enough to keep you watching. The music score does not quite fit in some parts but is a valiant attempt to fully orchestrate the entire film and lay a voice track on top. Jolson looks remarkably like Steve Martin in some scenes and perhaps this notion could work in a Jolson bio today. At times I thought I was watching an alternate version of DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID. The look and style of the deco 20s as modern film making and with talking acting scenes makes it a fascinating mix. The child who plays Sonny Boy (Davy Lee) is remarkable for a 4 year old kid, very natural and quite emotional. Jolson's often-scary possessed acting style is mostly pantomime maudlin or simpleton over-expressive, but I attribute that to the silent era acting zapped with electrical wiring. A TITANIC level grosser of its day, THE SINGING FOOL was the most successful film of all time up until 1939 so make sure read the other comments. All quite fascinating.
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richardchatten21 February 2018The maudlin plot is obviously a matter of taste, but Al Jolson himself said he thought 'The Singing Fool' a better film than 'The Jazz Singer', and it unquestionably displays an impressive advance in the development of the sound film in the space of less than a year, and stands up remarkably well after nearly ninety more.
It's still only a part-talkie (and owes its impressive opening twenty minutes to the fact that it's been shot as a silent with a subjective camera roaming around a vividly depicted speakeasy) to the accompaniment of a Vitaphone score, until Jolson bursts on to the screen, starts his patter and then sings.
Like 'The Jazz Singer', 'The Singing Fool' returns to being a silent film after the first song; but the sound scenes are far more frequent and adroitly assembled into a narrative here, while the Vitaphone score (which also accompanies the dialogue scenes, so we don't get the terrible stilted silences that render so many early talkies almost unwatchable) fluidly papers over the cracks, keeping the entire film flowing gracefully, aided by the smooth photography of Byron Haskin and editing by Ralph Dawson. (Several of the characters speak in both titles and on the soundtrack, including Arthur Housman, in an unusually prominent role in which he remains sober throughout.)
Although leading lady Josephine Dunn is supposed to be a singer herself, we never hear her sing; and her character is so one-dimensionally a heartless high maintenance chancer that - considering she has a hunk played by Reed Howes perpetually in tow - one has time to wonder if Sonny Boy (who looks more like a little girl) is actually Jolson's. -
planktonrules19 January 2015Despite being a super-popular and historic film, Al Jolson's picture, "The Jazz Singer", is a rather tedious movie when you see it today. Despite its reputation as 'the first talking picture', very little of it actually is this way. The songs are on the soundtrack and SOME of the dialog, but it's essentially a silent movie with a tiresome plot...along with some sound. Here with his follow up picture, "The Singing Fool", the same sort of style of film is here (essentially a silent with added dialog and music) but the overall plot is a bit better...no, a lot better. Now folks watching it today probably won't be very interested, but for its day, this was a dandy little film.
When the film begins, Al is a jovial waiter who occasionally performs in a night club. He's smitten with Molly, though she clearly does NOT reciprocate. However, when he writes a hit song and strikes it big, suddenly Molly is interested and marries Al. They have a young son, who Al adores, and life seems great to Al. However, Molly is an evil tramp and soon bores with married life. So, she runs off with a new guy--taking the baby in tow and leaving Al unable to function. What's next in this soapy film? Watch it and see.
There's a lot to love and a lot that is incredibly dated in this one. The songs might just be the best thing about this film, as I found myself singing along with Jolson's "Sittin on Top of the World" and a few other tunes. As for the tender scenes between father and son, they are a mixed bag. They were tender and enjoyable...to a point. Unfortunately, they often went overboard into a sickly, schmaltzy direction. Jolson certainly did NOT believe in subtlety in these portions of the film! Additionally, like in "The Jazz Singer", hold onto your seat, as the finale includes Jolson in black-face--a common and beloved tradition that would horrify viewers today. Oddly, despite this, the film ALSO has the first, or one of the first black actors in a talking picture-- and the guy is NOT some racist stereotype or buffoon.
Overall, despite the film having many shortcomings, it is STILL quite enjoyable and holds up well--much better than many old talkies. Mostly of interest to film historians and weirdos like me, it's still worth a look for everyone else. -
MissSimonetta10 December 2020I'm shocked so many consider THE SINGING FOOL an improvement on THE JAZZ SINGER. In terms of visual storytelling, this is certainly so, at least during the silent sequences, which only take up a quarter of the film (if THE JAZZ SINGER was best described as a silent film with musical interludes, then THE SINGING FOOL is best considered a talkie with random silent sequences). However, I found this movie took all of the flaws of its spiritual predecessor and made them a hundred times worse.
For one thing, the movie doesn't so much have a story as a series of incidents that go nowhere. There's rarely anything like suspense and certainly no real character arc for Al Stone, issues shared with THE JAZZ SINGER. The protagonist stumbles onto success, gets depressed when his cartoonishly mean wife leaves him and takes their angelic child, regains success easily after moping around, then the kid dies just when things are looking up. Of course, the dramatic dying leads to a show-stopping number in blackface-- once again, not unlike THE JAZZ SINGER. And it all ends with the protagonist expiating his sorrow onstage, comforted by the applause of the audience and the love of a good woman.
I like a good deal of silent melodramas, but this movie is just so unbearable with it, going overboard with the tear-wringing moments-- and it doesn't help that Jolson was not a strong dramatic actor. He struggled with the dramatic scenes in THE JAZZ SINGER, but here those scenes are piled on much thicker and his acting goes beyond wooden, making that flaw all the more apparent.
However, I have to give credit where it's due: the "Sonny Boy" song is very moving, even if it is unabashedly sentimental. And as in THE JAZZ SINGER, Jolson shines best in the musical and comedic scenes, where he's being purely an entertainer and not a thespian. You can see why he was such a big music star in the 1910s and 1920s. Unfortunately, like THE JAZZ SINGER, THE SINGING FOOL is only of historical interest for movie geeks. -
lugonian22 December 2001THE SINGING FOOL (Warner Brothers, 1928), directed by Lloyd Bacon, is a worthy follow-up to the historic "first talkie" of THE JAZZ SINGER (WB, 1927), starring Broadway headliner Al Jolson. Upon its release, THE SINGING FOOL reportedly broke all box office records to date, until that record was broken 11 years later with the Civil War epic of "Gone With the Wind" (Selznick, 1939). But in spite of its popularity with the public way back when, THE JAZZ SINGER remains well known to cinema history while THE SINGING FOOL today is virtually forgotten, which is unfortunate because it's a much better movie than THE JAZZ SINGER. The one thing both movies have in common other than being musical dramas is that they are both part-talkies, with THE SINGING FOOL featuring more songs and dialog than its predecessor.
The story opens in the silent film tradition with title cards and Vitaphone orchestral score at Blackie Joe's (Arthur Housman) café where Al Stone (Al Jolson), works as a waiter (title cards read: "By occupation, a waiter; by ambition, a songwriter; by nature, a singing fool"). Al is hopelessly in love with a pretty blonde named Molly Winton (Josephine Dunn), a cold-hearted but ambitious singer who entertains at the club. Also employed at Blackie Joe's is Grace (Betty Bronson), a petite cigarette girl who secretly loves Al. Because Molly shows her lack of interest in Al and his proposed love song written especially for her, Al decides to impress her by going out, taking the spotlight and introducing his song to the patrons. The song makes such an impression with Louis Marcus (Edward Martindel), a famous producer visiting the club with his guests, that he offers Al a contract to perform on Broadway. After learning of this, Molly "suddenly" takes an interest in Al, who accepts Marcus's offer on the promise that he could take Molly along with him. Over the next few years, Al and Molly, now married, become successful headliners, with Molly scoring success singing the songs Al has written for her. Al opens up a nightclub where he not only manages but is its star singing attraction, with the catch phrase, "I'm going to sing you a thousand songs." What makes Al's personal life so complete is his little three-year-old son he calls Sonny Boy (David "Davey" Lee). But all that changes when Molly becomes bored with Al and finds herself having a secret rendezvous with Al's friend, John (Reed Howes) while he entertains at the club. Due to Molly's extravagant spending which puts Al heavily in debt, the marriage falls apart, causing Molly to walk out on Al, taking Sonny Boy with her. After Al hits the skids, he struggles to restore his career.
THE SINGING FOOL features many memorable tunes, all sung by Jolson, compliments of songwriters Lew Brown, B.G. DeSylva and Ray Henderson, including: "It All Depends on You," "I'm Sitting on Top of the World," "The Spaniard That Blighted My Life" (written by Billy Merson); "There's A Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder," "Golden Gate," "Sonny Boy" (sung by Jolson to Davey Lee in front of a Christmas tree); "Keep Smiling at Trouble," "Sonny Boy" (reprise) and "Sonny Boy" (finale with Jolson in black-face). Of all the songs written for the film, most of which became Jolson standards, "Sonny Boy" took the honors as its Number One song of the year, almost outdoing Jolson's signature song of "Mammy." As for "The Spaniard That Blighted My Life," no movie print today is known to exist containing this song and number. However, in the motion picture soundtrack album to THE SINGING FOOL, distributed in music/record stores in 1981, featuring a still photo of Jolson in Mexican attire of that number on cover, compliments of TAKE TWO RECORDS, DOES include that missing song, along with the closing instrumental "Sonny Boy" theme song at the end of the soundtrack not available in today's movie print.
In spite of THE SINGING FOOL being overly sentimental at times, it succeeds without going overboard. Jolson's occasional bad acting during the dramatic moments is evident here, especially during the talking segments when he is arguing with his wife, for example, but appears more relaxed and natural when he gets his chance to be funny in reciting witty dialog and singing those lively tunes. Jolson's bonding with Davey Lee comes across in a believable manner on screen. One particular segment where Al gets to bid goodbye to his Sonny Boy in Central Park before the boy leaves for Paris with his mother and her lover, ranks one of the most tender moments ever captured on film. What makes this scene so memorable is that it is done with the underscoring to "Sonny Boy" with dialog between father and son presented only on screen through well-written title cards. Aside from Davey Lee almost succeeding in becoming another Jackie Coogan (a popular boy actor of the 1920s), which never happened, there is Betty Bronson, best known to silent movie lovers as PETER PAN (Paramount, 1925), in one of her first adult movie roles giving a convincing tearful performance. Sadly, her voice sometimes doesn't register clearly on the soundtrack, which at times her spoken dialog gets drowned out during the music underscoring. The same also happens with Josephine Dunn. Also in the supporting cast are Robert Emmett O'Connor as Bill Cline; and Arthur Housman, famous for his numerous drunken characters in many comedy shorts and features, giving in a rare sober performance.
In spite of its age, THE SINGING FOOL still ranks one of the best feature films made during the dawn of sound. It can be seen and studied when presented on Turner Classic Movies. (****) -
fwdixon20 November 2014"The Singing Fool" is a hybrid silent/mostly talkie showcase for the inimitable Al Jolson.
Jolie is a singing waiter who gets a big break and zooms to stardom. His parasitic floozy wife is two-timing him with his best friend and finally leaves Jolie, taking his beloved son with her.
Jolie goes into a downward spiral until his old employer sets him right and Jolie once again becomes a star. Just when everything is looking rosy for Jolie, his son becomes ill and dies as Jolie holds him in his arms and warbles "Sonny Boy".
If you like your early musicals with a hefty serving of shmaltz, you can't go wrong here.
Jolie is an idol of mine and this film is one of the best, if not the best, of his oeuvre. -
donniefriedman30 July 2013The Singing Fool continues the father and son plot line of The Jazz Singer, except in the former, the climax focuses on the death of the son rather than the death of the father as in The Jazz Singer. I guess Warners thought they shouldn't mess with success. In a way, they did Jolson a disservice by persisting in casting him in melodramatic roles; he was much stronger as a comic, and there are a few glimpses of that in this movie.
The movie mixes silent scenes with titles with sound scenes, and I have noticed that Jolson's acting style is much better suited to the silent scenes. Jolson's acting has been criticized, but he is actually an excellent silent film actor with his very expressive face and body language. He gets into trouble when he has to tone it down for the voiced dramatic scenes.
But when he takes the stage to sing, well he just blows the roof off. The songs in this movie are wonderful and a fine example of the unique Jolson talent. I'm Sittin' on Top of the World and Rainbow Round My Shoulder and It All Depends on You are enduring classics. And of course, in Sonny Boy, we have the first million selling single. -
kidboots2 April 2018While Warner's "Lights of New York" was causing a talkie sensation, the studio was busy with "The Singing Fool" one of those part talkie hybrids and starring Al Jolson, star of the year before's "Jazz Singer". Jolson's cinema career was already peaking - while he created a sensation with "The Jazz Singer" for some reason Warners failed to capitalize on their success and "The Singing Fool" was released over a year later. Jolson also had to share his popularity this time with his own discovery, a little cutie called Davey Lee and for a short while audiences made him the biggest sensation since Jackie Coogan. When Jolson sang "Sonny Boy" as he cradled the little boy in his arms audiences were entranced but Lee was only three and a half and after only a few more films his parents withdrew him from the Hollywood glare to lead a normal life.
A captivating start as the camera pans around the floor of the speakeasy looking for "Blackie Joe" you see the hustle, bustle, chorus girls etc and meet Al Stone (Jolson) a waiter by profession, a "singing fool" by nature. It's the old story, Al loves gold digger Molly (Josephine Dunn) who says she will only speak to waiters if they're serving her, meanwhile sweet Grace (Betty Bronson) a cigarette girl worships the ground Al walks on but he doesn't know she's alive!! Al puts over a ballad "It All Depends On You" big time and the producers that Molly is toadying up to are impressed enough to think he deserves his own Broadway show!! and suddenly Al looks very appealing to Molly!!
And the songs keep coming - "I'm Sitting On Top of the World", "There's a Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder" and "Golden Gate". Molly's career is also on the rise, thanks to Al's nifty song writing ability - she is the toast of Broadway!! But she has found a new Romeo (Reed Howes) and in a dramatic scene, she deserts Al, taking his beloved Sonny Boy with her. Jolson has allowed the audience to build up a rapport with the beautiful little boy, his Sonny Boy will melt the coldest heart.
Funny enough, when Jolson hits the skids the film's pace picks up and lo and behold, when he is taken back by "Blackie" (Arthur Houseman, suprisingly not playing a drunk here), there is Grace, after three years now promoted to the concession stand but still carrying a torch for Al. Al starts to turn his life around performing again but tragedy strikes......... The last scene has Jolson, in blackface, being encouraged by a backstage Grace to sing it for Sonny Boy. As the camera zooms in on Jolson you cannot help but be moved by the powerful talent of the man!!
The movie which now seems over long and overly sentimental, made a massive $5.9 million world wide. Cinemas were being wired for sound and "The Singing Fool" became the premiere sound attraction and even theatres that couldn't afford sound equipment booked the movie and ran Jolson recordings at the appropriate times in the movie. Josephine Dunn just sparkled and you could see why the movie Al worshipped the ground she walked on but I don't know whether it was a case of fans not really forgiving that not only did she two time Al but she was pretty uncaring about Sonny as well - her career just didn't recover!! Betty Bronson fared worse, she was second billed after Jolson but after a scene at the start to establish her sympathetic "true blue" character, she didn't appear again until the end. The fact that her voice apparently didn't record above a whisper may have prompted a rewrite and may have been a reason that she, like Dunn, didn't have a talkie career!! -
Climb upon my knee, Sonny Boy... So sings singing waiter turned Broadway star Al Jolson, and this may leave you in tears if you let it touch your heart. Jolson's real life persona is as far removed from his character here, his legendary ego still talked about to this day. Still considered one of the greatest entertainers of the twentieth century, Jolson has been the subject of two films and several stage shows. The story is a switch on typical mother love with Jolson's live for son Danny Lee even greater than the mother's.
Mostly sound, this has a lot if Jolson singing, and other than Judy Garland or Barbra Streisand, I can't think of any other singer who really feels the lyrics and brings the audience into their heart. The pathos of some of the plot developments may seem maudlin and manipulated by today's standards, but I was touched throughout. Jolson gets a truly hysterical entrance, eyeing the camera as if he is making live to it. Singing a variety of his biggest hits, Jolson gives one of the great Earlie sound film male performances, indicating to me that he really should have been nominated for that then brand new award now known as the Oscar.