The Jazz Singer

I enjoyed THE JAZZ SINGER.

The film, which ushered in the era of talkies for a broad audience (Yes, I know there were earlier talkies, but this is the one that really hit.), has one foot in the silent era and one in the sound. How so? Well, while much of THE JAZZ SINGER plays just like any silent film, with broad acting and intertitles, the musical numbers and some of the accompanying dialogue is in sound as we understand it today.

This raises an interesting question: why not sound all the way? Was it a technical issue, a financial issue, or something else? Anyone? Bueller?

Anyway, all I really knew about THE JAZZ SINGER boiled down to two words: talkie and blackface. Turns out, the film is about more than that, with a compelling story about competing duties and the realities of growing up and growing old. While Jolson´s style of musical performance doesn´t work for me (I´m more of a Crosby guy), I enjoyed the production numbers and found myself appreciating THE JAZZ SINGER as a film, and not just as a homework assignment.

So, THE JAZZ SINGER. Who knew it´d actually turn out to be a fine motion picture?