Review of The Jazz Singer (1927) by David U — 25 Jan 2007

[font=Trebuchet MS][[b]Short Thought: [/b]Okay. Let's get one thing straight. I realize that this is, in the history of cinema, a very important film. People call it "the first sound film", or something along those lines, and, as a marker for the advent of the use of ears in the cinema, I suppose it has some lasting value. But... I'm sorry. It's just not good. At all. History has been extraordinarily kind to [i]The Jazz Singer[/i], and in more ways the one. The first thing you'll notice when you finally take it upon yourself to watch this 'landmark' is that, well, they barely talk at all. In fact, apart from one brief scene between Jack Robin (Al Jolson) and his mother (Eugenie Besserer), the only sound of display here is the scenes were Jolson (excruciatingly) sings. The rest of the movie relies of the silent cinema tradition of intertitles telling us shorthand what's being said. Is this really the first talkie if they barely talk? I'm not really qualified to make that judgment. However, I would say I'm qualified to say that, as a film, straight-up, [i]The Jazz Singer[/i] is rather bad. Apart from the fact that Jolson- a very popular star in his day- is one of the most annoying people I've ever had to watch, [i]The Jazz Singer[/i] repeatedly strikes some dull and often offensive notes. Yes, there's black-face going on here, for no good reason, as well as a horrific line in "He sounds like Jakie, but he looks like his shadow!"- which made my fellow classmates gasp. The maudlin story is very threadbare and uninvolving- an interior battle between career (Broadway!) and faith (Jewish)- and ends very predictably and melodramatically. I suppose I [i]have[/i] to give [i]The Jazz Singer[/i] a reasonable grade just for what it signifies in the course of film history- but if I were you, I'd let it be.][/font].

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[font=Trebuchet MS]Full review to come.[/font].