Her Pick 1920s: The Jazz Singer

Well, my losing streak continues.

The Jazz Singer is known as the first "talkie" movie.  Starring Al Jolson. 

First off, there isn't very much "talking" at all.  The only sound is used for the singing of the songs throughout, and for maybe a phrase or two surrounding the songs.

The rest is like a typical silent movie.

The transitions between the "talkie" and silent portions of the film are pretty awkward. And abrupt at times.

The story is this boy is the son of a Jewish cantor and he doesn't want to follow in his footsteps, but instead wants to be a jazz singer.  The term jazz singer definitely not being what I thought it would mean, haha.  

The mother is supportive and loves her son.  The dad kicks him out.

He grows up and becomes, yes, a jazz singer.  In the end he has to choose between singing in the temple for Atonement while his dad is on his death bed, or performing in his Broadway debut.

I'm making it sound profoundly more interesting than it is.

It's not good.

The film is apparently not talked of too much now because of the use of blackface in his big show.

That had nothing to do with my opinion at all.  The acting wasn't good.  The singing wasn't great. The story was fine, but typical and predictable.

We suffered through and finished the movie.  

Done, and done.

I would give this a 2 out of 10.  Because none of it was good.  I guess I give it a 2 because it wasn't crude or anything like that.  It just wasn't good.  At all.  My least favorite of the movies so far.

It might have gotten a 3 if not for Al Jolson.  yikes.

I hope I never see another movie with him in it, he is just plain creepy!

We took a break from movies over the weekend because I had a lot of other projects going on, but the next on the list is a pick of mine, a recent change to the list from the 1990s.

It's animated, and I haven't seen it.  Intriguing?