Directed by:
Alan CroslandCinematography:
Hal MohrComposer:
Louis SilversCast:
Al Jolson, May McAvoy, Warner Oland, Eugenie Besserer, Otto Lederer, Robert Gordon, Richard Tucker, Myrna Loy, William Demarest, Roscoe Karns, Fred Warren (more)Plots(1)
Al Jolson stars in this film of a play purportedly based on his own life. He plays Jakie Rabinowitz, a singer trying to make a career on Broadway instead of following the wishes of his Rabbi father to replace him as the Synagogue Cantor. Jakie breaks with his father, becomes Jack Robin and gets on Broadway, only to be called to his father's death-bed on opening night. The film co-stars Warner Oland, May McAvoy, and Eugenie Besserer. Among the hit songs featured are Jolson's trademarks, 'Toot-Toot-Tootsie', 'Goodbye', 'Dirty Hands', 'Dirty Face', 'My Mammy', and a then-new song composed by Irving Berlin, 'Blue Skies'. (Warner Home Video)
(more)Reviews (1)
This is a film that simply must be evaluated in terms of being a milestone in the sense that it is the first sound film. However, it is still a silent film, where only the singing passages are truly sound. The film forever changed cinematography, but it remained just an average work, which does not excel in acting, story, and eventually not even much in music.
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