The Jazz Singer

Movie Information

The Jazz Singer is being presented by the Jewish Community Center, 236 Charlotte Street, at 2 p.m., Sunday Jan. 28 as part of a series of five films from the Jewish Heritage Video Collection at UNCA's Ramsey Library. The weekly series will continue with Gentleman's Agreement (Feb. 4), Daniel (Feb. 11), Crimes and Misdemeanors (Feb. 18) and Homicide (Feb. 25).
Score:

Genre: Musical Drama
Director: Alan Crosland
Starring: Al Jolson, May McAvoy, Warner Oland, Eugenie Besserer, Otto Lederer
Rated: NR

Alan Crosland’s The Jazz Singer (1927) is mostly famous today as the first “talking picture,” which it really isn’t, since it’s largely a silent film with a synchronized musical score and a handful of sound sequences built around singing. It’s also become something of a hot potato because of Al Jolson’s use of blackface in some of the musical sequences — mindless of the fact that this was a theatrical artifice from the era, wasn’t intended as mean-spirited, was praised by black newspapers in 1927, and was being done by another much defamed minority, a Jew. (It’s interesting that the only stage performers who carried this device over into their films were Jolie (Asa Yoelsen) and Eddie Cantor (Edward Israel Iskowitz), both Jews.) There was an innate sense of kinship between these Jewish entertainers and their black models — no matter how misguided the approach might now seem. (Similarly, both men — given improbably WASPy names in their films — constantly ad-libbed remarks about their Jewishness.)

It’s equally strange that a film like The Jazz Singer should be thought of as racist, since it’s very much a film about race — about being Jewish and about assimilating (to achieve success Jakie Rabinowitz has to become Jack Robin and alienate his very conservative cantor father (Warner Oland)). It’s clunky and heavy-handed a lot of the time, and its canned-music score can get old (it keeps falling back on Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet whenever no one can think of anything else, it seems). But it’s sincere and it’s an important, if a little self-aware, look at being Jewish in a way other movies of the time weren’t touching.

— reviewed by Ken Hanke

SHARE
About Ken Hanke
Head film critic for Mountain Xpress from December 2000 until his death in June 2016. Author of books "Ken Russell's Films," "Charlie Chan at the Movies," "A Critical Guide to Horror Film Series," "Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker."

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.