The Jazz Singer
"The Jazz Singer" is a 1927 musical film starring Al Jolson about a young boy who defies his father, a Jewish Cantor, to pursue his dreams of being a Jazz singer. Jackie Rabinowitz leaves his family home at a young age to pursue his career as a musician, changing his name to Jack Robin. He is quickly met with some success, via his newfound love interest Mary, a broadway dancer. Through this, he lands his first major role in a broadway musical review. A day before his opening night, Jack's father falls ill and is unable to perform Yom Kippur services. Jack is requested to take his father's place, thereby ending his long rivalry with his father, but also missing his opening night on broadway. In a difficult decision, with his father listening from his deathbed, Jack sings in his father's place. His broadway career continues to succeed, and they live happily ever after.
This movie, produced by Daryl Zanuck with the Warner Brothers, was the first film to have sequences of synchronized dialogue, making it the first "Talkie" of the age and propelling the film industry into greater popularity. The first time Al Joylston is heard singing and talking, he is performing the musical number "Dirty Face, Dirty Hands" on stage in a cabaret theater. Until that moment, the film followed traditional silent film layout, with text being shown intermittently. When he finally is shown singing along with the music, and with a few lines of dialogue in between, you can almost feel film changing. The silence that follows seems inadequate. Sound became the new standard for cinema.
This movie, produced by Daryl Zanuck with the Warner Brothers, was the first film to have sequences of synchronized dialogue, making it the first "Talkie" of the age and propelling the film industry into greater popularity. The first time Al Joylston is heard singing and talking, he is performing the musical number "Dirty Face, Dirty Hands" on stage in a cabaret theater. Until that moment, the film followed traditional silent film layout, with text being shown intermittently. When he finally is shown singing along with the music, and with a few lines of dialogue in between, you can almost feel film changing. The silence that follows seems inadequate. Sound became the new standard for cinema.