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In the immortal words of Julie Andrews (whom we shall come to later on in this project), when one is unsure of how to proceed, you must start at the very beginning. And so, it is interesting to remember that until the advent of the Vitaphone system in the early twentieth century, movies were silent. Sure music may have been playing in the background (or very often, provided by a live pianist in the cinema), but there were no sound effects, no speaking actors let alone singing ones, and no soundtracks that exactly matched the visuals - sound and image were not synchronised. It is entirely bizarre to think of a movie musical without synchronised sound, and so our first film off the rank is not actually on the American Film Institute list of movie musicals, or the Internet Movie Database's list of Earliest Musicals. Our first film is the first commercially successful movie length “talkie”.
In 1927, “talking pictures” were considered a novelty, a gimmick that probably wouldn’t last the world of commercial mass entertainment. The inventors of the talking picture (notably Thomas Edison, Western Electric, and D W Griffiths) had been peddling the notion for almost twenty years, and every single Hollywood studio had rejected the idea as folly. That was until Sam Warner, of the newly formed Warner Brothers Studios, came along. When it came to the concept of talking pictures, Sam Warner liked what he saw, and heard. In an effort to make the “gimmick” work, Warner took a highly successful and popular Broadway play about the son of a Jewish cantor who runs away from home to pursue a life in the theatre, and turned it into a film script, and cast a very popular and widely known Broadway star by the name of Al Jolson in the lead. “The Jazz Singer” went on to become a resounding success.
Despite being famous as the first commercially successful talkie, there is surprisingly little talking throughout the film. The Vitaphone system, where two separate discs are used for sound and image, was by all accounts a “clunky” system, and this is evident in the disjointed use of sound throughout the film. Most scenes are carried out in the traditional style of the silent film, and as a modern day viewer I found these scenes difficult to watch. The film makes use of a wide variety of musical styles, including traditional Jewish religious songs, classical music, and contemporary popular songs, a conscious choice by the film makers to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. Synchronised sound is solely used during the musical numbers, which only appear as performances (on stage or in religious ceremony) within the story. Most of the music is slow and dirge-like, and the synchronised contemporary popular music sung by Al Jolson is a welcome break.
This is particularly true of the infamous number “Blue Skies,” about half-way into the film. Jackie (Al Jolson), sits at the piano and singing for his mother, (Eugenie Besserer). Al Jolson is a lovely performer to watch. He is confident and at ease, and his jazzed up version of Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies” is as engaging to the viewing audience as it is for his mother in the room. Besserer gives a heart-breakingly beautiful performance, although it is amusing to watch her acting style completely change throughout the scene as she is required to rely on her voice and not just her facial expressions! The number is interrupted by Jackie’s father, the cantor, (Warner Oland) yelling a definitive “Stop!” abruptly ending the intimate and naturalistic scene. This small five minute scene was the talk of the town for critics and audiences alike, and gives us our first proper taste of synchronised dialogue and singing, and in the context of the silent film, it is thrilling.
Throughout the song and dance numbers actors are predominantly filmed from the waist up, and occasionally with legs in view (particularly if they are female), but rarely with full body, head-to-toe, in full view. Jolson's dancing, standing on the spot and swinging his hips, may not seem much today, but according to Ron Hutchison (founder of The Vitaphone Project), this dancing would have been “outrageous” at the time. We are given a glimpse of Broadway-style chorus numbers of the era, plenty of young pretty ladies in short skirts and shorts, standing in lines and kicking vigorously. The dancing is certainly a very tame start to the musical showstoppers that are to come in later films!
In terms of plot, filmic devices, song and dance numbers, “The Jazz Singer” is not the most amazing film ever made. However, when we view it in its original context, as the first film to successfully integrate the use of synchronised sound, it is groundbreaking and revolutionary. In Al Jolson's own words, “We ain’t heard nothin’ yet!”
Despite being famous as the first commercially successful talkie, there is surprisingly little talking throughout the film. The Vitaphone system, where two separate discs are used for sound and image, was by all accounts a “clunky” system, and this is evident in the disjointed use of sound throughout the film. Most scenes are carried out in the traditional style of the silent film, and as a modern day viewer I found these scenes difficult to watch. The film makes use of a wide variety of musical styles, including traditional Jewish religious songs, classical music, and contemporary popular songs, a conscious choice by the film makers to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. Synchronised sound is solely used during the musical numbers, which only appear as performances (on stage or in religious ceremony) within the story. Most of the music is slow and dirge-like, and the synchronised contemporary popular music sung by Al Jolson is a welcome break.
This is particularly true of the infamous number “Blue Skies,” about half-way into the film. Jackie (Al Jolson), sits at the piano and singing for his mother, (Eugenie Besserer). Al Jolson is a lovely performer to watch. He is confident and at ease, and his jazzed up version of Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies” is as engaging to the viewing audience as it is for his mother in the room. Besserer gives a heart-breakingly beautiful performance, although it is amusing to watch her acting style completely change throughout the scene as she is required to rely on her voice and not just her facial expressions! The number is interrupted by Jackie’s father, the cantor, (Warner Oland) yelling a definitive “Stop!” abruptly ending the intimate and naturalistic scene. This small five minute scene was the talk of the town for critics and audiences alike, and gives us our first proper taste of synchronised dialogue and singing, and in the context of the silent film, it is thrilling.
Throughout the song and dance numbers actors are predominantly filmed from the waist up, and occasionally with legs in view (particularly if they are female), but rarely with full body, head-to-toe, in full view. Jolson's dancing, standing on the spot and swinging his hips, may not seem much today, but according to Ron Hutchison (founder of The Vitaphone Project), this dancing would have been “outrageous” at the time. We are given a glimpse of Broadway-style chorus numbers of the era, plenty of young pretty ladies in short skirts and shorts, standing in lines and kicking vigorously. The dancing is certainly a very tame start to the musical showstoppers that are to come in later films!
In terms of plot, filmic devices, song and dance numbers, “The Jazz Singer” is not the most amazing film ever made. However, when we view it in its original context, as the first film to successfully integrate the use of synchronised sound, it is groundbreaking and revolutionary. In Al Jolson's own words, “We ain’t heard nothin’ yet!”