35. The Jazz Singer

The Jazz Singer
1927

After a super long hiatus, I am finally back!  But don't think that I forgot about this blog.  I was in France for two weeks (disaster!) and then when I finally came back, I couldn't get this movie for a really long time.  I have, however, been watching a lot of the movies from the list so this has still been my project.  Now I should be good for awhile (though the next movie cost me $25!).  Let us get to the review!

Everybody knows that The Jazz Singer is the first talkie.  Of course, we list-people could awe cafe crowds but saying that both Sunset and The Phantom of the Opera had sound (that is if we want to be really obnoxious).  Anyway, most of this movie did not have sound.  It actually had more title cards then we have been seeing lately.

You can see from the above picture how appealing the plot of this movie is.  It actually sucked but I should still give a brief summary.  This Jewish guy wants to be a jazz singer but his father does not approve.  He does it anyway and then returns to his house.  It is actually really boring but it was a necessary evil.  I felt a comforting rush whenever I realized that the Academy had nominated it for best screenplay and given it a special award for developing a sound picture.  This movie is not entertaining, but I am glad I saw it because it is a step in the right direction for films as we know them!

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Silent films continued into 1930. 

The line "wait a minute! You ain't heard nothing yet" was voted #71 in AFI's top movie lines list.

First film musical.