A fight ensues, and the band is arrested. The nightclub engagement is a success, but one of the patrons notices Yussel's hands are white and becomes outspoken. Yussel is married to his childhood friend Rivka, and settled down to a life of religious devotion to the teaching of his faith.īut on the side, he writes songs for a black singing group, and when a member of the quartet is arrested, Yussel covers for him at one of their gigs by wearing blackface. Yussel Rabinovitch is a young, fifth-generation Jewish cantor performing at the synagogue of his imperious father. The soundtrack eventually reached multi-platinum status, became Diamond's most successful album to date and one of the more successful film soundtrack albums in history. Critics panned the acting of Diamond and – unusually – Olivier, while praising Arnaz's performance and Diamond's accompanying soundtrack and live musical performances in the film. The Jazz Singer was released by AFD on December 19, 1980, and was a critical and commercial disappointment, although it did make a substantial profit, doubling its $13 million budget by making $27.1 million (not including sales of the soundtrack album, which shipped quintuple platinum, or over 5 million copies, making it the most successful of Diamond's recording career). However, production was plagued with several delays in filming, the departures of Furie and Raffin, and numerous script rewrites. Furie directing, and Deborah Raffin acting opposite Diamond. Based on the 1925 play of the same name by Samson Raphaelson, this film is the fourth adaptation of the play, after the 1927 and the 1952 theatrical adaptions, and a 1959 television adaptation.ĭeveloped as a starring vehicle for Diamond, who had undergone a revival of popularity in the late 1970s, the film was initially intended to be produced by Paramount and AFD, with Sidney J.
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The film stars Neil Diamond (in his acting debut), Sir Laurence Olivier and Lucie Arnaz, and tells the story of a young singer who is torn between tradition and pursuing his dreams as a pop singer.
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Read Richard Corliss’ full explanation for why Oct.The Jazz Singer is a 1980 American musical drama film directed by Richard Fleischer and produced by Jerry Leider.
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The reason The Jazz Singer didn’t impress when it was first released was that most people were seeing a different, silent version of the movie - a version which, TIME’s critic in 1927 intuited, wasn’t very interesting. Jolson’s later pictures have been less successful but he still has most of the $2,000,000 which made him a few years ago reputedly the third richest actor in the world.
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The success of The Jazz Singer definitely ended Hollywood’s happiest era, launched the fortunes of Warner Brothers who produced it, established Al Jolson for a short time as the greatest personality in the amusement business. 6, 1927, there were less than 100 theatres in the world equipped to show it. It cost $500,000 and when it was released in Manhattan on Oct. Jolson and his career will be remembered because The Jazz Singer was the first sound picture ever made. As TIME’s 1933 review of the Jolson picture Hallelujah, I’m a Bum explained: Within just a few years, it was eminently clear that the movie was more important than its star - but there had been a serious technical hindrance to moviegoers realizing as much when it first came out.
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As a matter of fact, most of them would have missed the sound entirely. No mention whatsoever of the real historic value of the movie.īut 1920s cinemaphiles could be forgiven for missing the point. “The Vitaphone permits him to talk and sing his way through the sentimental mazes of the movie adaptation,” the reviewer noted. 17, 1927, issue stated, was that it was Al Jolson’s first movie, and that it was noteworthy that his singing voice could be preserved. What was important about it, the review in the Oct. In 1927, TIME was less than impressed by The Jazz Singer. Jolson’s urgent, boastful bray–an ad-libbed intro to his rendition of Toot Toot Tootsie–cut through the opening-night audience at the Warner Theatre near Times Square like an obstetrician’s scissors severing the umbilical cord to silent films, for 30 years the dominant screen language.Īpparently, however, hind-hearing is the aural equivalent of 20/20. You ain’t heard nothin’ yet!” cried Al Jolson halfway through The Jazz Singer.