The Jazz Singer Official Trailer (1927)

Al Jolson stars in the title role, the Jewish cantor's son who would rather sing on stage than in temple. Clashing repeatedly with his father (Warner Oland) over his desire to become a jazz singer, Jolson leaves home to pursue show business--adopting a stage name and meeting a veteran performer (May McAvoy) who brings him to a turning point in his life. Songs include "My Mammy," "Toot Toot Tootsie," and "Blue Skies."

Description provided by TCM.

[esmeephillips]

If there is one clip that sums up the crazy venturesomeness of the Roaring Twenties, this is it.

Warner Brothers bet the farm on Vitaphone. Attempts at talkies had been going on for 25 years, and most studio bosses thought talkies would never amount to more than an occasional gimmick. Besides, pictures would lose the universal appeal of mime, gesture and action and the export trade would be undermined. Movies had become adept at crossing frontiers; sound would make them revert to static, stagy 'photoplays' like in the primitive early days, shackled by a big blimped camera. Maestri such as Griffith and Chaplin dreaded Sound.

We can laugh at these qualms, but in 1927 Hollywood was entitled to wonder why the hell Sam, Jack and Harry Warner would want to rock the boat, forcing their customers to reequip theaters and spectators to accustom themselves to the new order. And what of the stars, if it turned out their voices disappointed their fans?

Remember that wide screen, before it became accepted in the mid-1950s, had flopped in 1930. And remember that 3D has been trialed again and again, giving little but headaches.

The upstarts hired the biggest name in the business to improve the odds. They won, and changed their industry from top to bottom. The Jazz Singer was not a fluke hit from a gimmick. It was the start of a revolution in the most vital art of the 20th century. America would lead the way in audio-visual as Greece had once done in philosophy, Italy in the graphic arts, England in literature, Germany in music. And all bc Benny Warner the Polish cobbler's sons were running out of dough.

[yosefdemby]

Just imagine the utter shock of the audiences who first saw this.

[alexanderkarayannis]

An historic moment that transformed the movie industry, turned silent films into talkies, with music, sound, dialogue and that pianist charged with accompanying the action on the screen with his music was a thing of the past...Even Al Jolson didn't understand how true these words he spoke really were: "You ain't heard nothing yet!".

[lindapadley]

115 yrs+! Shows how far we have come. Lets not go backwards.

[hamburgareable]

👏 👏 👏 Great picture indeed and it revolutionized the cinema forever.

[kohashiguchi]

The screenplay writer, Samson Raphaelson, was an uncle to the director Bob Raphelson, who directed the Monkees in "Head."

[reloda]

Looks like it was the first use of autocue too, the text roll must have been massive as you can easily see the announcer's eyes tracking left to right

[epsteinisms]

It makes sense that Irving Berlin would have been there - one of his songs, "Blue Skies", is sung by Jolson in the film.
My mother saw this at the Warner theater in NY. She went with her parents and three sisters. When they got there is was discovered that somebody lost a ticket on the way. An usher kindly allowed them all in as long as two of the girls could sit in the same seat. Which is what my mom did with her sister.

[trfjulio]

Taken as the first film with sound syncronized to the image, but in fact the first was "The photo-drama of creation" form 1914. Its system was much better than Vitaphone.

[julianmarsh]

Thanks for posting. And I have, and I hope no one minds, that whenever I see a posting with Al Jolson, I feel obliged to mention that while many today find his use of blackface offensive, he actually did a LOT for Blacks, and this at a time when it was less than fashionable.

[atkojak]

Can anyone tell me what the announcement guys name is?? I assume he’s famous as I’ve heard his voice before. Thanks in advance

[EmiliaRudnicka-jnpn]

Its original intro to first movie? Look little demonic