41: The JOLSON STORY
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(Year refers to British release)
Colour: Technicolor
Estimated Attendance: 11.6 million
What they said at the time...
Synopsis
Romantic Musical Biography. This is the story of the singer Al Jolson; though perhaps it should be called the "fairy story", since the programme states that "characters and incidents portrayed and names used are fictitious". Anyway, young Asa Yoelson runs away from his loving but inconveniently orthodox Jewish parents to join first a vaudeville act and then a minstrel show under the name of Al Jolson. In New Orleans he discovers jazz, develops his individual style from it, sings "Mammy" in a Broadway show, and rises to stardom, first on the stage and later in the movies, when he makes the first dialogue film, The Jazz Singer. His romance with the musical-comedy star Julie Benson is marred by his devotion to what to him is genuinely his "art". Larry Parkes gives an excellent imitation of Jolson, apart from the singing, which is done by Jolson himself. Evelyn Keyes is charming as Julie, and William Demarest gives a good performance as the vaudeville performer who first launched Jolson on his career and afterwards became his manager. Those who enjoy Jolson's overpowering sentimentality should revel in this two hours and nine minutes of fictitious biography; and even those who find it embarrassing will probably admit that this is a well-directed and acted Technicolor musical.
Synopsis and Review from Monthly Film Bulletin Vol.13 No.155 p.151 1946
The Monthly Film Bulletin was published by the BFI between 1934 and 1991. Initially aimed at distributors and exhibitors as well as filmgoers, it carried reviews and details of all UK film releases. In 1991, the Bulletin was incoporated into Sight and Sound magazine.
