Chante-nous ça!

This is the first all-talking movie starring Al Jolson. Although he made two 'talkies' before this, they were both essentially silent films with sound portions added. This one was always intended as a sound film and is a bit more modern in this sense. However, in many ways, the film is very, very old fashioned and plot-wise it's just the same old, same old by Jolson....but even schmaltzier!

The film has a fatal flaw in how it portrays Jolson. He is a married guy with a cute kid (Davey Lee--who played Jolson's adorable son in several films). But he's also a heavy gambler and hot-head-- and a very difficult man for any woman to love. Despite this, she steadfastly stands by her man--even when Al's wicked boss tries to put the moves on her. Her big mistake is telling Al about this, as soon he gets into a fight with the boss and accidentally kills him. Next, Al's in jail and his heart is breaking. The wife STILL refuses to abandon him, but Al is a knuckle-head and somehow comes up with the notion that she'd be better off without him--so he deliberately pushes her away.

Now here is where things get weird. While in prison, Al's great singing ability is discovered and he goes on the radio (I am sure that MOST radio shows of the day originated in prison, right?!). And, even weirder is when Al gets out of prison. He doesn't tell the wife and instead sneaks off to see the kid. Soon (due to the stupidity of the kid), the boy is run over and has one of those mysterious movie ailments. And, Al doesn't tell anyone that the kid is in the hospital. And, when the kid is discharged, Al doesn't bring the child to the mother. Does any of this make any sense? Nope. But neither does what follows.

The bottom line is that the film never makes much sense, is WAY too sentimental and schmaltzy and lacks the usual hit tunes of his other films. Overall, this is a boring and silly little film where Jolson and the filmmakers went to the well too many times--and came up with a syrupy sweet mess.

Say It with Songs (1929)

** (out of 4)

Radio personality Joe Lane (Al Jolson) is about to get a major break in his career but his wife (Davey Lee) tells him that his best friend hit up on her. Joe ends up punching the man and this punch actually kills him so he is sent to prison where he dreams of returning to his wife and child.

Jolson made Warner a fortune with THE JAZZ SINGER, which was the first blockbuster that used some songs in what was basically a silent movie. From there Jolson scored another hit and the studio rewarded him with a $500,000 contract for this picture. This here would turn out to be Jolson's first full blown talkie and it also turned into his first box office bomb and in all honesty the film is incredibly awful but thankfully it's so bad that you have to watch it.

I guess I should say that Jolson is so awful that it's easy to recommend this movie. Now, to be fair, Jolson was a singer so perhaps his acting shouldn't be judge too harshly but at the same time he was able to make a career in front of the camera. The most shocking thing is just how truly awful his performance is here. There are some really embarrassing moments scattered throughout the film including one scene where Jolson breaks down crying in his jail cell and is consoled by his cell mate. This is certainly one of the worst and most hilarious things I've seen from a movie during this era.

Even without the awful performance you've got a lot of other campy moments as well. The screenplay is about as generic as you can get and this includes some really bad melodrama throughout. This is especially true towards the end of the picture. I won't spoil what happens but you can't help but sit there and laugh at all of the "drama" that is taking place in front of your eyes. The film's direction from Lloyd Bacon isn't much better but at the same time I'm going to guess that he just didn't have too much to work with.

Jolson does sing a few numbers throughout, which range from good to fair but at the same time these certainly weren't enough to save the picture. SAY IT WITH SONGS is a really poor movie but at the same time it's very much entertaining in a bad way.

New York radio singer Al Jolson (as Joe Lane) is appalled when his wife Marian Nixon (as Katherine) reveals a shocking incident. She has been invited to be "nice" sexually with the station manager in order to advance Mr. Jolson's career. Jolson takes matters into his own hands, resulting in an unexpected tragedy. Consequently, Jolson is arrested and separated from his beloved son Davey Lee (as "Little Pal"). Even greater tragedies follow. This was made to look like a sequel to Jolson's "The Singing Fool" (1928) but falls significantly short. Probably, Jolson's already tremendous ego was too much for director Lloyd Bacon and the studio to bear...

"Say It with Songs" could have been a successful melodrama, but the players look helpless and uneasy. Performances, set direction, camera-work and editing are not entirely competent. The artful sequences highlighting Jolson's previous films are mostly absent. The soundtrack and music are good, though. "Little Pal" b/w "I'm in Seventh Heaven" and "Why Can't You" all made the national top ten. While not as strong as "Sonny Boy", "Little Pal" provided and interesting interlude near the end; it was another #1 hit record. The #2 flip side, "I'm in Seventh Heaven" was the superior tune; it's the closing song and ends the film on a good note.

*** Say It with Songs (8/6/29) Lloyd Bacon ~ Al Jolson, Marian Nixon, Davey Lee, Holmes Herbert

Say It With Songs is the first all talking film that Al Jolson did on initial Warner Brothers contract and for him the first flop in his Hollywood career.

You can't say that the Brothers Warner didn't follow the usual Hollywood formula in that if something succeeds, copy it as best you can. Jolson had scored well with his second film The Singing Fool and his singing of Sonny Boy to four year old Davey Lee was the big hit. What to do, team them again and you even get the crack songwriting team of DeSylva,Brown&Henderson to write this score as well.

Except for the song Little Pal none of the other songs had any lasting staying power from Say It With Songs. Little Pal did become a Jolson standard though not to the same degree as Sonny Boy. But the score is serviceable for the plot which has Jolson as a radio singer.

Being a radio singer obviated the need for Jolson's usual blackface persona. Say It With Songs became the first of two films he did without the blackface, a fact I hadn't known before. I had assumed and I'd seen it written that Hallelujah, I'm a Bum was the only film he did without the blackface.

More's the pity here because if Say It With Songs had been a hit Jolson might have abandoned the burnt cork and his historic reputation wouldn't have suffered so.

The plot has Jolson a happy go lucky radio singer who unfortunately likes to drink and gamble and generally carouse. A wolfish radio manager has some designs on wife Marian Nixon and offers her an indecent proposal. When Jolie hears of it he kills him when he hits the wolf just a little too hard and his head strikes a cement curb. That lands him in jail.

Marian Nixon has to support herself and goes to work for a doctor who's always had an eye on her as well. Of course when Jolie hears about in prison he's all for it, but not for her taking up their kid as well.

Jolie gets one of the earliest paroles in penal history, even for what probably is a manslaughter 2 conviction because little Davey Lee ages not a bit. But little Davey also gets himself hit by a car while chasing his dad. Davey becomes paralyzed and what's Jolie to do? By coincidence the doctor is a specialist and he offers Jolie the indecent proposal this time.

I think with the general description of this plot you get the idea of the general mawkishness of the plot. Director Lloyd Bacon doesn't try to control Jolson's incredible overacting for the camera. Those two factors were what mainly sank the film.

Yet Jolson's dynamism as an entertainer still shines through and when he's singing you almost forget about the plot. Almost that is.

There was no bigger star in cinema during the transition from silents to sound than singer Al Jolson. He was the actor who introduced the first lengthy talking sequence in a major feature film in October 1927's "The Jazz Singer." His follow-up a year later, 1928's "The Singing Fool," solidified his popularity on the screen. That movie collected $6 million in its coffer, a figure Warner Brothers didn't even come close until its 1941 "Sergeant York." So appreciative the studio was with Jolson's success Warners signed him to one of the highest Hollywood salaries at the time.

His next movie, August 1929 "Say It With Songs," was the first all-talking feature for Jolson. The previous two were part-talkies with selected songs and accompanying musical soundtracks. The buzz before its premier was since it was a Jolson film, it must be really, really good.

The adage of a movie is only as good as its script holds true with "Say It With Songs." In the screenplay written by future studio executive Darryl F. Zanuck along with two others, Jolson plays a radio entertainer who accidentally kills the station's owner for making advances on his wife. He's sent to jail, where he looks to divorce his wife. Once out of prison, he witnesses his young four-year-old son (David Lee) hit by a car, paralyzing him. A pretty bleak melodrama whose chirpy Jolson personality was at odds.

The release of the movie in major cities turned out to be a complete bomb after critics mercilessly skewered it. A reviewer from The New Yorker pegged it as "Even the fantastically happy ending, when the sound of his voice cures the child of aphasia, does not eradicate the general impression of dreary and specious tragedy." Los Angeles theater goers got the word fast that this was a chore to sit through, and immediately stayed away. The Warners Theater in L. A. shut it down after only two days on the screen. Many smaller towns were unaware of the scathing reviews. Because of Jolson's marquee value, "Say It With Songs" still made over $2 million in the nation's theaters, sitting as the sixth best box office returns in 1929. But it proved to be the first flop in Jolson's career.

Warner Brothers learned its lesson. The next Jolson film would be more lighthearted with showbiz as its central focus in 1930's 'Mammy,' in line with the former minstrel singer's personality.