Jazz Singer

Recently I watched "An the Oscar goes to,' a documentary on the history of the show. I became a little obsessed with watching some of the "Best Picture" winners. The Oscar's started in 1927, the year the Jazz Singer came out. For those of you who don't know, the Jazz Singer was the first talking picture. 

It wasn't up for Outstanding  Picture however, it did win for Best Technicological Achievement. Wings, the World War 1 epic, won Outstanding Picture. They didn't call it Best Picture until 1962. 

I have watched singing in the rain about 3,024 times and never had seen The Jazz Singer. So, I went on Apple TV, found it and pushed play. The preludes in old films are daunting almost. It's like here a picture of a top hat and the initial credits are running with big band jazz music in the background, which seems to take a least 5 minutes. Today, I feel like movies go straight into the action. Lights down, curtain up, boom something is happening! Our attention span is way to short these days to have something that drawn out. 

To be honest, I thought the whole movie was going to be a talking film. However, it isnt for those of you who haven't seen it. I think I take fore granted how far we have some in technology in the past 100 years. It is a good flick and I think anyone that has an appreciation for the classics would enjoy it. The story line is there. Well, as much as it can be with no one really talking.  Spoiler Alert: I can't believe they did black face. It was normally for the time but in this day and age, OMG! i was surprised by it is all. It wasn't until 1939 when Hattie McDaniel, won for supporting role in the "Gone with the Wind." that a black person won an Oscar. Followed by Sidney Poitier in 1963 for his role in "Lilies of the field." Interesting facts is all. 

Thank you Jazz Singer for your breakthrough!