Hollywood and The Jazz Singer

The Jazz Singer (1927)
DIRECTED BY: Alan Crosland
STARRING: Al Jolson, May McAvoy, Warner Oland
WON: Honorary Award (For producing The Jazz Singer, the pioneer outstanding talking picture, which has revolutionized the industry)
NOMINATED FOR: Best Writing, Adaptation (Alfred A. Cohn)

Lately, I've been blind-sided by the state of life. At this time last year, I was far less concerned about my economic status, far less concerned about if my car was functioning correctly, far less concerned about the policy changes at my job. The things I was more concerned about I've almost completely forgotten.

I've been in so many good places in my life, and inside I'd beg for things to stay this way. Change is almost nothing but destructive. Change kills many great things.

The Jazz Singer carries the stench of death...

*snicker*

Sorry, I'm being corny. As much as I want to make The Jazz Singer out as a Hollywood serial killer who killed the era of silent films and more then half of the people involved, it'd be closer to the truth to call it some mentally handicapped guy who accidentally ran over the silent film industry with his parent's car. It's fame and infamy are purely by chance, and not at all earned.

The Jazz Singer was not the first sound film. Thomas Edison managed to sync sound almost right after inventing film, and the twenty years before The Jazz Singer led to dozens of examples.

The Jazz Singer was not the first full-length film with sound. Don Juan came out a year earlier with a synced music soundtrack and sound effects. Sunrise came out a month earlier, also with music and soundtrack, and even background dialogue.

The Jazz Singer was not the first full-length film with synced dialogue. For the most part, it's a silent film, intertitles and all, with dialogue only popping up in two scenes. The first "talkie" wouldn't come for another year, in the form of Lights of New York.

The Jazz Singer was not made with the most innovative technology available. Fox Studio's sound-on-film system surpasses Warner Bros' sound-on-disk system in just about every way. Sound-on-film didn't get unsynchronized, it didn't wear out nearly as fast, and it allowed for more portable cameras.

The Jazz Singer was not a good film. Not in the slightest. Some people are still rolling their eyes over it's high melodrama and over the top acting. It's the worse film I've reviewed thus far.

The Jazz Singer is not a comfortable film. Even ignoring it's history as a silent film killer. I don't care how often you say "that was just how things worked back then," the famous blackface scenes make my stomach turn. Less talked about is the film's strong Jewish stereotype. There isn't as many numbers on just how offensive Jew stereotypes are, but this film like two kinds of uncomfort sandwiching some cheesy old musical numbers.

The Jazz Singer was merely the first successful film with some sound in it. And, I guess, that's all it took to kill silent pictures.

And with this, we finish the 1st Academy Awards. The film industry would recover eventually. It's like a phoenix, it becomes reborn in it's own ashes. Unfortunately, ashes are all we have to look at as we enter the 2nd Academy Awards...

Charles Chaplin and The Circus

THE CIRCUS (1928)
DIRECTED BY: Charles Chaplin
STARRING: Charles Chaplin, Merna Kennedy, Al Ernest Garcia
WON: Honorary Award (Charles Chaplin, for versatility and genius in acting, writing, directing and producing The Circus)

The Circus is an oft-ignored entry in Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp canon. Released between two of Chaplin's most successful and talked-about films, The Gold Rush (1925) and City Lights (1931), it's easy to miss it. It's not even mentioned in Chaplin's official biography.

Yet, for everyone interested in Chaplin, this is much more of a required viewing then any either of the films that sandwich it. Out of all the Chaplin films I've seen (which is fewer then I care to admit), The Circus is the most personal of his works, the Tramp mirroring Chaplin's own hardships and ambitions.

Chaplin grew up in the music halls of London, which shared many elements of the classic circus. Clowns, mostly. In fact, most classic clown gags were formed in the music halls, and had become stale by 1928. Chaplin was more then aware of this, so unlike the clowns in The Crowd, nobody laughs at these clowns' old gags, and the clowns ain't laughing either.

Chaplin created a purpose for himself: to take apart the old gags he learned in those music halls and rejuvenate them into something new.

Though a series of misunderstanding and chase scenes, the Tramp ends up running into the circus and starts messing up the acts, but the crowd loves it. The ringleader offers the Tramp a job, and he goes through a series of auditions performing classic gags, but can't pull them off.

One of the old gags is called the "William Tell gag," in which an archer attempts to shoot an apple off his partner's head, but the partner keeps taking bites out of the apple and unbalancing it. It's an old, old gag. It fact, it was filmed as far back as 1900.

Chaplin began playing with this gag long before The Circus, including filming (but not finishing) a version ten years earlier with the bow replaced with a colt 45.

Chaplin finally returned to the gag, but instead of replacing the weapon, he replaced the fruit.

And with that, an old gag was made anew.

Chaplin not only revised old gags with the film, but also revised old Chaplin. The Circus has a similar plot to that of his 1916 short film The Vagabond. Both have the Tramp falling for a woman under the control of an abusive father figure.

And in both films, the girl eventually falls in love with a dark handsome stranger, much to the Tramp's dismay.

I can't say for sure, but I imagine that all this looking back was tough for Chaplin at the time. Remember when I said the film wasn't mentioned in his official biography? That's because it was one of the most difficult movies Chaplin ever made. First, a large storm destroyed part of the set. Then, chemical treatment destroyed the first two weeks worth of film and they had to start all over again. Then a fire broke out and destroyed the entire set. This photo was taken that day:

Things only got worse. Through the production of the film, Chaplin was going through a bitter and very public divorce with his second wife Lita Grey. Fearing that his film would be taken away from him, Chaplin shut down production for almost a year and hid the film negatives. And finally, to top it all off, there were claims of back taxes by the IRS.

In many ways, this makes the centerpiece of the film, where the Tramp is forced to perform in a high wire act, all the more metaphorical.

When the act begins, the Tramp is wearing a harness and is in full control. However, after losing the harness and then being attacked by a pack of monkeys, the Tramp is in a pretty spot.

But he never falls off the wire! It's almost too perfect of a representation of Chaplin's turbulent months working on the film.

The film was award the first "Honorary Award" at the Academy Awards. It was originally up for an acting and directing award too, but the Academy pulled him from the competition and gave him his own special award instead. I'm not sure why exactly. Maybe they thought it'd be too unfair for the other nominees? Maybe they thought there'd be a public uproar if Chaplin didn't win the awards? Or maybe they really saw the importance that The Circus was to Chaplin's filmography.

Whatever the case, Chaplin deserved this special award.