Week 1 Video Reviews
Jolson “Jazz Singer” 1927 “Toot Tootsie Goodbye”:
Artist's Name:
The artist in this video clip is Al Jolson. He was one of Hollywood's early stars and performed in the first "talkie".
Song Title:
This song is titled "Toot Toot Tootsie". It is from the movie "The Jazz Singer".
Year:
The movie was made in 1927.
Narrative of Video:
The video shows Jolson performing in what appears to be a nightclub. Although he isn’t on a stage of any sort, there are people sitting at tables around him and a sizable orchestra behind him. As the performance continues, the camera flashes to a young woman who is sitting at one of the tables. Whether she is relevant or not is difficult to determine from this clip. In the same scene, there are people behind her who are obviously enjoying the performance. One woman is doing a little dancing in her chair. For the majority of the video, we see Jolson’s full body. He is in almost a constant state of motion. On close up, it is easy to see that his facial expressions are very animated. I think this might be a carryover from the silent movie days.
How the Music and Video Relate:
The video and the music work very well. The music is lively and so is Jolson's performance.
Review:
I enjoyed watching this clip. I was surprised that the quality of it was so high considering how old the original film is.