“The Singing Fool”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

The Singing Fool is a 1928 American musical drama Part-Talkie motion picture directed by Lloyd Bacon which was released by Warner Bros. The film stars Al Jolson and is a follow-up to his previous film, The Jazz Singer. It is credited with helping to cement the popularity of American films of both sound and the musical genre.

Plot

After years of hopeful struggle, Al Stone (Jolson) is on his way. "I'm Sittin' on Top of the World", he sings to an appreciative speakeasy crowd. But, as Al discovers, getting there is one thing. Staying there is another. Singing waiter Stone gets his huge break on a magical night when his song wows a big-time producer and a gold-digging showgirl he fancies. Broadway success and marriage follow, but sure enough, hard times are on the way. Al's fickle wife abandons him, taking the beloved son he calls Sonny Boy with her. Heartbroken, Al becomes a devastated loner until friends from the speakeasy that launched his career rescue him from a life on the streets. Soon, Al is back in lights. But another crisis awaits: Sonny Boy is in the hospital and dying.

Cast

Production

Like The Jazz Singer, The Singing Fool was a melodrama with musical interludes, and as such was one of the film industry's first musical films. Produced during the transition period between silent film and talkies, the movie was released in both sound and silent versions.

The Singing Fool was a part-talking feature, which featured a synchronized musical score with sound effects along with synchronized musical and talking sequences, although in this film roughly 66 minutes of talking and singing were included.^[5] Al Jolson's first all-talking feature, Say It With Songs, would appear in 1929.

Reception

According to Warner Bros records the film earned $3,821,000 domesically and $2,095,000 foreign.^[3]

For the majority of movie audiences, The Singing Fool became their first experience with a talking film, since few movie theaters had been equipped with a sound system in 1927. The film's positive reception was also viewed as a signifier that sound films were here to stay. "Here is complete vindication for the advocates of sound pictures", wrote Film Daily. "The Singing Fool is the finest example of sound pictures made to date."^[6] Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times wrote that the dialogue was "a little halting" and that Dunn was "not convincing", but recognized that the main point of interest in the film was "not in its transparent narrative, but in Mr. Jolson's inimitable singing", and on that basis it was "capital entertainment."^[7] John Mosher of The New Yorker also recommended the film, writing, "Fortunately, throughout this picture one has Al Jolson's own songs to listen to, for the story has been contrived to exploit to the full his special talents. Whenever the action begins to slump and lag, Al has only to step forward and do his stuff, and the day is saved."^[8] One trade paper commentator stated that The Singing Fool "will be to talking pictures what The Birth of a Nation has been to silent pictures".^[5]

For a time, the film also made Davey Lee, Jolson's 3{{frac|1|2}} year old co-star, the most popular child star since Jackie Coogan. Lee was re-teamed with Jolson in Say It With Songs and starred in a few other films—including 1929's Sonny Boy—until his parents pulled him out of the movie business.^[5]

Songs

Deleted scenes

Al Jolson's rendition of "The Spaniard That Blighted My Life" is missing from extant prints of the film. This is due to a lawsuit initiated by the song's author, Billy Merson. Merson claimed that he, as a performer, owed his income to his own renditions of the song, and that Jolson's version would diminish his ability to earn a living. The song was removed from all prints of "The Singing Fool" shown in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, the only surviving copies of the film are also from the U.K., hence are missing the song. These copies also have the majority of the original decorative Warner Brothers title cards replaced with simple British made ones which were used to remove Americanisms which the British would not understand or appreciate (a common practice during the silent era). Only the soundtrack survives on extant Vitaphone discs.

See also

References

1. ^{{cite book |last1=Furia |first1=Philip |last2=Patterson |first2=Laurie |date=2010 |title=The Songs of Hollywood |url= |location=Oxford and New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=26 |isbn=9780199792665 |accessdate= }}
2. ^¹²³⁴{{AFI film|12146}}
3. ^¹Warner Bros financial information in The William Shaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 7 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551
4. ^¹{{cite journal|first=H Mark |last=Glancy |title=Warner Bros Film Grosses, 1921–51: the William Schaefer ledger |journal=Historical Journal of Film Radio and Television |volume=15 |year=1995}}
5. ^¹²³⁴{{Cite book | last = Bradley | first = Edwin M. | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The First Hollywood Musicals: A Critical Filmography of 171 Features, 1927 Through 1932 | publisher = McFarland & Company | year = 1996 | location = | pages = 10–12 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 9780786420292 }}
6. ^{{cite journal |last= |first= |date=September 23, 1928 |title=The Singing Fool |url= |journal=Film Daily |location=New York |publisher=Wid's Films and Film Folk, Inc. |page=6 |accessdate= }}
7. ^{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F0DE0D7173FE33ABC4851DFBF668383639EDE |title=Movie Review – The Singing Fool |last=Hall |first=Mordaunt |authorlink=Mordaunt Hall |date=September 20, 1928 |website=The New York Times |accessdate=February 20, 2015 }}
8. ^{{cite journal |last=Mosher |first=John |authorlink=John Mosher (writer) |date=September 29, 1928 |title=The Current Cinema |url= |journal=The New Yorker |page=77 |accessdate= }}
9. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/songs400.pdf |title=AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs Nominees |format=PDF |date= |accessdate=2016-08-05}}