The Jolson Story: Amazon.ca: Larry Parks, Evelyn Keyes, William Demarest, Bill Goodwin, Ludwig Donath, Scotty Beckett, Tamara Shayne, Jo-Carroll Dennison, John Alexander, Ernest Cossart, The Robert Mitchell Boy Choir, Jessie Arnold, Alfred E. Green, Gordon Griffith, Sidney Buchman, Sidney Skolsky, Andrew Solt, Harry Chandlee, Stephen Longstreet: DVD

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Customer Reviews

24 Reviews

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
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Average Customer Review

4.8 out of 5 stars (24 customer reviews)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars THE WAY MOVIES USE TO BE, Dec 30 2003

By

OILMAN "OWEN" (bayside, new york United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Jolson Story (DVD)

I"M A MAN OF FEW WORDS WHEN IT COMES TO THIS MOVIE, THE MOVIE
IS NOTHING SHORT OF WONDERFUL ENTERTAINMENT. THERE ARE ALOT OF
DISCREPANCIES ABOUT TRUTHS DATES AND ACTUAL HAPPENINGS, HOWEVER
THE MOVIE IS MAGIC, IT WILL TAKE YOU BACK TO A TIME OF INNOCENCE
AND WHEN AMERICA TRULY HAD GREAT ENTERTAINMENT, SO SIT BACK GRAB THE POPCORN AND BE PREPARED TO TRULY ENJOY THIS MOVIE WHICH I"M SURE WILL LEAVE YOU HUMMING SOME OF THE WONDERFUL SONGS,AND LONGING TO CRANK UP THE DVD PLAYER AND WATCH IT AGAIN AND AGAIN

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Movie!, Feb 6 2009

By

BB "Bonnie" (ON, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Jolson Story (DVD)

This brought back wonderful memories of a great movie that I saw for the first time as a little girl. Its nostalgic music from a super star from the past, holds up surprisingly well today. I think it's a classic movie, that although it seems a bit stilted compared to today's movie production standards, entertains well. Worth the purchase price and watching every couple years - just for the music.

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5.0 out of 5 stars The greatest Hollywood film musical biography ever, Dec 29 2000

By

C. Roberts "movie buff" (Halifax, Yorkshire, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Jolson Story, the (VHS Tape)

The young Asa Yoelson (Scotty Beckett) runs away from home to join Steve Martin (William Demarest) in vaudeville against the wishes of his parents. They find him and realising how much he wants to get into show business they reluctantly agree for him to join Martin on tour. As he grows up he changes his name to Al Jolson (now played by Larry Parks) and becomes a big Broadway star. He meets Julie Benson (Evelyn Keyes) and they get married. However, all that Jolson really cares about is to get in front of an audience and sing so his marriage suffers because of it. He stars in one successful Broadway show after another and then is invited to go to Hollywood to take the lead in the first ever talking picture "The Jazz Singer". In later years his popularity declines and he finds it harder to get work. He does in fact make a sensational comeback and is in even bigger demand than ever which was portrayed in the sequel "Jolson Sings Again".

When I first saw "The Jolson Story" I had never heard of its star Larry Parks although I had bought a few Jolson records prior to seeing the film. Parks gave a magnificent portrayal but apart from appearing in "Jolson Sings Again" three years later he made very few films after that due to the McCarthy communist "witch hunt" which was a shame.

Some favourite lines from the film:

William Demarest: "Give that boy a spotlight!".

Tamara Shayne (to Ludwig Donath): "Papa, Asa isn't Asa any more!".

Larry Parks (to orchestra leader): "Oscar, what are you doing with that phone - this is no time to call up women!".

Parks (to audience in theatre): "Settle back folks - you ain't heard nothin' yet!".

Parks (to audience in theatre): "I'm going into what they call talking pictures - don't know what's going to happen to me - but er, if I come back you'll let me - won't you?".

"The Jolson Story" is one of those rare movies that you can enjoy over and over again and has a high place in my Top Ten films of all time. Wonderful acting, superb colour, fascinating story (even though not entirely accurate), and how about those memorable old songs - "California Here I Come", "April Showers", "Swanee", "Rockabye Your Baby", "Robert E. Lee", "Mammy", "You Made Me Love You", "I'm Sitting On Top of the World", "About a Quarter to Nine", etc. This film is worth seeing just to hear the real Al Jolson belting out the songs that made him famous. Jolson was often billed as "the world's greatest entertainer" and I'm sure that was a title well deserved. Clive Roberts.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Jolson Sings Forever
Larry Parks does a superb job in The Jolson Story. Can't see how anyone else could have performed this part. This is an infectious, happy movie. Read more

Published 23 months ago by Paul C. Jackson

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Greatest Entertainers & Movies
I first saw "The Jolson Story" in 1946 when I was a child. I developed a crush on Larry Parks, and a love of the music of Al Jolson. Read more

Published on Mar 20 2004 by Glenda J. Pollack