Reviews (11)

"Jolson Story II": script only OK but Parks better than ever
"Jolson Sings Again" picks up where "The Jolson Story" left off and takes the singing star into the 1940s, when he finds himself in professional decline until his movie biography comes out. Because this sequel covers far less territory than the original, "Jolson Sings Again" lacks the stature and story values of the earlier picture. But in many ways it's even more fun to watch.

By this time Larry Parks, already impressive in "The Jolson Story," was in full command of the role. Parks is often very amusing and inventive here, adding little bits of business to his performance. As for his song scenes, this writer submits "Sonny Boy" for special praise. Parks is letter-perfect, so much so that the film editor doesn't cut away from Parks's face as he delivers one long, flawless take. Barbara Hale is excellent as the romantic interest, and Ludwig Donath and Myron McCormick are fine in support. (Look quickly for "Gong Show" bandleader Milton Delugg as a young accordionist.)

Fans of Al Jolson will enjoy hearing many popular hits, and movie buffs will especially enjoy the scenes showing the preparation and filming of "The Jolson Story." You don't have to know the original to enjoy "Jolson Sings Again."

JOLIE SINGS AGAIN
My favorite of the two Jolson Movies. Watch this wonderful DVD and be brought back to a time of Inocents. When movies really were Spectacular....Get the popcorn ready..Put your feet up and get ready for a wonderful Experience...........Enjoy !!

Never get tired of this one!
Larry Parks is incredible once again as Al Jolson. Sure, its kind of predictable, and some of the more popular scenes from "The Jolson Story" are redone here, but I could watch this movie every day and not get tired of the music, story, and especially Larry Parks! Would LOVE to have it in DVD if/when that happens!

Big Shock! Jolson's voice was not used on all songs!
Columbia Pictures was not happy with at least three of the tracks Jolson sang. He was older and not well so they brought in Jolson "sound-a-like" singer Norman Brooks to sing them. If you ever heard Mr Brooks you would be amazed! He HAD AL Jolson's voice!!
Once source told me that Jolie never knew the difference.

Entertaining sequel to "The Jolson Story" with Larry Parks
"Jolson Sings Again" is a worthy sequel to "The Jolson Story" with Larry Parks repeating his amazing portrayal of the sensational Broadway entertainer Al Jolson. The film takes up where the original ended with Jolson singing in a night club then he goes home to find that his wife Julie (Evelyn Keyes) has left him. William Demarest is back once again as Steve Martin (Jolson's friend and manager) with Ludwig Donath and Tamara Shayne repeating their roles as Jolson's parents. Jolson is only happy when singing on stage to a live audience but finds that he is now no longer in demand and it is difficult to get work. Steve Martin tries hard to discover some Broadway producer who will put Jolson into a show but no one is interested. Jolson then volunteers to entertain the troops abroad and is one of the first of the big stars to do this. While on one of these Tours he meets Col. Bryant (Myron McCormick) who is a big Jolson fan. On another Tour Jolson contracts an illness and is taken to hospital. Ellen Clark (Barbara Hale) is a nurse at the hospital where he is recovering and they fall in love and get married. Jolson still pines to be singing again and Steve Martin manages to get him a spot in an all star benefit show. The show is extremely long and Jolson doesn't appear until the finale by which time many people have left. However, Col. Bryant is in the audience that night and he stays to the end specially to hear Jolson sing. Bryant is now a Hollywood film producer and phones Jolson after the show with an offer to make a film of Jolson's life story. Much of "Jolson Sings Again" shows the background to the making of the earlier film which is fascinating - particularly when Larry Parks (as Jolson) is introduced to Larry Parks (as himself)!! "The Jolson Story" became a smash hit putting Jolson back on top and he went on to even greater success than before with another biographical film a few years later continuing his story in "Jolson Sings Again".

Some favourite lines from the film:

William Demarest (to Robert Emmett Keane): "I'm not going back to that guy with some lame excuse that adds up to only one thing - he's not wanted. I can't do it Charlie, and you're not going to make me do it".

Myron McCormick (to soldiers at Jolson troop concert): "I don't know what the name means to you. When I was your age it meant the world's greatest entertainer - Al Jolson".

McCormick (to Parks as Jolson): "Meet a young fellow named Larry Parks".

Barbara Hale (to Parks): "It's your right to hear those bobby soxers squeal".

It is interesting to note that the storyline in both films was not entirely accurate and took a few liberties with the facts. Jolson's mother died when he was eight years old yet in the films she lives on to see him become a big success on Broadway and in talking pictures. Many people who played active parts in Jolson's real life story did not even get a mention in the film versions. His long time manager Louis Epstein, his dresser valet Frank Holmes and his brother Harry Jolson were all eliminated!! The character of Steve Martin excellently played by William Demarest did not actually exist and it has been suggested that this role was probably a composite of the three men referred to above plus several other people. Jolson's first two wives were not even mentioned in "The Jolson Story" and Ruby Keeler (Jolson's third wife) would not allow her name to be used in the picture so attractive Evelyn Keyes had to play the fictitious Julie Benson instead.

Harry Cohn (the notorious head of Columbia Pictures) is to be congratulated for going ahead with Jolson's life story when all the other major Hollywood studios had turned it down. Even Warner Bros. (for whom Jolson had starred in several films) were not interested. Filming was started on a small budget and in black and white. When Harry Cohn saw the early rushes he decided to film in colour and make "The Jolson Story" a major prestigious production. This certainly paid off in a big way for him as the film became one of Columbia Pictures top money earners and led to this sequel "Jolson Sings Again". James Cagney and Danny Thomas were both offered the part of Jolson and surprisingly both of them turned it down! Jolson desperately wanted to play the leading role himself and was opposed to another actor portraying his life. Unfortunately for him the studio decided that Jolson was too old (he was 60 at the time of the first film) but Columbia could not have found anyone better than the young Larry Parks (31) who perfectly captured the Jolson style and threw himself into the part with relish. However, Jolson did manage to play himself in one scene of "The Jolson Story" singing "Swanee" on the Winter Garden runway (all filmed in longshot with no close-ups). A clip from this scene was also shown in "Jolson Sings Again" so he did manage to appear in both films after all. Following the completion of "Jolson Sings Again" Larry Parks only made another four films due to the McCarthy communist "witch hunt" which was a shame as he was a very talented performer. He died in 1975 but will always be remembered for these two magnificent Jolson films. It is remarkable that over 50 years after Jolson's death there is an active "International Jolson Society" still in existence which has hundreds of members worldwide and publishes regular illustrated journals. "The Jolson Story" and "Jolson Sings Again" are two of my favourite musicals and I can watch them over and over again. ... Read more

Reviews (22)

Greatest of All Time
There are few words that can accurately describe the magnificent performance of Larry Parks in "THE JOLSON STORY". With Larry's performance, Morris Stoloff's Orchestra, and the great Al Jolson's voice, this movie is easily hands down, the best musical biography ever made. Along with it's sequel, "JOLSON SINGS AGAIN", it stands in a class of it's own. Sure reviewers of today have deemed it a little hoaky, but that is how wartime Hollywood movies were. In addition, although the movie is obviously fictionalized, the facts of Jolson's accomplishments are TRUE, and cannot and should not be denied with regard to their historical importance as it relates to the evolution of American Entertainment and the great American Songbook. Jolson was the KIng of Showbusiness for more than four decades, and his accomplishments are legendary. For those who have not yet seen this movie, take note of some of Al Jolson's achievements: 1st million selling record; 1st million selling album; 1st to take a Braodway show on the road; 1st to go overseas and entertain the troops in the USO; and the list goes on and on. Do yourself a favor...watch this movie...see history...discover America's Greatest Entertainer.

Why isn't this on DVD (yet)? WELL, IT FINALLY IS!!
THE JOLSON STORY is one of the greatest musicals of all time! Jolson's story (based on fact, but fictionalized), his actual singing and Larry Parks' acting and lip-synching are beyond compare!

I think it's a shame that every junky new movie is put on DVD and we have to wait for a classic like this to come out.

THAT'S WHAT I HAD WRITTEN, BUT ALAS, IT'S ON DVD EFFECTIVE 10/21/03!
Sound is good and picture is good, but not excellent. There are dirt flicks during the movie, especially when Young Al is in the audience singing to his future manager (William Demarest). Houw could this have been digitally mastered? Also, there is NO TRAILER and NO EXTRAS! The cover looks awful! But ... it's on DVD!

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. Periodically, I watch the video, as I did today. Ludwig Donath, who starred as Al Jolson's father in the film was a friend of my family. I have two personally autographed pictures of him. He was an accomplished actor from Austria, and a fine person. There is little comparable to the "Anniversary Song" as performed later in the film. My mother saw Al Jolson and Ruby Keeler three times in person in the San Diego area and in Los Angeles. "The Jolson Story" is one of my all time favorites. I wish that we had more contemporary entertainers like Al Jolson.

THE WAY MOVIES USE TO BE
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

Finally, my favorite movie on DVD
Like another reviewer, I have literally seen this movie over a hundred times. I grew up watching this movie on TV every time it came on. The Laserdisc release was very good. I am happy to report that the DVD transfer is very nice. The packaging is awful and would lead you to believe this is one of those throwaway bargin DVDs, but the package does indicate the re-mastering was done in high definition. The sound indicates mono, which most of the movie is, but it is really the stereo version of the movie which as a few pans of some sound effects taken from the original mono release. For Jolson Story fans, I do not need to sell on this, but for those who have never heard Al Jolson, this is the best way to hear him. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Rita Hayworth really was a screen goddess in the late 1940s--so why not cast her as Terpsichore, the goddess of dance? That's the premise of this splashy Technicolor musical, which borrows some devices (and cast members) from Here Comes Mr. Jordan. Rita descends to earth to inject authenticity into a Broadway show about Terpsichore, posing as an actress and turning the head of impresario Larry Parks (then in the brief moment between his Jolson Story smash and his blacklisting). This leads to an overblown, pretentious out-of-town tryout, an amusing sequence that predicts the highbrow disaster in The Band Wagon. In general, this film is funnier than its reputation, although it doesn't add up to anything and the song score is tepid (with one delightfully weird number where Rita considers bigamy with Parks and dancer Marc Platt). And Rita? Very creamy looking in a series of lavish gowns--and hardly down to earth. --Robert Horton ... Read more