Historically inaccurate, but the music is good. Allegedly the story of the life of Al Jolson, but is biographical and accurate only in the Hollywood sense. Far too much poetic license is taken with the plot, to the point that after a while you wonder if anything you saw is true. the biggest example of this is the implication that Jolson was first married, to Julie Benson, around the time he made The Jazz Singer (1927). He did get married, to Ruby Keeler, in 1928, but this was his third marriage! Wouldn't want to ruin the "hero eventually meets his perfect one after putting his career first and much disappointment, dating-wise" plot you figured would work on audiences, would you now, Hollywood? I guess the fact that her name was changed should be a clue that this is a work of fiction...The "happily ever after" ending was also fictional, as they divorced in 1940, six years before the movie was made. On the positive side, some good music and stage performances.On that note, Larry Parks is kind of hit-and-miss as Al Jolson. His stage performances are good, and seem to portray well the larger- than-life, complete entertainer nature of Al Jolson. However, in the off-stage scenes he comes across as overbearing, overly energetic, phony and downright irritating.If you are interested in the correct history of Al Jolson, don't watch this. Watch a History Channel documentary instead, or just read Wikipedia.

You can't keep a good man down, and Al Jolson certainly proves that in "The Jolson Story," a somewhat fictionalized account of the great entertainer's life. The film stars Larry Parks as Jolson and Evelyn Keyes as Julie Benson, since Ruby Keeler would not allow her name to be used in the film. Happy marriage, that. Jolson does his own singing, but I'll get to that later.Larry Parks, who was later blacklisted, is excellent as Jolson, if better looking, and Evelyn Keyes is delightful as Julie. Parks worked tirelessly at getting the lipsynching and Jolson's mannerisms perfect. Other excellent performances include Ludwig Donath as Jolson's father and William Demarest as his partner and later agent. In real life, Jolson started out singing with his brother and was never a child singer as shown in the film. Also, in the movie, he has a mother -- in real life, his mother died when he was young. It's one of the reasons why his rendition of "Mammy" is so poignant. When Jolson spoke the words, "Look at me mammy, don't you know me? I'm your baby" - it came from the heart because when his mother lay dying, she didn't know who he was.The star of this film is the singing. If there was ever a question as to why Jolson was such a great star - a man who commanded standing ovations in the middle of a show, and someone whom the audience begged not to leave the stage - you know why after listening to that voice and feeling that dynamism and energy. He really was a tremendous singer and performer. He was an inspiration to such talents as Judy Garland, Sammy Davis Jr., Elvis Presley, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Jackie Wilson and Jerry Lee Lewis."The Jolson Story" revived Jolson's career, and as a result, he made public appearances to promote the film, was received by Harry and Mrs. Truman, got a radio show, and entertained troops in Korea (as he had the troops in WWII), flying there at his own expense. A new film for him, Stars & Stripes Forever, about the USO, was in preproduction when he died suddenly of a heart attack.In recent years, his reputation has suffered because he wore blackface, but this convention was not considered to be maligning blacks. In fact, stars such as Eddie Cantor, Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Doris Day, Betty Grable and many black stars Jolson's used blackface. There was no bigotry meant.Al Jolson used to say "You ain't heard nothing' yet." Yes, we have - we've heard one of the greatest singers and entertainers who ever lived. The sad thing is, now that we've heard it, we probably won't hear the likes of it again.

Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures may have been the most ruthless of the famed movie moguls of the studio system era, but he did have a streak of sentimentality. When Al Jolson was pretty much a forgotten man and a washed up entertainer, Cohn took a lot upon himself and shelled out very heavily to bring the story of an entertainer that he personally idolized.In real life Al Jolson could be one egotistical and mean man, so I think Cohn recognized a lot of himself there. But it wouldn't do to tell the real story and besides the movie going public if they were going to buy tickets would be buying tickets to hear him sing.So from the various sources Cohn would have had to shell out quite a bit of cash to get the rights to all the songs Jolson was identified with from the various sources. One of those sources was a rival studio, Warner Brothers where Jolson spent the bulk of his film career. What Jack Warner must have gotten from Cohn for all those songs.In telling the story Jolie's first two wives were left out of the film, his first wife was movie queen Julie Benson. That was because Ruby Keeler would not give the use of her name for the film. So Evelyn Keyes played Julie Benson, fictional wife of Al Jolson.William Demarest's character for which he received a Best Supporting Actor nomination of Steve Martin was an amalgamation of about three or four people who were to use a contemporary phrase, part of the Jolson posse. One of those people was Jolson's older brother Harry who tried a career as an entertainer, but couldn't compete and gave up trying. His actually is an interesting story of someone who could never get out from under the shadow of a legend.Larry Parks who had done a few B films for Columbia got his big break playing Al Jolson and an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. If people know Parks today it's because of his playing Al Jolson as he was a prominent blacklist casualty. Of course Parks was helped immeasurably by the voice of Jolson singing all his songs.Counting Scotty Beckett who played Jolson as a kid and was also dubbed and Jolson/Parks singing their number, there was an incredible amount of music here. The basic parts of The Jolson Story that were true were about his childhood as the son of a cantor, Ludwig Donath, in Washington, DC and running away from home to go into show business.His background in minstrel shows is depicted here quite accurately and for whatever reason he never could shake it. I think he thought this was what his public wanted even when public tastes changed.Musically the film is deficient in the comedy numbers which haven't survived like the other songs Jolson did, but were an integral part of his act. One here was done with a full production number, The Spaniard That Blighted My Life. Here it's done solo, but Jolson recorded it as a duet with Bing Crosby in the flipside of another duet Alexander's Ragtime Band. Both are absolute classics.Still the songs are the key and it's certainly quite a whitewashing of The Jolson Story. But the film certainly is something that Jolson would have liked to have been remembered for and by.

This is a truly enjoyable film to watch if only to see Al Jolson in action, singing his hits like "Swanee", "My Mammy". The close-ups of him singing both in blackface and as he is are truly mesmerising. A pity that the movie wasn't even nominated for Best Picture in 1946, though it did win for Original Score. He may have come across as an egotist who revelled in hugging the spotlight, but for all that his enthusiasm and love of entertaining audiences is simply infectious. I also loved the understanding and supportive attitude of his parents towards his career even though they opposed his entering showbusiness initially. The only reason I rate it a 9 and not a perfect 10 is for the historical inaccuracies it portrays, like the fact that Steve Martin, Al's performing partner and later booking agent didn't really exist (in reality he was a composite of several people involved in Al's career), and that his mother actually died when he was very young but in the film she witnesses his rise to fame and fortune till the end - but then, I have yet to see a movie biopic that remains 100% true to the real life of the person in question. Still, it is a truly memorable and unforgettable film for all.