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This short consists of Al Jolson standing in front of a set designed to look like a plantation home of a slave--and not surprisingly, he performs in black-face. It's on a stage, but I was impressed by the amount of detail on the set, as the background painting was great, the cabin looked real and a live chicken walked about as Jolson sang.<br /><br />It begins with the song "When the Red, Red Robin comes Bob-Bob-Bobbin Along" and is followed by "April Showers" and "Rockabye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody". Between each song Jolson talks a bit and introduces the songs.<br /><br />While people no doubt will be aghast at a minstrel show, it was a widely accepted sort of performance at the time and people just didn't think or care about how harmful such a stereotypical performance could be. It was a product of the times and can't be completely ignored just because it makes people uncomfortable--especially since this is such a super-important film to our film history. This is especially true since this short pre-dates Jolson's performance in the seminal film "The Jazz Singer".<br /><br />Technically speaking this is an amazing film. It has exceptionally good sound for such an early film, gorgeous sets and wonderful cinematography and is a must for anyone who considers themselves to be a cinephile.<br /><br />This film, by the way, was included on the first of three disks with the DVD release of "The Jazz Singer"--a marvelous collection of early talkies as well as documentaries. |