Jolson Sings Again (1949)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Henry Levin

Writer:

Sidney Buchman (writer)

Release Date:

17 August 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Music

Plot:

In this sequel to The Jolson Story, we pick up the singer's career just as he has returned to the stage after a premature retirement...

Plot Keywords:

Travel | Sequel | Nurse | Manager | Alaska

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Larry Parks	...	Al Jolson / Himself
Barbara Hale	...	Ellen Clark
William Demarest	...	Steve Martin
Ludwig Donath	...	Cantor Yoelson
Bill Goodwin	...	Tom Baron
Myron McCormick	...	Ralph Bryant
Tamara Shayne	...	Moma Yoelson

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Sidney Buchman Enterprises

Trivia:

Al Jolson auditioned to play himself.

Goofs:

Continuity: The headline "Forced By Weather To Cut Radio Programs" appears first next to a story about Al Jolson going overseas to entertain the troops and then again, several years later, next to an article about Jolson's successful return to show business.

Quotes:

Ellen Clark: [leaving room] My! We'll soon be smart as pigs!

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Lady with the Torch (1999)

Soundtrack:

For Me and My Gal

The Continuing Jolson Saga

Jolson Sings Again was a film that was almost demanded to be made by the general public. The Jolson Story had generated a comeback for Al Jolson and he was in the word of one of his hit songs, 'sitting on top of the world' in 1949.

He was going on all cylinders in 1949. Jolie hadn't commercially recorded since 1932. He had done a record of Swanee and April Showers in 1945 that went nowhere. But with the success of The Jolson Story, Decca signed him to a long term deal and he was prolifically recording all his old songs and new contemporary material besides. You should hear his Some Enchanted Evening from South Pacific, but not in Jolson Sings Again unfortunately.

Jolson had also replaced Bing Crosby after a couple of interim hosts as star of radio's Kraft Music Hall as Crosby changed sponsors first from Philco Radio to Chesterfield. They guested on each other's programs and those shows are priceless. In fact Bing is mentioned in Jolson Sings Again, but Harry Cohn couldn't get Paramount to part with him for an appearance.

Larry Parks continues his lipsynching to over a dozen Jolson standards and returning from the first film with him are William Demarest, Bill Goodwin, Ludwig Donath, and Tamara Shayne. And this one in bringing Jolson's life up to date stuck closer to the facts than The Jolson Story.

Barbara Hale plays Jolson's fourth wife Erle Galbraith renamed Ellen Clark for the film. I guess Harry Cohn figured he had to since he'd renamed Ruby Keeler, Julie Benson in the first film. It is true she was an army nurse and she met Jolie as a patient there when he collapsed on a USO tour during World War II.

If you liked the first film and Al Jolson in general, no reason you won't like this one.