Say It With Songs
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| Say It With Songs (1929) | |
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| Directed by | Lloyd Bacon |
| Written by | Joseph Jackson Darryl F. Zanuck Harvey Gates |
| Starring | Al Jolson Marian Nixon Kenneth Thomson Davey Lee |
| Music by | Dave Dreyer Billy Rose |
| Cinematography | Lee Garmes |
| Editing by | Owen Marks |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | August 6, 1929 |
| Running time | 95 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Say It With Songs (1929) in an All-Talking musical drama motion picture which was released by Warner Brothers. The film starred Al Jolson and was a follow-up to his previous film, The Singing Fool (1928).
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[edit] Production
"Say It With Songs" reunited the Al Jolson the boy actor, Davey Lee, of The Singing Fool fame, who had enthralled audiences in 1928, in another sentimental musical drama that was so similar to its predecessor that it failed to live up to its success. This, Jolson's third feature film, contains several firsts in his movie career: His first full length talkie (unlike his previous two efforts which were Part-Talkies with long sections of an essential silent picture - with a synchronized score and sound effects added - in addition to talking and singing sequences); his first to not present him singing a song in black-face; and the first Al Jolson movie to flop at the box office. It was also one of the few films in his career in which his on-screen character isn't named Al, and the second and last to cast him as a married man.
[edit] Plot
Jolson plays Joe Lane, a former boxer now a successful radio singer. He is happily married with a loving wife, Katherine (Marian Nixon), and a little boy he calls "Little Pal" (Davey Lee). Joe's biggest fault is being unreliable, and weakness is losing all his money while gambling with the boys, but his soft spot in his heart goes to his "Little Pal." Joe owes much to his success to Arthur Phillips (Kenneth Thomson), his best friend, but in reality, Phillips has his eyes on Katherine, and is not ashamed to admit it directly to her. One night after standing up his wife in favor of gambling, Joe returns home to find Katherine now fed up with him and telling him that they should separate. After the couple patch up their differences, Katherine finds herself having to tell Joe the truth about Arthur coming on to her, who promises Joe further success if she "would be nice to him." Upon hearing this, Joe flares up and tells her that he'll "kill him." This line is overheard by Little Pal in the next room, unaware that this is his father's figure of speech not actually meant to be carried out. But what's said and done are two different things. While Arthur is driving Joe to the radio station, Joe, unable to control his temper, has the car stopped and begins fighting with Arthur on the sidewalk. After Arthur's head accidentally hits the stone cornice, Joe leaves him there for being injured, and walks over to the station to do his final broadcast before quitting, unaware how seriously injured Arthur is, so injured that he dies. The police locate Joe at the radio station where his arrest is heard over the air. At the trial, it is Little Pal's testament of what he had overheard his father say the night of Arthur's death that has Joe sentenced to prison on a manslaughter charge, leaving his wife to support herself by returning to her former position as nurse to Doctor Arthur Phillips (Holmes Herbert), a middle-aged physician who is still in love with her. After Joe is paroled, he comes to visit Little Pal at McKinley's School for Boys where they have a tearful reunion. After Joe leaves, the boy follows his dad down the street only to get struck by a passing truck. Diagnosed with an injured spine and a sore paralysis, Joe is advised to go to a specialist, Doctor Merrill, who can perform the delicate operation. But Merrill has a price, to have Joe go away and never see Katherine and the boy again so that he can marry her after the divorce, or for Joe to pay the high fee of $5,000.
[edit] Songs
- "Used to You,"
- "Little Pal,"
- "I'm in Seventh Heaven,"
- "Why Can't You?"
- "One Sweet Kiss"
- "Little Pal"
- "I'm in Seventh Heaven."
- "I'm Ka-razy for You"
- "Back in Your Own Back Yard"
[edit] Preservation
About ten minutes of film have been lost. Two musical numbers, "I'm Ka-razy for You" and "Back in Your Own Back Yard," are missing from the prints currently circulation. It is unknown whether these sequences still survive. The sound to these sections survive on Vitaphone disks.
