Sick Product of a Sick System

Just perfect...

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Good to have this one on a "restored and remastered" Warner Archive DVD, complete with its original "Overture" and its Technicolor sequences (be they a little bit damaged). Most people complain about the attempted restoration of the two Technicolor sequences, but I thought the archives did a remarkably good job here. Where they failed was with the Overture. I anticipated that it would be at least as effective as the stirring music track for Don Juan (1926). But not on your life! These boys have had three years to refine their task, and they come up with something that isn't a quarter as stirring or effective. Fortunately, the sound track of the movie itself is much better, though it too seems to have only half the volume and no more than a quarter of the Barrymore movie's oomph and daring. All the same, it's hard to keep Al Jolson down. Even at his worst (some of the end-man's corny feeds to the Interlocutor), Jolson is still almost the best thing about Mammy. I say "almost" because Al is actually thoroughly beaten for acting honors by the title lady herself, brilliantly played here by Louise Dresser. Despite the movie's title, her role is actually rather small. But you'll never forget her. Wisely, Curtiz, his cameraman (Barney McGill), his editor (Owen Marks) and his costume designers (Earl Luick and Edward Stevenson) focus all our attention on Louise when she does actually appear. For once in the picture, Jolson feeds her all the dialogue. In all other scenes in which he appears, Jolson is the one who is fed. This is bad, actually, because it makes the plot hard to follow when the victim is given all the close-ups and the perpetrator is almost always observed in long shot and makes virtually no impression at all. Still, you could argue that Mammy is a musical and that the plot doesn't really matter. There's more than a bit of truth in that argument, so don't let the plot worry you. Just sit back and enjoy all the standard Irving Berlin minstrelsy.

Mammy (1930) ** (out of 4) Al Fuller (Al Jolson) is an entertainer in a minstrel show who just happens to be in love with a woman (Lois Moran) who can't have him because she's in love with another performer (Lowell Sherman). During the act there's a sequence where Fuller must shoot the "other man" but after doing so this night a real bullet comes out. Fuller runs off to his mother who tells him he should go back and face the music. Fans of Al Jolson swear up and down that the entertainer doesn't get the credit he deserves today because of the fact that he appeared in blackface. The actor will always be remembered by film buffs for THE JAZZ SINGER but I'm going to go against some of the fans and say that he's not better remembered today not due to the blackface but because of the fact that his movies simply aren't that good. MAMMY is the perfect example of this. The performances are bad. The story is downright silly. The talking sequences are all rather lame but this can be blamed on the technology of the time. Curtiz, one of the greatest directors from the Golden Age of Hollywood, is absent throughout much of the running time. We can start with the story as it's just downright silly and it's easy to say that not much time was spent on it as the studio was clearly more worried about the music. That's understandable so we can let the bad story slide. Curtiz' direction really doesn't bring any of the material to life and just check out how poorly shot the opening sequence is in the rain. The other minstrel show stuff will probably offend most people but I've seen enough movies and know enough about history to realize that this type of thing was accepted in 1930. Still, seeing a bunch of actors in blackface singing "Yes! We Have No Bananas" is probably going to be too much. The music numbers are the only thing that makes this worth viewing as there's no question that Jolson has a terrific voice and it can be heard in some great songs including "Yes, Sir, That's My Baby," "Mammy," "In the Morning," and several others. Jolson does his best to keep the energy going but he's given some pretty poor dialogue including some really lame jokes. The supporting players don't help too much either but then again the screenplay isn't doing them any favors. MAMMY is probably best known for the two sequences shot in 2-strip Technicolor. The picture quality today is quite rough but at the same time I was rather shocked at how incredibly bad the blackface looked in color. It looks like they would have done some more tests because just take a look at it during the first color number.

In general, second rate material all around, though one of the minstrel numbers (the Yes We Have No Bananas Operatic Finale) is quite good. The plot is mainly an excuse to let Al Jolson do his stuff, but he can't carry it aloneThe first part of the movie does give some idea what a white minstrel show might look like, including a parade in the rain.I saw the UCLA restoration, which does include what is known to survive of the 2 color (red/green) Technicolor sequences. Unfortunately, sections of those sequences were lost when Dutch titles were inserted, and some of the cuts from color to sepia tinted black and white are not smooth.

I saw today the restored version of "Mammy," restored in that the two colour sequences have been put back in. (Some areas had to use sepia-tinted bridging sequences.) I'm no fan of Jolson, but the movie did keep my interest, the presentation was good, and Al here is somewhat restrained, all of which added up to a surprisingly good time. Presentation (including a very good soundtrack) is everything