The Singing Fool

The follow-up to The Jazz Singer, and the film that actually proved the talkie was a business. Al Jolson plays a waiter who becomes a singing star, marries a woman who leaves him, and loses himself in grief over his young son. The plot is melodrama, but the film's real draw was Jolson singing, and "Sonny Boy" became one of the first songs from a movie to become a hit record on its own. Where The Jazz Singer was mostly silent with a few sung sequences, The Singing Fool leans harder into synchronized dialogue and music, and it outgrossed its predecessor. Warner Bros. built its early sound strategy on films like this, and Jolson's stage-trained, directly-to-camera performing style set the template for early talkie musicals. The 1928 film entered the United States public domain on January 1, 2024.