A Plantation Act (1926)
- Directed by
- Philip Roscoe
- Genre
- musical film
- Country
- United States
- Runtime
- 10 min
- Rating
- 4.3 of 10 from 6 voters
- Elsewhere
- IMDb
The catalogue in 3D
The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.
How it feels
Al Jolson performs three of his hit songs on a stage set designed like a plantation. The short film presents his act as a live performance with curtain calls and direct address to the audience.
datedtheatricallive-feelenergeticnostalgicrecordedstagey
What happens
A Plantation Act (1926) is an early Vitaphone sound-on-disc short film starring Al Jolson, the first film that Jolson starred in. Jolson in blackface sings three of his hit songs: "April Showers", "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody", and "When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along)". The film presents him as if in a live stage performance, complete with three curtain calls at the finish. Jolson is dressed as a plantation worker for the entirety of the short, but performs only his entrance in character. For the remainder of the film he speaks and performs to the audience as Al Jolson. The film features one set, that of a cabin with farmland behind it, and a cage with live chickens. Two fixed film cameras are used to give a wide shot and a medium shot of Jolson and the set. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
More like this
Mammy (1930)
The Jolson Story (1946)
Jolson Sings Again (1950)
Manhattan Parade (1931)
The Singing Brakeman (1929)
The Song and Dance Man (1926)
Striving for Fortune (1926)
A Rhapsody in Black and Blue (1932)- More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.