Dressed in overalls and wearing black-face makeup, Jolson sings three of his hit songs. For the complete list, follow the soundtrack link.Dressed in overalls and wearing black-face makeup, Jolson sings three of his hit songs. For the complete list, follow the soundtrack link.Dressed in overalls and wearing black-face makeup, Jolson sings three of his hit songs. For the complete list, follow the soundtrack link.
- Director
- Star
Photos
- Director
- Philip Roscoe(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
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Did you know
- TriviaThis film was believed lost for many years. In the 1990s the film element was found in the Library of Congress, having been mislabeled as a trailer for The Jazz Singer (1927). Several months later the Vitaphone disk surfaced from a collector in Maryland, who had retained it despite it having been broken into five pieces. Through extraordinary restoration efforts, the print of the film is in excellent condition with wonderful sound (and no trace of the broken disk).
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Race to Save 100 Years (1997)
- SoundtracksWhen the Red, Red, Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along
(uncredited)
Written by Harry M. Woods
Performed by Al Jolson
Featured review
Vitaphone Short Demonstrates Sound
Casual film fans think the transition from silent to sound films began instantaneously in October 1927 with Al Jolson's release of "The Jazz Singer." Technically, however, the era of popular sound-on-film (or more accurately here, sound-on-disc) could be pegged exactly a year earlier when Warner Brothers projected a series of short films using the Vitaphone system on October 7, 1926, at the Colony Theater in New York City before showing its feature film, 'The Better 'Ole,' the second feature film with a musical soundtrack. The short films preceding the Sydney Chaplin (Charlie's brother) lead role film was highlighted by Roy Smeck, the Wizard of the Strings in "His Pastimes" and Al Jolson's "A Plantation Act," which not only included a couple of his songs but a talking segment by the singer bridging the tunes.
These short films fronting 'The Better 'Ole' especially held the attention to the appreciative audience. The series proved the technology of sound was more than just a theory and that the technology of Vitaphone, with its ability to provide superior recording quality and crisp amplification of studio audio into the theater was clearly the leader in the four competing sound systems for the cinema market.
Unfortunately for Warner Brothers, theaters during that time didn't totally embrace the expensive machinery with its speakers required to play the audio of "The Better 'Ole." The Warners had aimed for 350 Vitaphone systems installed nationwide in the year 1927, but by March 1927 only 51 were placed in theaters-and the momentum for orders was drastically slowing. John Barrymore's "Don Juan," the first feature film to be accompanied by a musical recorded track, was successful at the box office, causing a bump in sales. But with "The Better 'Ole's" disappointing ticket receipts, some movie house owners who purchased the system, such as the Kentucky Theater in Lexington, played only the Vitaphone shorts. Others, like The Metropolitan Theater in Washington, D. C. pulled the system out altogether.
The Warner Brothers had laid out a large cache of money to buy the Western Electric's Bell Laboratories' Vitaphone system. In February 1927 they spent $1.6 million to rebuild Vitagraph's old Hollywood studio to produce movies with sound. They did release a smattering of feature films with the Vitaphone disc playing alongside the projectors in the next year. But the studio was banking on one film to deliver the pizzazz needed to really move the needle on audio movies.
These short films fronting 'The Better 'Ole' especially held the attention to the appreciative audience. The series proved the technology of sound was more than just a theory and that the technology of Vitaphone, with its ability to provide superior recording quality and crisp amplification of studio audio into the theater was clearly the leader in the four competing sound systems for the cinema market.
Unfortunately for Warner Brothers, theaters during that time didn't totally embrace the expensive machinery with its speakers required to play the audio of "The Better 'Ole." The Warners had aimed for 350 Vitaphone systems installed nationwide in the year 1927, but by March 1927 only 51 were placed in theaters-and the momentum for orders was drastically slowing. John Barrymore's "Don Juan," the first feature film to be accompanied by a musical recorded track, was successful at the box office, causing a bump in sales. But with "The Better 'Ole's" disappointing ticket receipts, some movie house owners who purchased the system, such as the Kentucky Theater in Lexington, played only the Vitaphone shorts. Others, like The Metropolitan Theater in Washington, D. C. pulled the system out altogether.
The Warner Brothers had laid out a large cache of money to buy the Western Electric's Bell Laboratories' Vitaphone system. In February 1927 they spent $1.6 million to rebuild Vitagraph's old Hollywood studio to produce movies with sound. They did release a smattering of feature films with the Vitaphone disc playing alongside the projectors in the next year. But the studio was banking on one film to deliver the pizzazz needed to really move the needle on audio movies.
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- springfieldrental
- Mar 16, 2022
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- Al Jolson in 'A Plantation Act'
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- Runtime10 minutes
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- 1.33 : 1
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