AMUSEMENTS.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19726, 17 September 1929, Page 16

AMUSEMENTS.

•THE SINGING FOOL." ft TALKIE TRIUMPH. I&YSTAU VAhACt. fn# si'Bsmf Fool,"* with Al Joisuo as •»e ii/r, t» the big attraction at the Crystal Palaee thit week. Mucß lias been written ,{ thta Btm; it took England aud America >..r storm, wd it assured of «n enthusiastic ac«puou "» CtrUtchurch- Each week ~.. , b.Uer talkie, no doubt because of ■a advances that are being made all tli» !,m», but "The hinging Jfetu" is so »>iip«rb .aat it would setta the hish wamr mark bus i,(-» reached. Al Jolsun ia a wonderful actor, be ho or gay, " ia (ili tb " **"'° t0 him - Aiili ai» melodious baritone voice, be sings u:> songs with an appeal which moved tho ~rg» audience last night to tears. Especi- .,.!> was thla «o when his "Houny Buy" is) av'mj tnd the little lad *>■«<* mto 81U 8 ", tlvounte molody. There are sequence* u tbo picture that aro silout; thero iji no .i'&i'«ue —the actur'e lips move iu silence ia ibe «%y we liavu been lined to. The effect that silunce raakotf the suiting of Ai .wisoo all tbo more appealitii,'. The scenes .■1 iho eates uru realistically staged, unU the uuiie ta exceptionally well played. "if,,, story t«')U of Al Stone tAI .Mt>on>, .(in i* a ainger iu a «»ie, and bus to work ,» a waiter at well; but that does not .revest b.in fr<.m beir>(f in love with Holly Josephine Dunn), the star of tho »how. Al .-iKiue knows that tho (ioetu't care for lain, I ho docs uoi know that Oraco (Betty Hrun ion), lh» ngarelte-seller, does. Al is r»iy uhout Molly and writes songs for her ,mt allnwa her to lake tho credit for them. tie j-ingt so woll that al lam Ilolly and ho . •.1 i-oino stars on Broadway, and then she "i»rri''» him. In lime Al bt-c-omea a big ~u.-«*» as a sins*"'", Bn<t «l*o ".Sonny Boy" ~irn» along. Ho has to bo cared for. and .tl *mgt hj»» boy to sleep, or tells him fairy itorien. -Molly ha* found someone who at- ; recti her. .ind ono night Al comes home IB ttnd her sol" 9 , tukiiiK "Sonny Boy" with t,-r. Al Mtoue it desperate with misery. Molly informs her husband that she is off ■t Parte to f«t a divorce, and ho ring-* her up and baga her to allow him to say sood bye to "Houny Boy," Whilst Molly •« eonanltiuf her lover, "Sonny Hoy" *L>Bkk* on the telephone and asks bin father why ha doesn't tee him uny mom. Tho *ud.tort, when they beard tho child's voico nou>i»g over no naturally and perfectly, wore uwned ami thrilled by tho tremendous dramatit- i»ow*r of the t«lkie«. xtona loses interest In hit work, and for a timo drifts, until Grace comes into his j life. »nd once more he i* • star. He is railed to the hospital, where "Sonny Boy" is dangerously ill, and not eupectod to live. Th.i child atks his father to sing him to j sleep with the song that heart lilt name. His ■ <hiid asleep, Al leaves the room, bnt when I It* returns later "Sonny Boy" is dead. VtttU his heart broken, Al foot to tho ihMtre to sing his latest auroett, "Sonny tiny." When the curtain fall* »he audience cheer hut behind the curtain Al liea weeping bitterly. With his arm around Grace, he derides to continue tinging at long an they waul him. It is tho human, vital, and tense perstintUty of Al Jolton, and the natural and undirected acting of little David L«e as Monny Boy, that lift this «entimental story from being merely "sob stuff" to the high I«\ el of great drama, great patbot, and great tragedy. The tupportimr programme is one of excellence, introducing Giovanni Martelli, one of the beat tenor singers In the world, who singß with much skill and artistry "On with the SloUey" ("I I'agliaeei"); the Howard Rrothere, -who gWe m grant opera burlesque, the "World Nowe" in Bound, and the "Taonhaßser" overture, played by the world-famous New Turk Philharmonic Orehrstrs. most beautifully rendered and welt worth hearing.