The quintessential American must rebel against the rule of the father, the traditional Jew accepts it. The Jazz Singer is a metaphorical account of Jewish modernisation – it illustrates the secularising of religious impulses and the ensuing crisis in Jewish identity.[…]
A movie about the psychic cost of becoming American. [The] price of American success is not only the jettisoning of one’s own unhappy traditions but assuming responsibility for the unfortunate traditions of the others.
— J. Hoberman (London Review of Books)
Synopsis: A young Jewish man is torn between tradition and individuality when his old-fashioned family objects to his career as a jazz singer. This is the first full length feature film to use synchronized sound, and is the original film musical.