The Jazz Singer

This week's most rewarding drama pick in Australia on JustWatch TV, and in the US on JustWatch TV and Kanopy is The Jazz Singer. The length is exactly right for the story it is telling — nothing rushed, nothing dragged out. 256 people have weighed in on TMDB, and the verdict leans heavily positive. Al Jolson leads a cast that never overplays its hand. Start it on JustWatch TV whenever you need something guaranteed to land.

There is a reason The Jazz Singer keeps coming up in conversation. The Jazz Singer trusts its audience to sit with discomfort instead of resolving it too quickly. 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. Al Jolson and May McAvoy lead a cast doing genuinely serious work here. The Jazz Singer came out in 1927. The Jazz Singer resists tidy resolutions in a way that respects how messy real consequences actually are. It knows exactly what it is, and does not try to be anything else.

For anyone looking for storytelling that takes its characters seriously, The Jazz Singer delivers. It stands on its own even without an obvious comparison point. Best experienced as a single, sustained watch from start to finish. Al Jolson's work here is the kind that gets referenced in career retrospectives. It makes everything else feel thin by comparison.

The Jazz Singer was released in 1927, directed by Alan Crosland. The full 96-minute film is available to watch now. Find exactly where it's streaming below, and TV Butler Pro makes it effortless to track your progress as you go. Just search the name, and Butler finds it instantly, tells you which service has it, and remembers exactly where you left off.