The Jolson Story (1946)

This is about as whitewashed a biopic as Hollywood ever produced, but still a slick bit of entertainment, as long as one is prepared to forget about the truth.  From what I have read, Al Jolson -- the "greatest" entertainer of his day -- was in life something of a bastard in his single-mindedness, and the so-called love story as portrayed here was ultimately so bitter that his first wife, Ruby Keeler, refused permission for her name to be used for the character played by Evelyn Keyes.  Also, parenthetically, I somehow doubt that his religious parents would have so openly welcomed a "shiksa" to their family.  But let's forget about all that and concentrate on the mainly feel-good story of how the young Jewish boy stands up and sings at the vaudeville show, runs away to join the circuit under the tender care of William Demarest (giving a wonderful performance), seizes the opportunity to shine as a minstrel performer, and ultimately conquers Broadway and Hollywood.  He was, you will recall, the star of the first talkie and the person who laid the ground for the modern movie.  But even here one is given some idea of just how obsessed and egocentric a performer he was.  Larry Parks (before he was sent to Purgatory during the communist witch-hunts) does a first-rate job in the title role mouthing to Jolson's voice, and the latter can be seen in long-shot during the "Swanee" number.  However I have little doubt that when the film was first mooted Jolson would have contended that only he could play the role, despite being way too old for the movie.  And of course modern sensibilities do shudder a bit at the thought of performers in blackface.  Despite all of the above reservations, it is still a fine bit of hokum.