Screen Chronology: 1927 to 1929
Compiled by John Kenrick

• **** - Sensational
• *** - Good entertainment
• ** - Beats a finger in the eye
• * - You'd rather mow a lawn
• (NO stars) - Run for your life

Many of these films are hardly ever screened, and in some cases no complete prints survive. I include comments only on those I have seen.

1927

• Jazz Singer, The * - Mostly silent, but the sound sequences changed film forever thanks to Al Jolson's energetic presence. This premiered in November 1928.

1928

• My Man - Fanny Brice finds romantic heartbreak on the road to Broadway stardom. No known copies survive.
• Singing Fool, The * - A show biz vocalist is torn between his career and his "sonny boy." The top-grossing film of the 1920's, this is painfully cornball

1929

• Applause ** - Helen Morgan stars as a burlesque star plagued by tragedy. Alternately fascinating and flat, and not much singing, but amazing location shots and a surprisingly dark plot make this is a must see for dedicated musical buffs. 
• Battle of Paris, The
• Broadway Melody, The ** - A backstage romance at the 'Zanfield' Follies. Mostly a bore, this landmark hit was the first sound film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.  What nonsense -- Love Parade was infinitely superior.  First feature musical to pre-dub a musical sequence, a process that soon became the industry standard.
• Broadway Scandals
• Close Harmony
• Cock-Eyed World, The
• Cocoanuts, The *** - Marx Brothers in their insane stage hit, with such classics as the Viaduct sketch ("Viaduct? Via no chicken?").
• Desert Song, The ** - Stilted version of the Broadway hit about a desert Zorro. Great Romberg score still works despite primitive sound quality.
• Devil May Care
• Footlights and Fools
• Forward Pass, The
• Fox Movietone Follies of 1929
• Glorifying the American Girl * - Ziegfeld's only film is downright terrible, the story of a girl seeking stardom in the Follies. Only of interest as a historical oddity.
• Gold Diggers of Broadway
• Great Gabbo, The
• Hallelujah
• Hearts in Dixie
• Hollywood Revue of 1929, The ** - MGM's answer to the all-star revues that every studio put out at this time. Some good songs ("Singin' in theRain"), but some classic camp too
• Hot For Paris
• Innocents of Paris ** - Maurice Chevalier in his American screen debut as a junk man rescuing a child. Corny tale. Highlight -- "Louise."
• Is Everybody Happy?
• Little Johnny Jones - Cohan's 1904 stage hit was revised to death, with only two of the original songs and almost none of the plot.
• Lord Byron of Broadway
• Love Parade, The **** - The first truly delightful (and truly original) screen musical has Jeanette MacDonald as a queen who makes rakish guardsman Maurice Chevalier her consort. Director Ernst Lubitsch enriched this, his first sound film, with his signature "touch" of sexy, sophisticated wit.
• Lucky Boy * - George Jessel in obvious Jazz Singer rip off.
• Lucky in Love
• Marianne ** - French maiden Marion Davies and her pet pig are pursued by three soldiers during WW I. 
• Married in Hollywood
• Melody Lane
• Mother's Boy
• On With the Show - First all-color musical
• Painted Angel, The
• Paris
• Pointed Heels
• Rainbow Man
• Rio Rita (1929) * - Ziegfeld's stage hit becomes a lame screen comedy 
• Sally ** - Marilyn Miller in her 1920 stage hit. Mostly dull viewing, except when Miller dazzles in Hollywood's first really exciting dance sequence, "Wild Rose."
• Say It With Songs * - Jolson plays a radio singer unjustly jailed for murder. Clumsy, boring tear jerker.
• Show of Shows, The
• So This is College
• Song of Love
• Sunny Side Up
• Sweetie
• Syncopation
• Tanned Legs
• Vagabond Lover, The * - Radio crooner Rudy Vallee proved to be a grand bore on screen. It would be another three decades before he hit his comic stride in How to Succeed in Business.
• Why Bring That Up? - Blackface musical comedy
• Words and Music