Good to have this one on a "restored and remastered" Warner Archive DVD, complete with its original "Overture" and its Technicolor sequences (be they a little bit damaged). Most people complain about the attempted restoration of the two Technicolor sequences, but I thought the archives did a remarkably good job here. Where they failed was with the Overture. I anticipated that it would be at least as effective as the stirring music track for Don Juan (1926). But not on your life! These boys have had three years to refine their task, and they come up with something that isn't a quarter as stirring or effective. Fortunately, the sound track of the movie itself is much better, though it too seems to have only half the volume and no more than a quarter of the Barrymore movie's oomph and daring.
All the same, it's hard to keep Al Jolson down. Even at his worst (some of the end-man's corny feeds to the Interlocutor), Jolson is still almost the best thing about Mammy. I say "almost" because Al is actually thoroughly beaten for acting honors by the title lady herself, brilliantly played here by Louise Dresser. Despite the movie's title, her role is actually rather small. But you'll never forget her. Wisely, Curtiz, his cameraman (Barney McGill), his editor (Owen Marks) and his costume designers (Earl Luick and Edward Stevenson) focus all our attention on Louise when she does actually appear. For once in the picture, Jolson feeds her all the dialogue. In all other scenes in which he appears, Jolson is the one who is fed. This is bad, actually, because it makes the plot hard to follow when the victim is given all the close-ups and the perpetrator is almost always observed in long shot and makes virtually no impression at all. Still, you could argue that Mammy is a musical and that the plot doesn't really matter. There's more than a bit of truth in that argument, so don't let the plot worry you. Just sit back and enjoy all the standard Irving Berlin minstrelsy.
All the same, it's hard to keep Al Jolson down. Even at his worst (some of the end-man's corny feeds to the Interlocutor), Jolson is still almost the best thing about Mammy. I say "almost" because Al is actually thoroughly beaten for acting honors by the title lady herself, brilliantly played here by Louise Dresser. Despite the movie's title, her role is actually rather small. But you'll never forget her. Wisely, Curtiz, his cameraman (Barney McGill), his editor (Owen Marks) and his costume designers (Earl Luick and Edward Stevenson) focus all our attention on Louise when she does actually appear. For once in the picture, Jolson feeds her all the dialogue. In all other scenes in which he appears, Jolson is the one who is fed. This is bad, actually, because it makes the plot hard to follow when the victim is given all the close-ups and the perpetrator is almost always observed in long shot and makes virtually no impression at all. Still, you could argue that Mammy is a musical and that the plot doesn't really matter. There's more than a bit of truth in that argument, so don't let the plot worry you. Just sit back and enjoy all the standard Irving Berlin minstrelsy.