This was revelatory! I hadn't even heard of it until I found it at the Barnes and Noble for $4.99.

Clearly inspired by the class-conscious comic operettas being tossed out by Rene Clair in France (Le Million, A Nous la Liberte), the film is filled with clever spoken-word rhyming song dialogue (does that make sense?) and ambitious moving camera work and location shooting one wouldn't associate with a musical from 1933. I've never seen another Hollywood film like it. I'm not surprised it was a failure at the time, but I'm totally surprised that it hasn't been re-assessed.

Jolson's terrific. He commands the screen and, blissfully, never has to do blackface. And Harry Langdon, who I'd assumed never did a sound film of note, shows up fourth-billed as a garbage picker named Egghead, and I totally geeked out upon seeing him. He does good work although, as I'd read, his voice is indeed very high.

It doesn't all work. The last ten minutes are an obvious attempt at Chaplinesque pathos that really doesn't come off. But I was totally forgiving of all the movie's sins by that point. Great find.