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Well, it had to happen. After enjoying several of the Vitaphone shorts on The Jazz Singer DVD, this was one I mostly didn't!
An early Vitaphone film, this Warner Brothers short apparently was one created using a very complicated system through which an accompanying record was synchronized with a movie camera. There were several serious setbacks for such a system (such as if a film skipped--it became out of sync for the rest of the film plus the records quickly wore out--and 20 showings was the normal life-span of the records) and even though it produced excellent sound, it was eventually replaced.
Chips of the Old Block (1928) * (out of 4) The Foy Family was a highly respected group of people inside the entertainment world and they even managed to get a movie done on their life story with James Cagney. CHIPS OF THE OLD BLOCK was the first film I had actually seen them in and I guess the best thing I can say is that watching it was certainly better than having acid poured into my eyes while being kicked in the gut repeatedly.
