The Jazz Singer 80th Anniversary

[Lino]

DVD Savant

Dave Kehr

[filmnoir1]

I picked this up today and it is a very impressive release from Warner Brothers. Once again they have done a fantastic job of contextualizing the film and its importance to American film history and to our broader history as a nation.

The second disc contains the best documentary to date on the coming of sound and how sound was incorporated into American films technically and aesthetically. In addition to this new documentary there are supplements from the classical Hollywood period that show how vital sound was to the industry.

The third disc contains many of the vitaphone shorts produced by Warners, in large numbers they hae made sure to include the ones which screened before the film in October of 1927.

There is also the typical reproduction of promotional materials of the era, which for some may seem irrelevant, however for film scholars and critics these materials shed new light on how the film was marketed and how the discourse of the film was manufactured to focus more on the singing of Al Jolson and less on the technological breakthrough itself.

This is highly recommended and is one of the best dvd releases of 2007. I hope that Warner's keeps releasing these great classic dvds.

[djali999]

My mate picked this up yesterday after much hemming and hawing and it really is a beautiful set - much more tastefully done than their roughly equivalent Wizard of Oz 3 disc from last year which had that awful flimsy outer box. I can't believe how great the film looks and sounds.

[tavernier]

That documentary on the second disc is excellent--much better than the feature.

[Brianruns10]

Has anyone else come across this glitch with disc 2? One of the extras is supposed to be two excerpts from what little survives of The Gold Diggers of Broadway, namely the finale and the Tip Toe Through the Tulips number. However, the finale is where Tip Toe should be, and Tip Toe is absent entirely, replaced instead by another two strip color sequence of a ballet, which I believe is from "The Rogue Song." I had heard of this problem in some early reviews, but I had assumed it was because they had received early screener copies. I bought mine on today, and I was rather surprised that such a glaring mixup had not been fixed. It makes me wonder: does anyone's set have the correct footage included?
Best,
Brian Rose

[CSM126]

Has anyone else come across this glitch with disc 2? One of the extras is supposed to be two excerpts from what little survives of The Gold Diggers of Broadway, namely the finale and the Tip Toe Through the Tulips number.

Hmm. Haven't watched the Gold Diggers pieces yet. Will have to check that ASAP. Considering how fantastic this set is otherwise, it would be unfortunate if they messed that up.

[manicsounds]

Although I've had this dvd since release date, I had no idea about the Gold Diggers of Broadway pieces being mislabeled. I know they are available correctly on the Busby Berkley vol 2
Box, but how about on the Jazz Singer Blu-ray? Fixed or not?

[knives]

Presumably the extra discs are direct ports warts and all. Their release of The Broadway Melody does something similar with their shorts.