Blu-ray Release: The Jazz Singer (1927)

Blu-ray Release Date: Jan. 8, 2012
Price: Blu-ray $39.98
Studio: Warner

The 1927 classic musical film The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson is the first feature-length film with completely synchronized dialogue and musical sequences…but you knew that already, right?

The landmark film, which brought Broadway superstar Al Jolson “alive” and seemingly singing from the screen, was an immediate sensation when it opened in 1927 and created a revolution in the history of the motion picture industry, Of the many honors bestowed upon The Jazz Singer over the years, the most notable are Warner’s special Award that was given at the Academy Awards that year and the film’s 1996 preservation in the U.S. Library of Congress’s National Film Registry for its cultural and historical significance.

Warner issued an extras-laden DVD edition of The Jazz Singer (directed by Alan Crosland) in 2007, the film and bonus materials of which can all be found on the new Blu-ray edition.

…and what a trove of bonus material it is!! Offered in a 3-disc Blu-ray book format, the physical package includes a a 90–page book of all of the reproductions, photos and content previously available in the original DVD Deluxe Edition, including behind-the-scenes collector’s cards, lobby cards, souvenir program, a booklet with reproductions of vintage documents and post premiere telegram from Al Jolson.

As for the hours of on-screen supplements, take a look at the complete list below:

Blu-ray Special Features:

• Commentary by film historians Ron Hutchinson (founder of The Vitaphone Project) and Vince Giordano
  ·         Collection of vintage cartoons and shorts:

o Al Jolson in A Plantation Act – 1926 Vitaphone short
o An Intimate Dinner in Celebration of Warner Bros. Silver Jubilee 1930 short
o I Love to Singa – Classic 1936 WB parody cartoon directed by Tex Avery
o Hollywood Handicap – Classic 1938 M-G-M short with Al Jolson appearance
o A Day at Santa Anita – Classic Technicolor WB 1939 short with Al Jolson & Ruby Keeler cameo appearance

• 1947 Lux Radio Theater Broadcast starring Al Jolson (audio only)
  ·          Theatrical Trailer

The Early Sound Era

• Feature-length historical documentary The Dawn of Sound: How Movies Learned to Talk
  · Two rarely-seen Technicolor excerpts from Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929 WB film, most of which is considered lost)
  · Studio shorts celebrating the early sound era:
  · Finding His Voice (1929 Western Electric animated promotional short, produced by Max Fleischer)
  · The Voice That Thrilled The World – Warner Bros. short about sound
  · Okay for Sound 1946 WB short celebrating the 20^th anniversary of Vitaphone
  · When Talkies Were Young 1955 WB short looking back at the early talkies
  · The Voice from the Screen — 1926 WB ‘demonstration’ film explores the Vitaphone technology, and looks at the making of a Vitaphone short.

Vitaphone Shorts

In the 1920’s, Warner Bros. began producing a series of short films which utilized the Vitaphone process. These films ran the gamut from musical theater legends and vaudeville acts, to dramatic vignettes and classical music performances from the most prestigious artists of the era.

Most of these were shorts considered lost for decades, until a consortium of archivists and historians joined forces with a goal to restore these magnificent time capsules of entertainment history. Up until now, contemporary audiences have only been able to see these shorts via rare retrospective showings in a few large cities, or through the limited release of a restored handful of the earliest subjects, which were part of a 1996 laserdisc set.

• Over 3 1/2 hours worth of rare, historic Vitaphone comedy and music shorts
  • Elsie Janis in a Vaudeville Act: Behind the Lines
    · Bernado Depace: Wizard of the Mandolin
    · Van and Schneck: The Pennant Winning Battery of Songland
    · Blossom Seeley and Benny Fields
    · Hazel Green and Company
    · The Night Court
    · The Police Quartette
    · Ray Mayer & Edith Evans: When East Meets West
    · Adele Rowland: Stories in Song
    · Stoll, Flynn and Company: The Jazzmania Quintet
    · The Ingenues in The Band Beautiful
    · The Foy Family in Chips off the Old Block
    · Dick Rich and His Melodious Monarchs
    · Gus Arnheim and His Ambassadors
    · Shaw and Lee:The Beau Brummels
    · Larry Ceballos Roof Garden Revue
    · Trixie Friganza in My Bag O Tricks
    · Greens Twentieth Century Faydetts
    · Sol Violinsky: The Eccentric Entertainer
    · Ethel Sinclair and Marge La Marr in At the Seashore”
    · Paul Tremaine and His Aristocrats
    · Baby Rose Marie: The Child Wonder
    · Burns & Allen in Lambchops
    · Joe Frisco in The Happy Hottentots

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