The Jazz Singer (Three-Disc Deluxe Edition)
starring: Al Jolson, May McAvoy, Billy Murray, Walter Scanlan, The Original Sing Band
directed by: Alan Crosland, Bobby Connolly, Bryan Foy, Buster Keaton, F. Lyle Goldman
directed by: Alan Crosland, Bobby Connolly, Bryan Foy, Buster Keaton, F. Lyle Goldman
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Product Description:
Movie DVD
Amazon.com:
It's one of the most famous titles in film history, and everybody knows why:in a handful of sequences in The Jazz Singer, sound and image are excitingly synchronized. By 1927, some short subjects had already been "talkies," and a few features had synchronized music, but The Jazz Singer gets the prize as the breakthrough. Because the film is largely without dialogue, you can--even watching the film today--almost palpably sense the shift in movie epochs, as cinema takes an evolutionary leap from one form to the next. The movie itself, based on a successful Broadway show by Samson Raphaelson, is strictly melodrama of an ancient kind. Young Jakie Rabinowitz is expected to follow in the long line of family Cantors, but his heart yearns to sing "Toot Toot, Tootsie" instead of "Kol Nidre." Al Jolson plays Jakie (later Jack Robin of footlights fame), and you get a taste of why he was widely considered the greatest entertainer of his time; watch him with a tearjerker such as "Dirty Hands, Dirty Face" and you'll see the skillful, completely irony-free manipulations of a master storyteller. Equally fun is Jolson's non-singing patter--in fact, this is where you get the thrill of talking pictures, more so than the songs. "You ain't heard nuthin' yet," he burbles, and it's hard not to catch the excitement.
Jolson's numbers include his blackface act, a longstanding tradition of minstrel shows and music halls, and an unavoidable source of awkwardness for later viewers (see The Savages for an amusing account of the embarrassment this can cause). Blackface is a bizarre show business reality, and it's part of the movie, so some historical context is required.
Warner Bros. rightly considers The Jazz Singer a key moment in the studio's history, and this three-disc DVD package gives the deluxe treatment. The film itself is beautifully restored, and reproductions of original supporting materials (souvenir program, stills, ads) are fun. A booklet on early Vitaphone shorts clearly predates The Jazz Singer, for Jolson is mentioned only as a star of Vitaphone shorts, and George Jessel is tabbed as the future star of The Jazz Singer (he'd played Jakie on Broadway). A 90-minute documentary gives a fine account of how the Vitaphone system worked, and how other systems actually became the industry standard.
Supplemental short films are a true treasure trove. A Plantation Act is more Jolson blackface, Hollywood Handicap a studio short comedy directed by Buster Keaton, and I Love to Singa a hilarious 1936 Tex Avery cartoon--a spoof of The Jazz Singer starring a bird named Owl Jolson. A flabbergasting collection of Vitagraph shorts--over four hours' worth--makes up disc 3 of this set:utterly weird and wonderful performances by some of the strangest acts ever to kill vaudeville. There are a few names here:George Burns and Gracie Allen in a short called Lambchops, the Foy Family doing wacky stage business. But the cornball timed jokes of Shaw & Lee, the saucy songs of Trixie Friganza, not to mention "The Wizard of the Mandolin," Bernardo De Pace--these are gems, folks. Anyone with a taste for showbiz past will love them. --Robert Horton
Movie DVD
Amazon.com:
It's one of the most famous titles in film history, and everybody knows why:in a handful of sequences in The Jazz Singer, sound and image are excitingly synchronized. By 1927, some short subjects had already been "talkies," and a few features had synchronized music, but The Jazz Singer gets the prize as the breakthrough. Because the film is largely without dialogue, you can--even watching the film today--almost palpably sense the shift in movie epochs, as cinema takes an evolutionary leap from one form to the next. The movie itself, based on a successful Broadway show by Samson Raphaelson, is strictly melodrama of an ancient kind. Young Jakie Rabinowitz is expected to follow in the long line of family Cantors, but his heart yearns to sing "Toot Toot, Tootsie" instead of "Kol Nidre." Al Jolson plays Jakie (later Jack Robin of footlights fame), and you get a taste of why he was widely considered the greatest entertainer of his time; watch him with a tearjerker such as "Dirty Hands, Dirty Face" and you'll see the skillful, completely irony-free manipulations of a master storyteller. Equally fun is Jolson's non-singing patter--in fact, this is where you get the thrill of talking pictures, more so than the songs. "You ain't heard nuthin' yet," he burbles, and it's hard not to catch the excitement.
Jolson's numbers include his blackface act, a longstanding tradition of minstrel shows and music halls, and an unavoidable source of awkwardness for later viewers (see The Savages for an amusing account of the embarrassment this can cause). Blackface is a bizarre show business reality, and it's part of the movie, so some historical context is required.
Warner Bros. rightly considers The Jazz Singer a key moment in the studio's history, and this three-disc DVD package gives the deluxe treatment. The film itself is beautifully restored, and reproductions of original supporting materials (souvenir program, stills, ads) are fun. A booklet on early Vitaphone shorts clearly predates The Jazz Singer, for Jolson is mentioned only as a star of Vitaphone shorts, and George Jessel is tabbed as the future star of The Jazz Singer (he'd played Jakie on Broadway). A 90-minute documentary gives a fine account of how the Vitaphone system worked, and how other systems actually became the industry standard.
Supplemental short films are a true treasure trove. A Plantation Act is more Jolson blackface, Hollywood Handicap a studio short comedy directed by Buster Keaton, and I Love to Singa a hilarious 1936 Tex Avery cartoon--a spoof of The Jazz Singer starring a bird named Owl Jolson. A flabbergasting collection of Vitagraph shorts--over four hours' worth--makes up disc 3 of this set:utterly weird and wonderful performances by some of the strangest acts ever to kill vaudeville. There are a few names here:George Burns and Gracie Allen in a short called Lambchops, the Foy Family doing wacky stage business. But the cornball timed jokes of Shaw & Lee, the saucy songs of Trixie Friganza, not to mention "The Wizard of the Mandolin," Bernardo De Pace--these are gems, folks. Anyone with a taste for showbiz past will love them. --Robert Horton
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- DVD SET OF THE YEAR!!!!!
Al Jolson, "The World's Greatest Entertainer", has yet to get his due on DVD.This is a good start with The Jazz Singer.Of particular note is the marvelous gem "A Plantation Act".The documentaries are quite informative about early sound history.Some of the Vitaphone shorts might seem a bit slow, but are all historically interesting.There are some really fantastic shorts in there.The Gold Digger excerpt problem has been mentioned before.I did appreciate the explanations when there was ... Read More
Rating: 
- More Than Just A 'Curiosity Piece'
An historic film, billed as "the first talkie," this was a surprise because many of the lines are not verbalized, only when Al Jolson sings or just before or just after his songs. Otherwise, most of it is still a silent film with the words shown on the screen as in the other silent films.
This is a powerful story with interesting characters and good songs, to boot. It was different to see Warner Oland as somebody else besides Charlie Chan. He played Jolson's father and I never would have ... Read More
Rating: 
- 1.5 stars out of 4
The Bottom Line:
The historical significance of this film as the first "talkie" (sort of), has apparently blinded people to the fact that this is a slow and terribly contrived and formulaic story (even for 1927) without a surprise in sight; if you're interested in film you probably must see it, but otherwise stay far away.
Rating: - You ain't heard nothing yet.
The disc of shorts is worth the price alone. But with the booklet and wonderful restored film and commentaries, just a great package.
Rating: 
- awful movie, incredible extras
The movie "The jazz Singer" would have been forgotten long ago had it not
been the first film to be released with some dialogue and songs. Don't
order the this for the film, order instead for the 3rd disc which is a
true gem. Vitaphone which was a subsidary of Warner Brothers filmed and
released short subjects of popular dance bands, singers and vaudeville
acts. The third disc contains about three and a half hours of beautifully
restored vitaphone short subjects. Many ... Read More
- DVD SET OF THE YEAR!!!!!Al Jolson, "The World's Greatest Entertainer", has yet to get his due on DVD.This is a good start with The Jazz Singer.Of particular note is the marvelous gem "A Plantation Act".The documentaries are quite informative about early sound history.Some of the Vitaphone shorts might seem a bit slow, but are all historically interesting.There are some really fantastic shorts in there.The Gold Digger excerpt problem has been mentioned before.I did appreciate the explanations when there was ... Read More
- More Than Just A 'Curiosity Piece'An historic film, billed as "the first talkie," this was a surprise because many of the lines are not verbalized, only when Al Jolson sings or just before or just after his songs. Otherwise, most of it is still a silent film with the words shown on the screen as in the other silent films.
This is a powerful story with interesting characters and good songs, to boot. It was different to see Warner Oland as somebody else besides Charlie Chan. He played Jolson's father and I never would have ... Read More
- 1.5 stars out of 4The Bottom Line:
The historical significance of this film as the first "talkie" (sort of), has apparently blinded people to the fact that this is a slow and terribly contrived and formulaic story (even for 1927) without a surprise in sight; if you're interested in film you probably must see it, but otherwise stay far away.
- You ain't heard nothing yet.The disc of shorts is worth the price alone. But with the booklet and wonderful restored film and commentaries, just a great package.
- awful movie, incredible extrasThe movie "The jazz Singer" would have been forgotten long ago had it not
been the first film to be released with some dialogue and songs. Don't
order the this for the film, order instead for the 3rd disc which is a
true gem. Vitaphone which was a subsidary of Warner Brothers filmed and
released short subjects of popular dance bands, singers and vaudeville
acts. The third disc contains about three and a half hours of beautifully
restored vitaphone short subjects. Many ... Read More
