#1
Posted: 7/11/07 at 2:14am
Warner Home Video have announced the Region 1 DVD release of The Jazz Singer (80th Anniversary 3-Disc Collector’s Edition) on 16th October 2007. Experience film history on October 16 when Warner Home Video (WHV) debuts on DVD the studio’s landmark motion picture, The Jazz Singer, the first feature-length film with synchronized dialogue and musical sequences. The movie, 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.
The Jazz Singer is released in a deluxe 3-disc 80th Anniversary Collector’s Edition (at $39.92 SRP), with the film itself immaculately restored and remastered from earliest surviving nitrate film elements and original Vitaphone sound-on-disc recordings. Hours of rare, and never-before seen features include a myriad of vintage shorts and film excerpts, a 1947 radio show adaptation featuring Jolson, a commentary from film historians Ron Hutchinson (founder of The Vitaphone Project) and Vince Giordano, and a wealth of collectible memorabilia.
Disc 1 – The Movie
All new feature digital transfer and immaculately refurbished soundtrack from restored picture elements and original Vitaphone-Sound-on-Disc recordings
Commentary by film historians Ron Hutchinson and Vince Giordano
Collection of rare cartoons and shorts:
I Love to Sing-a classic 1936 WB parody cartoon directed by Tex Avery
Hollywood Handicap classic M-G-M short with Al Jolson appearance
A Day at Santa Anita classic Technicolor Warner Bros. short with Al Jolson & Ruby Keeler cameo appearance
“Al Jolson in ‘A Plantation Act’ “1926 Vitaphone short made a year prior to The Jazz Singer
An Intimate Dinner in Celebration of Warner Bros. Silver Jubilee
1947 Lux Radio Theater Broadcast starring Al Jolson (audio only)
Al Jolson Trailer Gallery
Disc 2 – The Early Sound Era
All-new feature-length 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 20th 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.
Disc 3 – VITAPHONE SHORTS
In 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. This new collection will finally make these amazing rarities available to the thousands of film fans awaiting their DVD debut.
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”
Green’s 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”
Outstanding Collector’s Edition Bonuses:
Rarely seen behind-the-scenes Photo cards
Original release Lobby card reproductions
Original release Souvenir Program book reproduction
Booklet with vintage document reproductions and DVD features guide
Reproduction of post-premiere telegram from Al Jolson to Jack L. Warner
The Jazz Singer is released in a deluxe 3-disc 80th Anniversary Collector’s Edition (at $39.92 SRP), with the film itself immaculately restored and remastered from earliest surviving nitrate film elements and original Vitaphone sound-on-disc recordings. Hours of rare, and never-before seen features include a myriad of vintage shorts and film excerpts, a 1947 radio show adaptation featuring Jolson, a commentary from film historians Ron Hutchinson (founder of The Vitaphone Project) and Vince Giordano, and a wealth of collectible memorabilia.
Disc 1 – The Movie
All new feature digital transfer and immaculately refurbished soundtrack from restored picture elements and original Vitaphone-Sound-on-Disc recordings
Commentary by film historians Ron Hutchinson and Vince Giordano
Collection of rare cartoons and shorts:
I Love to Sing-a classic 1936 WB parody cartoon directed by Tex Avery
Hollywood Handicap classic M-G-M short with Al Jolson appearance
A Day at Santa Anita classic Technicolor Warner Bros. short with Al Jolson & Ruby Keeler cameo appearance
“Al Jolson in ‘A Plantation Act’ “1926 Vitaphone short made a year prior to The Jazz Singer
An Intimate Dinner in Celebration of Warner Bros. Silver Jubilee
1947 Lux Radio Theater Broadcast starring Al Jolson (audio only)
Al Jolson Trailer Gallery
Disc 2 – The Early Sound Era
All-new feature-length 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 20th 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.
Disc 3 – VITAPHONE SHORTS
In 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. This new collection will finally make these amazing rarities available to the thousands of film fans awaiting their DVD debut.
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”
Green’s 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”
Outstanding Collector’s Edition Bonuses:
Rarely seen behind-the-scenes Photo cards
Original release Lobby card reproductions
Original release Souvenir Program book reproduction
Booklet with vintage document reproductions and DVD features guide
Reproduction of post-premiere telegram from Al Jolson to Jack L. Warner
