Jolson comes to DVD- 3 Columbia Musicals (1 Viewer)

[Doug Bull]

Fans of Al Jolson, Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth are in for a treat come October 21, as Columbia have just announced 3 terrific old Musicals.

"The Jolson Story"
"Jolson Sings Again"
"You'll Never Get Rich" (Astaire/Hayworth)

Other than a trailer and Bios, there doesn't appear to be any other extras at this time.

"The Jolson Story" is listed as Mono (not confirmed)which if correct will be a pity, because an enjoyable Stereo Soundtrack was created for it's last Cinema re-release and was also used for a later Laserdisc version.
I'm sure that there would be a lot of material at Columbia to make the Jolson Story a special Edition.

Still, 3 bare bones Musicals are better than none.

 

[Conrad_SSS]

It would be an outrage if THE JOLSON STORY was released without its special stereo soundtrack.

It was created in 1954 for theatrical re-release.

Conductor Morris Stoloff went into the studio and re-recorded the orchestral music in stereo, and this was mixed with Jolson's original vocals. The result was quite sensational.

This same track was expanded to 6-track for a 70mm reissue which played England in the '60s, then the U.S. in 1974 or 1975 (I'm not sure).

The last two laserdisc versions of THE JOLSON STORY used this great stereo track. There's no good reason for the DVD not to have BOTH the stereo and original mono tracks, and I hope that, as Doug Bull suggests, that the announced specs are in error, and that Columbia will wisely use both on the forthcoming release.

 

[Eugene Esterly]

Cool. My grandfather owns Jolson Story & Jolson Sings Again on VHS & last year he asked me if these movies were on DVD but they weren't. My grandfather is going to be happy because he can now get rid of his VHS copies.

 

[jonathan_little]

This is wonderful. My Granddad has also been bugging me about these Jolson titles. As it happens, on Monday(!!) he ordered copies of both Jolson Story and Jolson Sings Again on VHS again to replace the worn out tapes he made from TV broadcasts!