A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Jazz Singer -- in Vitaphone audio (1 Viewer)

[Bob Furmanek]

On alt.movies.silent, somebody raised an interesting point about the Vitaphone shorts. Why are the UCLA restoration credits missing? Many people donated materials and money to preserve these films, and they should get the on-screen credit which they deserve.

 

[PaulP]

Why the Best Buy rush? My package arrived safely from Amazon last Wednesday.

 

[Conrad_SSS]

I always find Amazon the best way to go...They rarely disappoint.

This arrived in at my door the day after the release date, which was fine.

The whole set is beyond superb, but I must admit that I have watched the new documentary on the 2nd disc about 3 times already. It's so well done, and packed with information.

 

[Richard Matich]

My review of this set is simply this: MY NOM FOR DVD OF THE YEAR. Hows that for a review?! The Blade Runner set might change my mind however. LOL.

Congrats to George Feltentien and the whole Warner Home video team for the exellent work. That doc is all the Mr. Feltenstien said it would be. WOW!

 

[Jefferson]

I feel the urge to add my own little cheer here for this set.
Just when i thought I was seeing the end of these really classy releases in the classics genre, here comes another great one from Warner.
Great extras! "I love to singa...about the moona and the joona and the springa..."

 

[Susan Nunes]

This has to be one of the best releases of the year. I just purchased the set today, and The Jazz Singer never looked and sounded better.

Great job.

 

[oscar_merkx]

more background info

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/16/mo...?ref=homevideo

 

[Mike Frezon]

Even though I picked this up on release day, it was under the Christmas tree for me Tuesday morning.

I thoroughly enjoyed the film from beginning to end (this was my first time viewing it). I cannot describe how good the film looked. It was easy to forget that this film is eighty years old. The restoration team should be awarded for their efforts. Also, the score was superb. The integration of the score with the recorded vitaphone audio was seamless.

It is easy to see how this film would have "wowed" audiences of the day. Besides the performances by Jolson and Warner Oland, I particularly enjoyed the scenes on the streets of New York and at the train station (supposedly in Chicago IIRC when Jack gets the news he's headed to NYC for his big break). I love to see shots like that which provide an accurate depiction of everyday life in recent history.

My only point of reference for the story was the 1980 remake. Even though I saw that only in the theater during it's initial run I am still stunned by Olivier's poor performance.

I haven't yet gotten to discs 2 or 3. I did watch some of the features on disc 1--including the Jolson/plantation short and the Merrie Melodies cartoon featuring Owl Jolson.

I'm sure I'll have just as much fun with the documentary on sound in movies and the Vitaphone Shorts as I did with The Jazz Singer.

 

[Simon Howson]

I received this set today, and what a stunning presentation it is!

I love the use of the Vitaphone disc labels as the picture on the DVDs. I love the area where the projectionist is meant to check off how many times the discs had been played!

I just wish Fox would give this sort of treatment to a collection of CinemaScope films, including documentaries on how the process worked etc. Warner show with this set a commitment to not just preserving a part of film history, but making the fruits of those efforts available to consumers.

I can't wait to dig in to some of the Vitaphone shorts.

 

[oscar_merkx]

Today I picked up the 80's version of the Jazz Singer with Neil Diamond and Laurence Olivier.

I had never seen this or the original, yet what struck me was the performance of Laurence Olivier as his dad and I was so impressed how he played the role with a tenacity and stubbornness.

Surely this is among his greatest roles ever played.

Is this a complete remake of the Al Jolson story ?

I'll probably have a look where I could get the best price for the original

 

[Mike Frezon]

Oscar: I haven't seen it in many years...but the 1980 version is basically a re-telling of the same tale.

I won't say more...because my opinion of the Olivier performance is much different than yours (see three posts above)! Much different!

Among Olivier's greatest roles?

 

[oscar_merkx]

Hi Mike

I guess we both must have seen a different movie then ...

I'll let you know how I got on with the original

 

[Mike Frezon]

As a good friend always reminds me whenever we disagree on anything: that's why they still make both chocolate and vanilla.

Maybe I need to get reacquainted with the 1980 film. ......nah!

 

[Simon Howson]

In Richard Fleischer's memoirs, he says he didn't like the way Olivier was playing the role, but he didn't have the guts to tell him how to do it differently.

Fleischer only started directing the film after the first director was fired.

 

[Steve...O]

I have been trying to spread Disc 3's viewing over as long a period as possible; the problem is that these shorts are very addicting and if I sit down intending to watch a couple, I end up sitting through 5 or 6.

Hopefully we will be seeing another collection of Vitaphone shorts at some point. The Vitaphone Project website has some articles up indicating that Ned Price at Warner Home Video has allotted dollars in his annual budget towards the restoration & preservation of a certain number of shorts each year.

Most all the shorts are very entertaining. Some more so for their bizarreness than anything. I wonder what the membership thought about the short featuring six of the seven not so little Foys? That family has a legendary Vaudeville reputation but the short they performed in goes a long way showing what killed Vaudeville (just my opinion, no offense to Foy fans.)

 

[Mike Frezon]

Simon: Was the first director fired for telling Olivier to change his methods?!

**EDIT: FWIW, HERE is Ebert's review from 1980. Oscar: you may want to avert your eyes!

 

[Simon Howson]

I can't find Fleischer's book right now, but from memory he says something about watching the rushes and thinking the original director had no idea how he wanted to shoot a scene. He would shoot it one way, then start all over again with the master shot on the other side of the room.

 

[oscar_merkx]

I guess that Ebert doesn't like Diamond either.

Who was the original director ?

 

[Simon Howson]

Sidney J. Furie.

I actually really like some of his films: The Ipcress File, The Appaloosa and Lady Sings the Blues are all great films, but he seems to have quite an improvisational approach to direction, rather than storyboarding every shot. I can see how that would drive a lot of producers (and actors) insane. Brando hated working with him, but then again, he hated working with most directors other than Kazan.