Sparrow

I completely missed all news prior to this thread today on this title. I just placed my preorder with Amazon and I love the overall look of the set. I can barely wait to catch this on DVD...

Dane Marvin

^ It seems to be getting lost in the shuffle of the vast wave of high-profile releases that are upcoming (new Kubrick collection, Blade Runner 4- and 5-disc sets, new Close Encounters set... even Caligula and Troy collector's sets are getting more press), but I will still be picking it up. DVD Times recently posted this pic, which looks great. Looks to be packaged very similarly to the Wizard of Oz 3-disc DE:

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=65286

Cameron

very nice. I hope this finds its way in to people's homes

PopcornTreeCt

October is going to kill me with this set, Criterions, and the Kubrick Box Set.

Cameron

any reviews out yet?

ViewAskewbian

Found this one: http://www.newsday.com/news/columnis...5587860.column

JiM T

There's a review in the new issue of Ent. Weekly - IIRC, they gave it a C.

Cameron

thanks....

wow. a C. Guess they just see the PC overtones, and not all the wealth of info on this set.

ViewAskewbian

I found that with the Newsweek review too. Too much focus on the black face and not enough content review. Personally, I can't wait to tear into the doc and the shorts on this.

Drop

EW seemed to indicate there were little extras addressing the blackface issue, and no african-american perspective on it. The rest of the extras seemed incredible though.

They viewed the film from a modern view and couldn't get over it.

Ambassador

I'm not a big fan of The Jazz Singer as a movie. (I'd probably give it a C myself.) But if both Newsweek and EW are focusing solely on the lack of extras that contextualize the use of black-face, then they've clearly missed the point of what Warner Home Video is doing with this package. It's all about Vitaphone technology and its impact upon Hollywood's transition from the silent era to the early talkies. It's a bit like those reviewers who criticized Criterion for making their Mr. Arkadin package all about the multiple versions and not so much about the qualities of Welles' movie. They're really just second-guessing the approach (or methodology) WHV has taken.

Of course, if Newsweek is correct and the commentators are sidestepping Jolson's trademark use of black-face, then Newsweek has got a point. As anyone who's seen Jolson's "Goin' to Hebbin on a Mule" number in Wonder Bar knows, Jolson did indeed exploit negative stereotypes. So I'd agree that that deserves some sort of acknowledgement, and perhaps a half-hour overview of Jolson's career would have been appropriate. (I mean, this is a three-disc set, after all.) But to be honest, I don't recall there being all that much black-face in Jazz Singer to begin with. The "Mammy" number is iconic, to be sure. But surely, the real "signature moment" of the movie is the "you ain't heard nothing" line and not "Mammy," as Newsweek suggests.

mnementh

So who'll have the lowest price for this on Tuesday?

RevKarl

I love "politically-correct" critics. Maybe we should have a good old film burnin'...liberal-style...and while we're getting rid of The Jazz Singer, we can add The Birth of a Nation... and Gone with the Wind... and Star Wars (Darth Vadar being an offensive portrait of a "black man")...and...

Then again, maybe Newsweek and Entertainment Weekly could hire some critics who actually went to film school and understand the concept of "cultural-context."

Getting off the soap box.

Gary has his review up at DVDBeaver:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDRe...isc_deluxe.htm

Zvbxrpl

Rave reviews are starting to finally come in, and justifiably so. After the knockout presentation Warner put together for the Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland set, you'd think that they couldn't top themselves....but JAZZ SINGER will probably turn out to be the surprise MUST HAVE DVD release of the year.

Even those not interested in Jolson or the film, but who are serious about their love of film, will drool over this set. The 25 Vitaphone shorts made between '26 and '31 alone, are worth the selling price. They are sensational and fascinating.

However, the best special feature on the release really deserves a stand-alone release for the fine feature it is. I saw it at the Telluride Film Festival this year, and ate it up. It's new new documentary feature entitled THE DAWN OF SOUND: HOW THE MOVIES LEARNED TO TALK.

This is an outstanding new film, made by Warner specifically for this DVD. It's not co-produced by BBC or PBS or TCM, it's made by WB, and it is a superb and brilliantly told story of sound development in cinema. This was a story involving personal drama, professional battles, and a revolution within the industry, shrewdly told, with amazing rare footage.

...and then there's the movie. I always liked the movie, but thought it wasn't particularly magnificent. The film looks SO much better, and sounds SO much better that it shocks me. It's almost like a different film, and you really understand WHY Al Jolson was called THE WORLD'S GREATEST ENTERTAINER.

The packaging is stunning. Do yourself a favor and support this release so there will be more like it !

jmj713

Cannot wait for this to arrive.

PacMan2006

The cultural context? This movie displays a white man donning his face with burnt cork make-up, accentuating his mouth area to portray bigger lips, fake African-American hair--this is blatantly racist. Who cares about the context?

This



and this



are images that are beyond ridiculous--I don't care what age you are living in. And I understand the times and thinking back then. But hell, even when slavery was going on hundreds of years ago, that didn't stop certain people from recognizing its wrongs and becoming abolishionists.

Just because something is popular and accepted doesn't make it right.

Spiral Staircase

Glenn Erickson's review begins, "The Jazz Singer has been showing up on clip and compilation reels for going on seventy years now, with a snatch of Al Jolson performing or saying the immortal words, 'You ain't seen nothing yet!'"

I thought the line was "you ain't heard nothing yet!" Does Jolson say both in lines in the film?

Randy Miller III

Fixed.

PacMan2006

Haha, I figured that movie would be brought up. But I could always throw out another "modern day" movie like "Soul Man."





White Chicks was a movie that both black and white audiences were able to equally enjoy. Movies like The Jazz Singer and their ilk that have blackface were made by whites for whites, and still are consumed by mostly white people.

I think the only people who are content with images like this:



are non-black people who aren't the offensive butt of the joke/humor/performance.

Ambassador

I'm almost positive that you're right and that Glenn has simply made a mistake. For what it's worth, IMDb lists the quotation as "you ain't heard nothing yet."

Drop

I don't think any respectable person is content with an image like that. Nor should anyone be content with those White Chick images, or Soul Man, either. They both come from stereotypes and have a certain malicious intent, to find what's funny about a whole race, usually the worst aspects' "This is how YOU people act, isn't that funnny, hahaha". It's a bunch of ignorance.

Blackface isn't just a simple matter of racism. It grew out of racism, but the music that accompanies it shows that white people had a genuine appreciation for what blacks produced. It was wrapped around a terrible performance art, sadly, because that's how the times were, but there isn't anything we can do about other than preserve and harness it as an educational tool.

The Jazz Singer has merit inspite of the horrible minstrelsy, and it can be viewed as entertaining, one just has to understand it as a product of its time. Of course for many people that is hard, and no one should be completely comfortable watching the film. Ultimately what's done is done, it's just a film, it can only hurt us if we let it.

macnorton

Call me crazy, but I personally don't see what the big deal is. America was a different time then and in essence this is no worse then some of the afro-centric films that portray white people as idiots. But I think calling The Jazz Singer racism is strong and slightly ignorant. I can understand where people are coming from, but this does have a lot of context to it, unlike a lot of the other stuff out there. You can either look at it as a white man who deliberately dressed like that to prove a point about blacks...or you can see it has someone who loved something so much, but couldn't get away from his life and was forced to dawn a "mask" to show his love.

I also add to my argument, "The Boondocks". Easily more racist then anything else on TV period. But, it is so smart and edgy that it forces blacks and whites to take a hard look at the society they live in. And even though I am white, I find that The Boondocks treat whites and blacks equally. But that is my take on it.

Carcosa

The postings here and the subject matter point out exactly my understanding of why WB has decided to not release a handful of cartoons for concern of the reaction of the public. If the JAZZ SINGER still can poke at healing wounds, just imagine these cartoons showing up in the DVD boxes. No matter what the disclamer, people are going to be offended by these things. I think its unfortunate, but it is what it is.

I'm more looking forward to all the "shorts" that will be in the package as extras more so than the movie itself. I don't think the Jazz Singer is all that great on its own merits but it certainly is a movie milestone and deserves its place in history....but its been quite a few years since I've seen it. I may change my mind. It might be better than I remembered.

Jack Theakston

I don't think ANYONE could "enjoy" WHITE CHICKS. Racism aside, it's a terribly made, unfunny film.

There are far worse films to go after than THE JAZZ SINGER for "racism." Jolson blacks up for a total of something like 5 or 6 minutes throughout the film. Frankly, I don't see how it would inspire anyone to be a racist. And I don't have to point out the flip side of the coin-- that's been done above.

The EW article is typical-- don't do your job and review the set or film, but take the easy way out and play the "racism" card.

If you're offended by the film, don't buy it. For those who are mature enough to accept and get past the stereotypes featured in the film, this is a wonderful collection of context of motion picture history (and I for one, find THE JAZZ SINGER to be far more entertaining or emotional that a lot of what passed through theaters this year).

aintnosin

If we can recognize Birth of a Nation for its innovations, despite its obvious problems, we can certainly appreciate The Jazz Singer for what it represents.

Of course, if these two movies can get a release, why can't the relatively harmless Song of the South see the light of day?