[78-L] Jazz Singer Blu-ray set -- my Amazon review

[Michael Biel]

Since a lot of you on the list might be interested, here (with the usual
disclaimers) is my Amazon review of the new Blu-ray edition of The Jazz
Singer and Vitaphone collection:

http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Singer-Blu-ray-Al-Jolson/dp/B009P07QPS/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Let's cut to the chase because it is obvious that all film collectors
either need this or already have the DVD -- yes, you DO need to upgrade
from the DVD to this new Blu-ray edition. It IS that much better.

All of the errors in the DVD have been corrected. The scratches during
"Dirty Hands, Dirty Face" and much of the rest of the Coffee Dan's scene
have been eliminated without a trace. The mis-matched synchronization of
the entire reel before "Blue Skies" has been fixed. The artificial
shaking of the inter-titles to disguise them being free-frames has been
steadied. In the extras, they have put in the correct two scenes from
"Gold Diggers Of Broadway" -- we actually see Nick Lucas sing in 2-strip
Technicolor "Tip-Toe Through the Tulips" this time. As an additional
bonus they have added two shorts which have cameo appearances by Al
Jolson and Ruby Keeler at Santa Anita Raceway. Most of the printed
extras from the DVD set are in the book except for most of the
postcards, but they have added some great portraits, bios, and an
illustrated essay on the earlier film sound systems.

Only disc one is Blu-ray. Discs two and three are still DVD, and
actually have the same labels and catalog number as the originals -- so
don't mix them up with your originals or else you'll lose Nick Lucas.
They are still standard definition, but the first disc is High
Defination and the image sparkles! The DVD was good, but the Blu-ray
image will blow you away. It probably looks better than original nitrate
prints looked in 1927. I'll go so far as to say that it proves that you
DO need to buy that Blu-ray player if you haven't yet.

The aforementioned scratches on the DVD were always a puzzle to me. They
were continuous vertical scratches that often hit right on Jolson's
face. You could tell they had worked on them because they were faint
remnants of what must have originally been very deep. But they were
still there in the most famous scene in the film. When Mary Dale enters
down the stairs the scratch is right down the middle of her face in the
first close-up and very heavy at the end of the second close-up. (There!
I've done it!! If you never noticed them before, now you will never be
able to watch the DVD again without them bothering you!!! Mission
Accomplished!) But they are GONE in the Blu-ray!!

The sync problem in the DVD starts at the beginning of the train station
scene where they mis-start the disc too late over the letter writing
close-up. It is as much as 20 seconds off, and the music cues are in all
the wrong places. It is much like the scene in "Singing In the Rain"
where voices come out of the wrong person's mouths. The bassoon that was
supposed to be mocking the prima donna always came when other people
were on the screen. The music made no sense. It continues on to the
neighborhood walk and the entry into his family's apartment. The
mother's theme music was never there at the correct time. And the end of
the disc was clipped off when the "Blue Skies" reel begins. This had
never been wrong in previous issues and prints so someone really goofed
when the DVD was being assembled. But all of this has been fixed in the
Blu-ray, and the scenes and the music really make sense once again.

Almost all of the inter-titles are freeze-frames. They are noticeable
because all moving grain of the image stops cold. To disguise this they
wandered the image slightly in the DVD version. This fake motion was
supposed to emulate how titles look when the film continues to run, but
in 35mm theatrical prints this does not happen unless the film is worn.
The four sprockets per frame should keep the picture steady, unlike 16mm
where there is only one sprocket per frame and the image usually always
shakes. Saner heads prevailed this time, and the titles are kept steady
in the Blu-ray. (Again, if you had never noticed this in the DVD, now it
will bother you. Good! Mission accomplished!)

The book is easier to maneuver than all those separate booklets and
slip-cases of the DVD set. It is much easier to find the list of
contents of the discs because they are the last two pages of the book,
rather than being in one of four booklets that you never can find right
away. They still do not give you any info about the shorts other than
their title. None of the extras have their track number printed so you
can easily find which track they are on without having to go back to the
headers on the discs. You have to print this out for yourself from the
internet. Do be careful when removing disc three fromthe plastic holder
because there is an added lip that requires it being slid out further
than you might realize. But these are small nitpicks.

All in all, the original DVD was a bargain for all you got -- but this
Blu-ray set is even more of a bargain. It IS necessary to get even if
you already have the DVD set.