Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

The Jazz Singer (1927)

Reputedly the first sound film (but we know better, don’t we?).

This three-disc Blu-ray Disc set includes what is the best-available edition of the film on home video presented in a digital scan from restored film elements with a digitally-remastered soundtrack from original Vitaphone sound discs. The results are excellent.

The set’s supplementary materials are provided on the one Blu-ray Disc and on two DVD discs and include: audio commentary by film historians Ron Hutchinson and Vince Giordano, Al Jolson film trailers, two rarely-seen Technicolor excerpts from Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929) most of which is presumed lost, more than 3-1/2 hours of rare Vitaphone comedy and music shorts including The Voice from the Screen (1926) introducing Vitaphone sound film technology, Al Jolson in 'A Plantation Act' (1926), Bernado DePace, “The Wizard of the Mandolin” (1927), Elsie Janis in a Vaudeville Act “Behind the Lines” (1927), Hazel Green and Company (1927), The Night Court (1927), The Police Quartette (1927), Van and Schneck “The Pennant Winning Battery of Songland” (1927), Adele Rowland, “Stories in Song” (1928), Dick Rich and His “Melodious Monarchs” (1928), The Foy Family in “Chips of the Old Block” (1928) featuring six of the grown-up Seven Little Foys, Gus Arnheim and His Ambassadors (1928), The Ingenues, “The Band Beautiful” (1928), Ray Mayer and Edith Evans in “When East Meets West” (1928), the deadpan comedy duo Shaw & Lee, “The Beau Brummels” (1928), Stoll, Flynn & Company, The “Jazzmania Quintet” (1928), Baby Rose Marie, the Child Wonder (1929), Blossom Seeley and Benny Fields (1929), Burns & Allen in “Lambchops” (1929), Ethel Sinclair and Marge La Marr, “At the Seashore” (1929), Green’s Twentieth Century Faydetts (1929), My Bag o’ Trix (1929) starring Trixie Friganza, Paul Tremaine and His Aristocrats (1929), The Roof Garden Revue (1929), Sol Violinsky, “The Eccentric Entertainer” (1929), Joe Frisco in “The Happy Hottentots” (1930), plus cartoons and short films Finding His Voice (1929) produced by Max Fleischer, I Love to Sing (1936) directed by Tex Avery, Hollywood Handicap (MGM short, with an Al Jolson appearance), A Day at Santa Anita (Technicolor Warner Bros. short with Al Jolson and Ruby Keeler cameos), and short film An Intimate Dinner in Celebration of Warner Bros. Silver Jubilee, The Voice That Thrilled the World (Warner Bros. short about sound), Okay for Sound (1946) celebrating Vitaphone’s 20th anniversary, When Talkies Were Young (1955). In addition, a 1947 Lux Radio Theater radio broadcast starring Al Jolson (audio only), and an all-new feature-length documentary The Dawn of Sound: How Movies Learned to Talk. The two supplemental DVDs are identical to those available in the 2007 Warner DVD edition noted below.

This edition was also released in the USA and in the United Kingdom in a steelbook edition (if you’re into that sort of thing).

This is our recommended home video edition of The Jazz Singer.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

This three-disc DVD set includes the best-available edition of the film on DVD presented in an all-new digital transfer from restored film elements with a digitally-remastered soundtrack from original Vitaphone sound discs. The 35mm source print is excellent, with a few inserts from a very-good 35mm duplicate positive. There is a sprinkling of light speckling and dust, with a small number of sections of print damage. Overall, the results are excellent.

The set’s supplementary materials include: audio commentary by film historians Ron Hutchinson and Vince Giordano, Al Jolson film trailers, two rarely-seen Technicolor excerpts from Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929) most of which is presumed lost, more than 3-1/2 hours of rare Vitaphone comedy and music shorts including The Voice from the Screen (1926) introducing Vitaphone sound film technology, Al Jolson in 'A Plantation Act' (1926), Bernado DePace, “The Wizard of the Mandolin” (1927), Elsie Janis in a Vaudeville Act “Behind the Lines” (1927), Hazel Green and Company (1927), The Night Court (1927), The Police Quartette (1927), Van and Schneck “The Pennant Winning Battery of Songland” (1927), Adele Rowland, “Stories in Song” (1928), Dick Rich and His “Melodious Monarchs” (1928), The Foy Family in “Chips of the Old Block” (1928) featuring six of the grown-up Seven Little Foys, Gus Arnheim and His Ambassadors (1928), The Ingenues, “The Band Beautiful” (1928), Ray Mayer and Edith Evans in “When East Meets West” (1928), the deadpan comedy duo Shaw & Lee, “The Beau Brummels” (1928), Stoll, Flynn & Company, The “Jazzmania Quintet” (1928), Baby Rose Marie, the Child Wonder (1929), Blossom Seeley and Benny Fields (1929), Burns & Allen in “Lambchops” (1929), Ethel Sinclair and Marge La Marr, “At the Seashore” (1929), Green’s Twentieth Century Faydetts (1929), My Bag o’ Trix (1929) starring Trixie Friganza, Paul Tremaine and His Aristocrats (1929), The Roof Garden Revue (1929), Sol Violinsky, “The Eccentric Entertainer” (1929), Joe Frisco in “The Happy Hottentots” (1930), plus cartoons and short films Finding His Voice (1929) produced by Max Fleischer, I Love to Sing (1936) directed by Tex Avery, Hollywood Handicap (MGM short, with an Al Jolson appearance), A Day at Santa Anita (Technicolor Warner Bros. short with Al Jolson and Ruby Keeler cameos), and short film An Intimate Dinner in Celebration of Warner Bros. Silver Jubilee, The Voice That Thrilled the World (Warner Bros. short about sound), Okay for Sound (1946) celebrating Vitaphone’s 20th anniversary, When Talkies Were Young (1955). In addition, a 1947 Lux Radio Theater radio broadcast starring Al Jolson (audio only), and an all-new feature-length documentary The Dawn of Sound: How Movies Learned to Talk.

Collector's Edition bonus printed items include a booklet with vintage document reproductions and DVD features guide, souvenir program book reproduction, behind-the-scenes photo cards, lobby card reproductions, and a reproduction of a post-premiere telegram from Al Jolson to Jack L. Warner. There’s more goodies here than is available with the Warner Blu-ray Disc edition noted above.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

North American collectors will need a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.