Long before there was Dolby Stereo, DTS, or SDDS sound, there was Vitaphone. Vitaphone was a primitive process that employed sound-on-disc, the chief challenge to sync up disc to film. I'm sure you have heard all the stuff about this on the Internet, so I'll spare you what you may have heard before, and say it really was the beginning of the end of the silent movie era.
I finally had a chance to look at the new DVD of "The Jazz Singer", the original 1927 film that propelled Al Jolson to success, and certainly I was blown away by the restored and remastered picture and sound...the print sharp (with a few unavoidable anomalities), and a soundtrack almost free of pops and scratches.
Now let me tell you that "The Jazz Singer" is not the kind of experience you think. Despite all the hype over the decades that this was the first ever sound picture, it is really a silent film with sound segments. But what few there were (and I enjoyed watching them on this DVD, too) began to spell THE END for silent films. Because of this, other studios would notice, so why fiddle with what would become obsolete?
Not everyone's up of tea, but because of its significance in film history, this is truly a DVD set that should be enjoyed again.
Warner/Turner should be commended for an excellent job reviving this film for new generations. For me, it was a trip back in time when sound (albeit mono, nonetheless ANY sound) was the "new phase" for motion pictures.
Al Jolson, if you were here, you haven't seen or heard nothing yet!
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