Late last night, on TCM, I caught up with a vintage movie I'd managed to miss all these years, TRADE WINDS (1938), directed and from a story by Tay Garnett, (script by Dorothy Parker and her husband), starring Fredric March and Joan Bennett, with a typically stellar supporting cast of Hollywood stalwarts. To my pleasant surprise, a ritzy party scene turned out to be a mini KING OF JAZZ cast reunion: two of the guests were Rhythm Boy Harry Barris, who went straight for the piano, and rubber-legged Al ("Happy Feet") Norman, who got to throw in a few dance steps when the throng waxed jubilant. Worth the price of admission.
Criterion has announced their release of KING OF JAZZ on DVD/Blu-ray, due 27 March 2018:
"Made during the early years of the movie musical, this exuberant revue was one of the most extravagant, eclectic, and technically ambitious Hollywood productions of its day. Starring the bandleader Paul Whiteman, then widely celebrated as the King of Jazz, the film drew from Broadway variety shows of the time to present a spectacular array of sketches, performances by such acts as the Rhythm Boys (featuring a young Bing Crosby), and orchestral numbers overseen by Whiteman himself (including a larger-than-life rendition of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”)—all lavishly staged by veteran theater director John Murray Anderson and beautifully shot in early Technicolor. Long available only in incomplete form, King of Jazz appears here newly restored to its original glory, offering a fascinating snapshot of the way mainstream American popular culture viewed itself at the dawn of the 1930s."
Disc Features
New 4K digital restoration by Universal Pictures, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New audio commentary featuring jazz and film critic Gary Giddins, music and cultural critic Gene Seymour, and musician and bandleader Vince Giordano
New introduction by Giddins
New interview with musician and pianist Michael Feinstein
Four new video essays by authors and archivists James Layton and David Pierce on the development and making of King of Jazz
Deleted scenes and alternate opening-title sequence
"All Americans," a 1929 short film featuring a version of the “Melting Pot” number that was restaged for the finale of KING OF JAZZ
"I Know Everybody and Everybody’s Racket," a 1933 short film featuring Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra
Two Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons from 1930, featuring music and animation from KING OF JAZZ
Thanks, big guy! I don't know why I couldn't find it yesterday. Maybe I need to have more coffee in the morning. (Then again, I see the red-lettered "You must be logged in to access this page..." I've noticed that one must register with Criterion to Comment on their essays, but do you also need to do it to learn of new releases ... ?)
