King of Jazz (1930)

Cast

Bing Crosby
as One of the Rhythm Boys)
Walter Brennan
as Desk Sergeant

Get more information about King of Jazz (1930) on IMDb

Genres & Description

Animation Comedy Music Musical

7.3 / 10

This revue presents its numbers around the orchestra leader Paul Whiteman, besides that it shows in it's final number that the European popular music are the roots of American popular music, called Jazz.

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Comments on this trailer
Comments may include spoiler!

The Internet Killed Music

One of the Irish Tenor singers in this called Delbert, is Kurt Cobain's great-uncle. - @Sunday, November 18, 2018 3:12 PM

Alexander Moon

Exceedingly Stunning. Am looking very forward to "experiencing" the "King of Jazz!!" - @Tuesday, November 13, 2018 11:07 AM

Donnyin 3DTV Television

I really want that piano! (the smallr one) It's fantastic to see this restored to it's original glory. I've only seen the crappy, scratchy,faded version before and am anxiously awaiting my new copy from Amazon. - @Thursday, November 1, 2018 10:19 PM

Jeff Pagan

Not Technicolor, it's colorized - @Monday, October 22, 2018 5:59 AM

mont brink

The king jazz...... aint this ah bitch - @Sunday, September 23, 2018 8:36 AM

David Alp

### [US & UK CUTOMERS]### - BUY THE RESTORED BLU-RAY here (if living in the USA) https://www.amazon.com/King-Jazz-Criterion-Collection-Blu-ray/dp/B078FFX78J/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1533815983&sr=8-1&keywords=king+of+jazz+blu+ray ### And HERE IF LIVING IN THE UK!!! https://www.amazon.co.uk/King-Jazz-Criterion-Collection-Blu-ray/dp/B07D4RP5T1/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1533815706&sr=8-1&keywords=king+of+jazz+bluray - @Thursday, August 9, 2018 12:04 PM

愛ジョージ

Anyone else notice how the audio quality on the newly restored version is so much flatter and tinny than the VHS version? - @Thursday, July 12, 2018 4:19 PM

kristen price

H - @Sunday, June 24, 2018 10:15 AM

Thread Bomb

What moron decided the giant piano prop was a good idea? The effect is laughable. - @Monday, June 18, 2018 8:45 AM

Victrola 1925 - 2

its supposed to be blue and not green - @Tuesday, May 29, 2018 5:45 PM

Robert Blakemore

Every day was St. Patty's Day with 2 strip color. - @Tuesday, May 15, 2018 11:04 PM

Scott Larson

I'm surprised by the contrast and how good the grays look. They initially used a black and white "key" image in three strip to get decent contrast but I don't think that was possible with the two strip process. - @Sunday, May 6, 2018 5:54 PM

Dogmakarma Store

What a joy, just to be able to see this! - @Saturday, May 5, 2018 10:59 PM

TheDuchessWellington

Simply stunning. - @Friday, May 4, 2018 11:42 PM

WhirlOmar

Beautiful ! We need a movie studio today to be daring enough to make a good old fashion musical in the style of its heyday. - @Wednesday, May 2, 2018 6:50 PM

geinikan1kan

Gorgeous, - @Sunday, April 29, 2018 11:19 PM

Esteban Grijalva

Can someone upload the entire Blu Ray film restored 1080p ? - @Thursday, April 19, 2018 6:44 AM

Ken Steiger

Looks "Minty Fresh" - @Thursday, April 12, 2018 4:10 AM

Michael Mcgee

I just got my copy.the color that you see in the archive version is 3 color version of blue-green.It was revisioned, just like the 83 version.It's just sharper. Universal striped all the yellow-green tint out of the tones, which color enhancement not restored.Ohjr than that the only scene they did not add more third color was meet the girl's sequence.Song of the golden dawn although the tones are three color blue-green.Meet the boys had the walls colorized as pure blue tint until the banjo which reverted to the three color green light.Happy feet, other than the yellow-orange tint stripped out, no color was added except on the walls behind the wiggling dancer on the left and right dark side was colorized pure blue times.All noisy on the eastern front was not touched.A dash of spice was not touched.Universal could have saved money not touching the color.Worst the distributor changes the color of the piano. Rhapsody in blue to be a little bit more blue, for the DVD and Blu-Ray version.It's a disappointment that it wasn't restored to the 1930 version, but, everything else was restored accurately.If you go the public domain follow thru and Mammy, you know that this film isn't accurate in color history. Criterion, could of offer two versions of the film one disc the enhanced and the original.They did not.I'm not going to give up my copy cause it's the excuse for the corporate film studio to throw their film history away and not accurately restore it and put it out again. - @Saturday, March 31, 2018 1:49 AM

Gabodemir

bellisimo <3 - @Sunday, March 18, 2018 4:50 AM

Victrola 1925

The color is not green its supposed to be blue, rapsody in blue not green - @Sunday, March 4, 2018 12:15 PM

John Smith

What really got me was Frank Trumbauer on sax. WOW! - @Wednesday, February 21, 2018 4:41 AM

Michael Mcgee

imagine how it felt for that actor to hear Paul white in real life as they were waiting their turn Oops, they were mouthing their own music. - @Tuesday, February 20, 2018 5:29 AM

Michael Mcgee

Originally the Rhapsody in blue-green was yellow-green the piano and costumes were yellow-green.IT spill over the flesh tones giving and green tint look.This way the way the two strip color was.The limited palette had charm, Universal and n.b.c had the restores eliminate the yellow-green and yellow-green tint and changed the green to green-blue.What you see is not what people saw in 30.Although seeing other restored clip the color was left alone in other scenes, still universal should have left the green yellow and the green-yellow tints alone.The problem is that many distributors don't like the color, not necessarily classic film fans.Although the restoration is good, they should have left all the color alone.People would of still buy the movie.Although I'm looking forward to my copy, they need to keep it the way the 35mm frames were.It's a lot better than the VHS version. - @Monday, February 12, 2018 7:43 AM

Miguel Carranza Alejo

I dunno, that dude at 3:22 is rocking the makeup - @Thursday, January 11, 2018 12:21 AM

jknuttel

Good news! KING OF JAZZ will be released on blu-ray by Criterion in March 2018. - @Saturday, December 23, 2017 5:00 PM

TheStockwell

The Criterion Collection is releasing a fully restored version in March of 2018; DVD and Blu-ray. It can be pre-ordered from Criterion - or Amazon: https://www.criterion.com/films/29389-king-of-jazz So, we can finally kiss ancient and inferior transfers "goodbye." - @Thursday, December 21, 2017 5:21 PM

Savirio 2006

I hope someday the Spanish-language soundtrack of this will be found. It consisted basically of the same musical arrangements with the spoken parts in Spanish. It was intended for the Latin American market. I am from Chile, and for what I read on the movie magazine Ecran of 1930, "El Rey del Jazz" was not a success here either. Still, I am glad that today's generations can see this movie for free on Archive.org and hopefully soon a Blu-ray edition of this will be published (hey, I'm waiting since 2013 for this one!). - @Monday, November 27, 2017 2:56 AM

Jimmy Barr

2:36 The 3rd guy is Frankie Trumbauer. - @Wednesday, November 8, 2017 9:27 PM

blackpoolbarmpot

"The King Of Jazz" (made in 1930) was a technical marvel.... It not only had a superior sound quality, (insisted upon by Paul Whiteman but complained about by 'Western Electric', (on cost grounds)), but also had the very latest film skills including 'Colour'. This Film still remains one of my favourites. It includes a very young 'Bing Crosby' as one of the 'Rhythm Boys'. That's how good it was ! - @Monday, October 23, 2017 9:00 PM

Robert Dickins

As a junior artist in Reservoir there was a three colour process called PMS Colour, similar to the early eastman film. It went through various run throughs. Hope this helps. - @Monday, September 25, 2017 1:33 PM

Anthony Crnkovich

I see no reason not to expect something of this caliber being from 1930. It was, after all, an era of cinematic innovation which garnered some pretty spectacular films. Even widescreen was already developed, though over 20 years ahead of its time - witness films like THE BIG TRAIL and THE BAT WHISPERS, both from 1930. What IS remarkable is the meticulous restoration job in the case of KING OF JAZZ that accurately reflects the high production standards of those days. Heck, even films from 1895, after having been properly preserved, can look like they were shot yesterday. - @Monday, September 11, 2017 11:36 PM

La Serpenta Canta

so amazing. - @Saturday, July 8, 2017 6:03 PM

MisterNewOutlook

If they restored this entire film, I'd open my wallet. My copy of King of Jazz on DVD transfer looks terrible compared. - @Tuesday, June 13, 2017 10:04 PM

Rob F

Now I heard, that at the premier of this film much people criticized, that eveything is green. So I guess, Universal studios asked Technicolor's assitant about, how to get blue, he or she said, it would be possible, when changing the used ink, so the faces were pink, everything green. Technicolor copied the sequence without any changing, following the rules, ignoring any hints, turning the "Rhapsody In Blue" into an "Irish Rhapsody". We come closer to the possible reason, why it is green and why it is easy to turn into blue. - @Friday, April 28, 2017 4:08 PM

Steven Heywood

Great restoration job, can't wait to actually see the restored movie..🤗 - @Saturday, April 22, 2017 10:54 PM

Rob F

Would it be possible, to change the color green to blue, because I guess, would they have used 3-strip Techniclor, everything would be blue? - @Thursday, April 13, 2017 10:00 AM

Rob F

2-Strip turns it in "Rhapsody in Green" - @Thursday, April 13, 2017 9:59 AM

RJ McAllister

Somewhere Universal or Technicolor found the original camera negatives or one hell of a pristine master print. This is the Paul Whiteman orchestra performing the original version of "Rhapsody in Blue", as George Gershwin wrote it and performed it on piano with the Whiteman band twice, in 1924 at Aeolian Hall in New York and later in a Victor Records studio there, and again in 1927, again at Victor, to re-record it electronically. This is history on film, and worth preserving, despite Whiteman's shameless self-promotion. - @Tuesday, April 11, 2017 9:42 PM

Handman

Will this ever get put out on Blu-ray in the near future? I'm not sure where I can see the rest of this in such excellent quality! - @Monday, April 10, 2017 2:19 AM

Max Chester

A friend of mine has a Vitaphone disc for a deleted sketch - Paul comes across a guy who wants to "jump' to his death, but Paul talks him out of it with stuff about the wonders of Music ... then the guy plays his instrument (I forget which) and Paul expresses extreme displeasure & pushes the guy out the window, anyway. They could put that back into the new release, even if only with some "stills" and the soundtrack .... - @Tuesday, March 21, 2017 10:30 PM

stephen wallin

All the original tricks of using blue where a trade secret at the time, but blue/red was well known to Technicolor as they printed the Multicolor negs, in the days before Multicolor (later Trucolor/Cinecolor) developed a low contrast duplicating film from Ansco. If blues were needed the Studio had to pay extra! The girls dressed in blue and black in some examples, so that the resultant green areas where in fact blue, so they just changes the inks to blue, Skin tones were the same in red green and red blue, Technicolor could also print in yellow to give a gold tone, which was used in the finale of King of Jazz Whoppee and The Cuckoos both had blues printed in. I am very surprised that the restorers do not know how to identify the dyes, simply scratch gently an out of frame black area and the dyes show in layers, Technicolor dyes simply do not fade, it the gelatine that shrinks that is a problem. The fade look of some Technicolor is simply wear and tear of the printed ink causing shifts and colour flashes. - @Friday, March 17, 2017 12:54 AM

WillCarr 91

Absolutely stunning for an 87 year old film! - @Sunday, March 12, 2017 4:05 AM

Peter Ashford

quite incredible - @Saturday, February 25, 2017 10:08 PM

Ray Stilson

I am glad there is a book, but when can I see the restored film. Tell me about THAT. - @Saturday, February 25, 2017 4:48 AM

DEW

They really need to spray inside that piano....serious infestation of tiny green musicians... - @Wednesday, February 22, 2017 10:04 AM

DFDalton1962

Rhapsody in Green. Oh well. The creators of Technicolor knew a 2-strip process was a dead end, but at the same time a necessary step toward the development and industry acceptance of a 3-strip process. - @Tuesday, February 7, 2017 3:31 AM

Rapture Futuristics

It looks like someone misunderstood the original capabilities of Two-reel Technicolor. In original it's not was that green, I'm 100% sure. This green is unreal. For example early part of the film "The Aviator" emulates it right. Or see the same year film "Whoopee!". - @Friday, December 30, 2016 11:54 PM

Rocco vitiello

A great version that I never saw...that was the Paul Whitman band playing Rapsidy in Bluue - @Monday, November 28, 2016 3:16 AM

MrEjidorie

Did George Gershwin himself play his music with a piano? - @Thursday, November 24, 2016 12:57 PM