King of Jazz (1930) User Reviews

The Paul Whiteman Scrapbook

[lugonian · 8/10 · 18 January 2002]

THE KING OF JAZZ (Universal, 1930), directed by John Murray Anderson, is the fourth and final of Hollywood's all star musical revues during the 1929-30 season, and ranks the most impressive of the four, outdoing MGM's THE Hollywood REVUE OF 1929 (1929); Warners THE SHOW OF SHOWS (1929) and PARAMOUNT ON PARADE (1930). Filmed in early two-strip Technicolor, it is fortunate to have survived after all these years considering how many early color movies are either lost or have survived in black-and-white format only. The title character goes to band-leader, Paul Whiteman, in his feature movie debut, but THE KING OF JAZZ is remembered today as the motion picture debut of Bing Crosby, who, in reality, mainly appears as part of the Rhythm Boys in some musical skits.

Virtually plotless, the revue begins with Crosby's off-screen vocalizing of "Music Hath Charms" during the opening credits. This is followed by Charles Irwin standing in as master of ceremonies who tells how Paul Whiteman became crowned "The King of Jazz." A cartoon segment follows (compliments of Walter Lantz, the creator of Woody Woodpecker), showing Whiteman himself hunting in darkest Africa being chased by a lion, to then sooth the savage beast by violin playing to the tune, "Music Hath Charms". After an elephant squirts water through its trunk on a monkey up a tree, the angry monkey throws a coconut towards the elephant, which, in turn, hits Whiteman's head, bumping it into the form of a crown. Then comes the introduction of the Paul Whiteman Band, presenting themselves individually playing tunes with their instruments. Production numbers and comedy skits follow. The most striking numbers are: "The Bridal Veil" the ten minute spectacle of Whiteman conducting his orchestra to George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," and the "Happy Feet" number, sung by The Sisters "G", with chorus girls descending onto a large-scale miniature of New York City, highlighted by the eccentric rubber-legged dancing by Al Norman.

Other songs presented include: "The Lord Delivered Daniel" (sung by the cartoonish Paul Whiteman) "Mississippi Mud" and "So the Bluebirds and the Blackbirds Got Together" (both sung by The Rhythm Boys: Bing Crosby, Harry Barris and Al Rinker); "It Happened in Monterey" (sung by John Boles); "Oh, How I Would Like to Own a Fish Store" (sung by Jack White); "A Bench in the Park" (sung by Glenn Tryon and Laura LaPlante, The Brox Sisters and the Rhythm Boys); "Ragamuffin Romeo" (sung by Jeanie Lang); "I Like to Do Things for You" (sung by Jeanie Lang to Paul Whiteman; Grace Hayes and William Kent; danced by Tommy Atkins Sextette with Nell O'Day); "Has Anyone Here Seen Nellie?" (sung by Churchill Ross, John Arledge, Frank Leslie and Walter Brennan with his wriggling ear); "The Song of the Dawn" (sung by John Boles); and the finale, "The Melting Pot Medley." Brief comedy skits include THE DAILY MEOW with Laura LaPlante, Jeanie Lang, Merna Kennedy, Grace Hayes and Kathryn Crawford; IN CONFERENCE with Glenn Tryon, Laura LaPlante and Merna Kennedy; SPRING TIME with Slim Summerville, Yola d'Avril and Walter Brennan; ALL NOISY ON THE EASTERN FRONT with Yola d'Avril, Slim Summerville, Walter Brennan, others; FOREVER MORE with William Kent as the drunk, and Walter Brennan as the butler; the risqué, A MEETING WITH FATHER with Slim Summerville meeting his future father-in-law (Otis Harlan) and how he feels about his bride-to-be, and so much more. There's also Joe Venito playing his wild violin to the tune, "Pop Goes the Weasal."

Unseen for many years, THE KING OF JAZZ was presented on television during the early years of cable TV circa 1984, and soon after distributed on video cassette, compliments of MCA/Universal with excellent visuals. For a while, THE KING OF JAZZ did enjoy frequent revivals on American Movie Classics (1989-1990) before color restoration and edited skits restored on DVD in 2018, the same 97 minute edition broadcast March 4, 2019, on Turner Classic Movies.

The biggest surprise about this revue is that it was released by Universal, the studio not known for lavish musicals. Aside from lavishness, it's quite advanced, especially with its camera angles/techniques which remains impressive even today. The comedy skits might seem out of date, but are just a reminder as to what vaudeville was like and the humor that made its audiences chuckle back in the day. Even similar comedy skits of long ago are still being used today, especially by stand-up comics or on current TV shows that try to make old material fresh and original.

One final note: the special effects. Although not a first in early sound cinema, the early portion of the film where Paul Whiteman introduces his orchestra by opening his suitcase, from which many tiny musicians emerge in front of the life-size face of Whiteman as he watches from behind, then growing to normal size, is quite impressive, considering the time frame this was made. Remember, this wasn't done by computers as it would be today.

THE KING OF JAZZ has many bonuses to impress a first-time viewer. The production gets better with each passing comedy skit and musical numbers. And for die-hard Bing Crosby fans, even if the famous crooner doesn't have enough screen time to call his own, there's enough entertainment here performed by others to go around. (***)

A terrific early technicolor musical!

[tramette89 · 8/10 · 21 September 2004]

When I first saw this film, I was amazed at some parts and extremely disappointed at others. To be sure, the comedy acts are absolutely abysmal. (Audiences in 1930 didn't find them any funnier than audiences today, so don't feel too bad about hating them.) Also, a lot of the vocalists are grating and painful to listen to. Of course, the parts where the film really shines are the parts that feature the magnificent Paul Whiteman orchestra. This band has been unfairly maligned because although Paul Whiteman was titled "The King of Jazz", his orchestra was not a jazz band per se. But man, were they ever good musicians! Just get a load of the "Meet the Boys" segment towards the beginning...Harry Goldfield doing his best Henry Busse impersonation, Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang playing "Wildcat" in one of their few film appearances, the entire violin section playing a lovely rendition of Caprice Viennois, Chester Hazlett and Roy Bargy doing a pretty rendition of Nola, followed by Wilbur Hall's trombone virtuosity display on the same number. (And let's not forget little Mike Pingitore on "Linger Awhile"!)

Oh yes, and did I mention it has Bing Crosby's first appearance in a feature film? He's with the Rhythm Boys, and man, those guys are HOT! Just get a load of them on "Happy Feet". And check out eccentric dancer Al Norman if you want to see something really crazy.

Last but not least, I would like to mention Wilbur Hall's wonderful trick violin act, and, might I add, the most unique rendition of a Sousa march you'll ever hear in your lifetime. (You haven't heard "The Stars and Stripes Forever" until you've heard it on a bicycle pump!)

Go get yourself a copy and have fun!

fascinating

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 5 March 2019]

This has an animation and in-camera tricks introduction. The main body is a big musical presenting band leader Paul Whiteman as The King of Jazz. It's an early musical a few years after the introduction of sound. It's a series of musical numbers on a big stage setting. It's a large production but there is no overarching connecting plot. The main connecting device is a giant book that is flipped to get to the next chapter. It's also in Technicolor. There are comedic interstitial scenes. As a historical document, it is absolutely fascinating. It's almost Vaudeville on film in that it's just a lot of performers performing on stage. It is a movie of a bygone era. It's also the first film with Bing Crosby. It was a bit of a failure at the time which may be due to a flood of similar musicals. It's a scattershot of lavish musical scenes without much connective tissue. By the midway point, any novelty is worn out as it all becomes more and more of the same fascinating nothingness. It has no story and it's not concentrating on any single character other than Paul Whiteman who is mostly simply a face. This may not be a great film but it is a fascinating one.

Paul Whiteman and Company

[drednm · 14 April 2007]

Paul Whiteman was a huge star in the 20s with his terrific jazz band. He might have been the original star band leader. In "The King of Jazz" he also shows himself to be a decent comic actor as well. He's best remembered for his recording of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," which is featured in this early revue film.

"King of Jazz" is solid entertainment with some lavish and grand-scale production numbers that boast Bing Crosby, John Boles, Laura LaPlante, the Brox Sisters, Jeanie Lang, and of course Whiteman's band.

Best songs are "Happy Feet," "A Bench in the Park," "The Song of the Dawn," and a jazzy "Bluebirds and Blackbirds" number with Crosby as one of the Rhythm Boys (with Harry Barris and Al Rinker).

Al Norman does an amazing dance number to "Happy Feet." Jeanette Loff is rather bland in the "bridal veil" number. The Sisters G in their Louise Brooks hairdos are OK in their dance numbers. And there's a lot of short comedy bits that feature Walter Brennan, Slim Summerville, Grace Hayes, Merna Kennedy, William Kent, and others.

Although I still prefer "The Hollywood Revue of 1929" this revue is also excellent in its use of lavish production numbers, color, and special effects. For fans of early musicals this one is not to be missed.

Whiteman, Crosby, and Boles are all great.

It Hath Charms

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 8 June 2005]

Today's audiences could not possibly have any idea of how big in every way Paul Whiteman was during the 1920s. Radio was in its infancy and Paul Whiteman's band was the first orchestra to achieve popularity through that medium. Whiteman records were the biggest sellers of their time. And The King of Jazz was his auspicious debut in motion pictures.

The King of Jazz was also how Whiteman billed himself. He was maybe taking a bit much on to himself with that one, he surely didn't have anything to do with the development of jazz as an art form. But he did help a great deal to popularize it with a wider {white} audience. That was primarily done with that famous jazz concert that Whiteman gave in the mid twenties where George Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue made its debut. And Rhapsody is reprised here in the movie.

Whiteman's greatest contribution may have been the training of the greatest group of musicians ever. At one time or other, the Dorsey Brothers, Benny Goodman, Bix Biederbecke and so many others were members of the Whiteman orchestra. And of course he was the very first band to hire a vocalist specifically for that role. Previously singers were just musicians who just stopped playing and sang a chorus or two.

Whiteman hired a trio, the Rhythm Boys whose lead singer was Bing Crosby. They are prominent in the film and in fact Bing Crosby made his singing film debut here over the opening credits as he sang Music Hath Charms. He was Whiteman's biggest discovery.

The film is just a musical review done in the style of some of the great musical reviews of the time like the Ziegfeld Follies, Earl Carroll's Vanities, George White's Scandals. Some of the acts are better than others, but's The King of Jazz encapsulates a great era in show business.

The biggest song from the film was It Happened in Monterey sung by John Boles who was Universal's biggest musical star at that point. Boles also got to do the film's finale, The Song of the Dawn, when Crosby who was guzzling a little too much bathtub gin got himself arrested and missed doing the finale which he was scheduled for.

Shortly after recording some of the songs from The King of Jazz the Rhythm Boys left Whiteman and broke up soon after that. Bing Crosby would be heard from again.

For a wonderful piece of nostalgia and filmed in early technicolor at that as an added treat, you can't beat The King of Jazz.

Two-Strip Colorizing is THE Reason to Watch

[naught-moses · 7/10 · 5 March 2019]

The print is very sharp on the version I'm watching right now on TCM. Add the colorizing, and these long-gone folks I remember much later in their lives =come= to life as youngsters, including famed band leader Paul Whiteman and singer/actor Bing Crosby. Likewise the drum skin dance scene preceding Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," which looks right out of the 1960s. The art deco sets most of associate with black & white cinematography are fascinating in 2SC. Light up and enjoy this almost 90-year Trip Back in Time.

Truly the oddest of the early sound revues

[AlsExGal · 9/10 · 3 July 2016]

1930's King of Jazz is the strangest and most surreal of the early sound cycle of movie studio revues. Very few films shot completely in two-strip Technicolor survive - this is one of them. Warner Bros. probably made the most all-Technicolor films in the early sound era, but since most of them were Vitaphone the films have long since been lost in most cases.

The 1929 and 1930 early sound revues were made by the studios primarily to showcase their talent in an all-talking setting. MGM's "Hollywood Revue of 1929" started the cycle, and did a pretty good job. However, other studios lost sight of the goal and the revues that followed were often clumsily put together and didn't even showcase talent that belonged to the studio.

"The King of Jazz" is a surprise not only because it holds up so well with time, but because it is such a non-typical product for Universal Studios of that era. Universal of the 20's and 30's mainly made westerns for rural moviegoers with an occasional prestige picture and they were beginning to dabble in the horror genre for which the studio is most remembered. However, at this time they were also known for their thrift, which went out the window when they made this film. The film starts out with a cartoon showing how Paul Whiteman - who called himself The King of Jazz - discovered Jazz. What follows are a sequence of musical and comedy routines. This film doesn't make the mistake of trying to sew the numbers together with some maudlin backstage melodrama. It simply presents the numbers in sequence. Most of the talent here is not under long-term contract to Universal. Laura LaPlante is one of the rare exceptions to that rule. The musical numbers are a delight and it is great to see Bing Crosby at the very beginning of his career. The Brox Sisters light up this film just as they did MGM's revue with "Singin in the Rain". The whole thing is so lively and done with with such innovation and energy considering the static camera of the early talkie era that I can't believe Universal has never thought to put this on DVD. They made this one great musical and didn't really make another one until 1936's "Showboat".

My favorite number is "Song of the Dawn" featuring handsome John Boles with his piercing eyes in close up during most of the number belting out a song with that wonderful tenor voice of his. The most memorable number though has got to be "Happy Feet" with dancing shoes and the Sisters G as singing heads in a shoebox. This number also has the aptly named Al "Rubber Legs" Norman showing us the moon dance 28 years before Michael Jackson was even born.

Highly recommended for the fun of it all.

A rather incredibly film to watch....

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 23 January 2016]

Back in the day, Paul Whiteman and his orchestra were big...almost Elvis big. Today, practically no one has heard of the guy though one of his band's soloists, Bing Crosby, went on to super-stardom. But you can tell Whiteman and his band was quite the powerhouse when you see this 1930 film and put it in perspective compared to other Hollywood films from the same year. First, very, very few films had any color in them in 1930 and when they did have Two-Color Technicolor, it was used for only a few minutes at a time--such as for big production numbers. Yet, amazingly, this film is in Two- Color Technicolor for the entire movie--a very, very expensive proposition! Second, the sets and costumes are incredibly lavish and look amazing. The bridal-style dresses in one of the numbers is just eye-popping! Third, the cinematography and sound are state of the art. Watching the tiny people climbing out of the handbag is STILL a technically amazing scene...and for 1930 it's really astonishing.

As far as the story goes, there is none. The film consists of one production number after another as well as a few comedy sketches and animations. This isn't a complaint...but it also makes it one of the most unusual films of all time. It's not really a musical in a traditional sense--more a record of a bygone era and acts. Some of the skits or musical numbers are pretty dated and haven't aged too well, some are still impressive. In many ways, this film is more something for film historians than the average viewer. Fortunately, the National Film Preservation Board recognized this as well and a pristine (or at least as close to pristine as possible) copy is being held by them for posterity. Well worth seeing and really NOT a film I could easily score. It's a wonderful artifact but might be tough viewing for some viewers.

A masterpiece! One of the very best early musicals

[mgconlan-1 · 9/10 · 4 January 2016]

Universal spent over a year making this movie -- Paul Whiteman's band set forth for Hollywood on a chartered train called the "Old Gold Special" in January 1929 (Old Gold Cigarettes sponsored his CBS radio program) and arrived, ready to work, only to find that no one at Universal had bothered to come up with a script. Seven months later he headed himself and his band back to New York after telling the "suits" at Universal he wasn't coming back until there was a finished script and the film was ready to shoot. During the stand-down Whiteman lost the best musician he ever had, Bix Beiderbecke, to Bix's chronic alcoholism, and Universal lost the originally assigned director, Paul Fejos, when he had a nervous breakdown while shooting another film. By the time Whiteman returned, the Great Depression had hit, the Zeitgeist had changed and the American people weren't in the mood for lavish musicals anymore. So "King of Jazz" became a legendary box-office flop.

It's a fate the movie didn't deserve: though there are a few scenes in which director John Murray Anderson falls back on the typical long-shots of chorus lines that make them look like ants on a wedding cake, for the most part his direction is vividly imaginative, fully the equal of what Busby Berkeley was doing on his first film, "Whoopee," another all-color musical being filmed at the same time. Anderson gives us numbers from overhead, from side angles, and uses the swooping camera movements of the so-called "'Broadway' Crane" (invented by cinematographer Hal Mohr and director Paul Fejos for Universal's 1929 film of the hit musical "Broadway") to deliver dazzling images and splendors to delight the eye and avoid the static quality of many of the early musicals. Anderson had come to Hollywood from his experience directing most of the Ziegfeld Follies on stage and running an acting school that trained Bette Davis and Lucille Ball, and for this film he was given virtually unprecedented authority. "King of Jazz" should have been his ticket to a major film career, but instead after its failure he retreated to the stage and only worked on two more films, the 1944 Esther Williams vehicle "Bathing Beauty" (for which he staged the incredible final number, often misattributed to Berkeley!) and Cecil B. DeMille's circus drama "The Greatest Show on Earth" (1953). It's a crime against culture that Anderson wasn't given the job of directing "The Great Ziegfeld" (1936), since he knew Ziegfeld's style (indeed, had helped create it) and he knew how to make a movie; an Anderson-directed "Great Ziegfeld" could have been a masterpiece instead of the ponderous bore (redeemed only by the acting of William Powell and Myrna Loy) MGM and hack director Robert Z. Leonard actually gave us.

"King of Jazz" was one of the handful of revues (a Broadway term for a musical with no plot) filmed in 1929 and 1930, including MGM's "Hollywood Revue of 1929," Warner Bros.' "The Show of Shows," Fox's "Fox Movietone Follies of 1929," and Paramount's "Paramount on Parade." (There was also a British version, "Elstree Calling," in which the framing scenes showing actor Gordon Harker tuning in variety performers on an early TV were directed by Alfred Hitchcock, who didn't think the assignment was important enough to put the film on his official résumé.) But "King of Jazz" is better than all of them, even though Universal's list of contract players was far less illustrious than those of their major-studio competitors (the biggest "names" in this movie who weren't part of Whiteman's organization were Laura LaPlante and John Boles). It helps that the comedy scenes between the big musical numbers are kept to a minimum, and are short, genuinely funny and surprisingly racy for a 1930 film. The only thing that badly dates this movie (and led me to rate it 9 instead of 10) are the unfunny and badly dated novelty songs, including "Oh, How I'd Love to Own a Fish Store," "Has Anybody Here Seen Nellie?" and Wilbur Hall's performance of "Stars and Stripes Forever" on a bicycle pump.

"King of Jazz" is a towering musical masterpiece, rivaled only by "Whoopee" at the top of the heap for pre-"42nd Street" musicals. (The Lubitsch and Mamoulian films for Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald are in a separate category altogether.) The film is a tribute to the genius of its director, John Murray Anderson, though the one Academy Award it won was for its art director, Herman Rosse, probably the first individual ever to win an Oscar for an all-color film. "King of Jazz" is a music that will dazzle you with spectacular moment after spectacular moment, including the "Rhapsody in Blue" sequence that, along with the "New York Rhapsody" sequence in the 1931 film "Delicious," does more justice to George Gershwin's music than any sequence using it until the 1951 ballet in "An American in Paris."

A very strange curio...great for the old movie buffs but perhaps not for most others.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 1 May 2018]

Back in the 1920s and 30s, Paul Whiteman was a hugely popular big band leader...so big that the term 'King of Jazz' was created to describe him. Not surprisingly, this is also the title of this 1930 film, as it essentially is an entire film featuring the Whiteman orchestra and a bunch of mostly unfunny short comedy skits.

What immediately strikes you with this film is the Two-Color Technicolor. While it's obviously not full color, it is a decent early color process and looks very nice in the recently restored movie. This means that colors tend to be rather orangy and greenish-blue...but compared to other Two-Color films I've seen, this one is very nice.

Since the film is essentially a talent show, it's hard to really rate the thing. I noticed one reviewer preferred the "Hollywood Revue of 1929", though I thought "King of Jazz" was a better film. I particularly enjoyed a few of the acts, such as the very limber guy who seemed to have arms and legs made of rubber (his dancing was incredible), the enormous 'giant' ladies walking about the streets of New York, Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue' (written for Whiteman) as well as the strange violinist with the enormous shoes....you just have to see them to believe them. You also get a couple chances to see Bing Crosby before he hit the big time, as he was one of three 'Rhythm Boys' who worked for Whiteman.

Apart from the acts, the film shows some incredibly complicated and amazing footage...due to some neat camera tricks, inventive camera angles and some very artistic cinematography. It really is an amazingly beautiful picture...even though some of the production numbers did drag on a bit and the humor was mostly unwelcome.

Well worth seeing...particularly if you are a fan of early cinema...though non-buffs might find it slow going and dated.

1930 in Color!

[HotToastyRag · 5/10 · 9 December 2018]

Did you know Technicolor movies go all the way back to 1930? I didn't, even though I'm quite the old movie buff, so imagine my surprise when I rented King of Jazz and found it colored in the original Technicolor method! I only rented it to see Bing Crosby's first screen appearance, as part of The Rhythm Boys, and unless that's also your motivation or you're very well-versed in the popular singers and comedy acts of 1930, you'll probably be really bored.

This is a musical compilation, with song after song after skit after song after dance after brief speech by Paul Whiteman. Many unfamiliar faces will try to entertain you, but much of the talent and humor doesn't stand the test of time. Bing and his band are given three songs, and John Boles is also given two songs. Many naughty pre-Code jokes are snuck past the censors during the comedy sketches; for example, a married couple with a baby reads in the newspaper that the preacher who married them wasn't legitimate, so neither is their marriage. "I'm a bachelor!" the man exclaims, happy. "I'm a spinster," the woman sulks. The baby sits up in his basinet-a grown-man takes over in the close-up-and says, "What are two you squawking for? What do you think that makes me?" With a wink at the camera, he completes a very risqué joke to tickle 1930 audiences.

This movie almost feels like a documentary of what music and productions numbers were like at the start of the decade. Some of the special photographic techniques are impressive, given that this is a pre-Busby Berkeley film, so if you're a student of film history, you might find it interesting. There are literally countless production numbers that are so massive, with dozens of dancers, elaborate sets, and multiple camera angles, that would be guaranteed to wow audiences of 1930. "Rhapsody in Blue", "Happy Feet", "It Happened in Monterey", are just a few featured in this full-length musical extravaganza.

The Sisters G, The Rockettes, The Rhythm Boys and Al "Rubberlegs" Norman With Their Hap-Hap-Happy Feet!!!!

[kidboots · 10/10 · 20 June 2013]

They called Paul Whiteman the "King of Jazz" - only real enthusiasts knew he wasn't. He was big in every way and by 1922 was making a million a year and it was only natural that when movies found their voice Hollywood would beckon. That was Universal in 1929, Carl Laemmle was seeking a headliner band for a big budget musical. The "Whiteman Special" train bringing the band (including Bix Biederbecke who unfortunately didn't make it on film) from New York to Hollywood was highly publicized with public appearances at every stop but the story writers couldn't come up with a story so the band, who had sat around idle for months, temporarily went back to New York.

Whiteman then suggested hiring John Murray Anderson, whose spectacular New York revues had made him Ziegfeld's closest rival and his futuristic and inventive influence made him the real star of the movie. There are so many tantalizing stories - Bing Crosby was all set to be the lead singer with the songs "It Happened in Monterey" and "Song of the Dawn" (a dazzler sang with a cowboy chorus) handed to him but he was involved in a drink driving incident in which he was sentenced to 60 days which was converted to a 40 day furlough but still saw the songs handed to John Boles who vocally was much better suited with his fruity tones. Years later in a documentary Crosby felt Boles carried the songs far better than he could have. Another story involved Jeannie Lang whose Helen Kane rendition of "Ragamuffin Romeo" and "I Like to Do Things For You" had preview critics raving but she had already been cut out of the soon to be released movie so editors had to quickly splice her back.

The film begins with Bing Crosby singing "Music Has Charms" over the credits (one song that Crosby retained) and after an animated cartoon (the first in colour) showing how Whiteman became "King of Jazz" he steps out to introduce "his boys" - there's Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang playing a marvellous duet and a startling shadow looming down on banjoist Mike Pingitore as he strums "Linger Awhile". Then it's "the girls" turn and the marvellous Rockettes dressed in spangley peach and silver go into a precision formation dance and show why they became legends.

Colour lends such a beauty to the "Bridal Veil" number with gorgeous displays of bridal gowns through the ages. Jeanette Loff (with the longest bridal train ever) looks as pretty as peaches and cream and sings very prettily too. Next are the fabulous Rhythm Boys who come out of the shadows of "Mississippi Mud" to sing a "super, super, special kind of production" (Harry Barris's words) of "When the Blue Birds and the Black Birds Get Together". Bing's sense of humour and comic timing is so spot on even though he was still only one of the Rhythm Boys. "A Bench in the Park" features Stanley Smith and Loff as a pair of lovers, joined in harmony by the Brox Sisters accompanied by the Rhythm Boys then "the girls" get together for a dance that was obviously the inspiration for "Pettin' in the Park". "Rhapsody in Blue" is just awesome, initially showing Jacques Cartier in a futuristic setting beating out rhythms on a huge drum. This sequence was supposed to have cost $500,000 with a huge centrepiece of a gigantic blue grand piano, the Paul Whiteman Orchestra inside, dancing girls on top of the keys, a kaleidoscopic effect of dazzling blue feathers and flowers. WOW!!

Where do you start with "Happy Feet" - from a pair of dancing shoes, the Rhythm Boys giving it their unique interpretation (with plenty of piano banging) the Sisters G are shown singing with their heads reflected against a shiny silver surface below - very psychedelic, they then give an all too brief but spirited dance, then the Rockettes dance out of a New York skyline to do another precision tap, then Al "Rubberlegs" Norman takes centre stage to do another of his dazzling eccentric rubberlegs routine!! and lastly Paul Whiteman (or his double) has a go at a vigorous Charleston. "Ragamuffin Romeo" is another "eccentric" dance with Marion Stattler whose gymnastics have her being thrown around like a rag doll.

"The Melting Pot of Music" is almost too much with a succession of sounds and images, dances and countries (strangely no mention of the African American) which then blended into the finale. Interspersed throughout the film were comedy hot spots but unlike other reviews of the time, they were short, snappy and not labored and with the clear print you were able to recognise the stars (Laura La Plante etc). Another reviewer mentioned a preference to "Hollywood Revue of 1929" but I'm sorry for me there is no comparison. This was a true spectacle enhanced greatly by colour and showcasing legends of the music world, to say nothing of Paul Whiteman's ease in front of the camera, the other just relied on movie stars out of their comfort zones being able to bring in a curious public.

Highly Recommended.

Entertaining bit of history

[jchism-1 · 7/10 · 25 October 2005]

Unique qualities of this early musical include the fact that it's both in color and sound! I had previously understood that prior to 1935 this was technically or chemically impossible. The two-color Technicolor was not new (Ben-Hur, for example) but it does add richness after you get used to it. Really interesting (to me, at least) to see the VERY young Bing Crosby singing as part of the Rhythm Boys. Whiteman's orchestra does Rhapsody in Blue when it was still a new piece. Comedy acts are corny and quaint. The big production numbers were lavish and very new; some seemed experimental and fresh. They didn't yet know just what to do with a musical-entertainment movie, so they just threw in some of everything that was popular on stage at the time, done by some very talented performers.

King of what?

[mikequinlan61 · 3/10 · 8 July 2015]

Fortunately, the history of jazz was little troubled by this farcical musical travesty. The one black person... (did you know that it was people of color who created Jazz, innovated and sustained it decade after decade only to be constantly supplanted by less talented and creative whites who popularized their music and made millions off it?)... who appears is a cute little girl sitting on the lap of Paul White-Man, the purported king of jazz in a brief segment. The only jazzy number in the film is 'Happy Shoes' with the entire remainder of the film devoted to middle of the road popular schmaltz music and pseudo-classical Gershwin. That said, the film, however distasteful, dated and unfunny, is in some ways an important historical predecessor of the Hollywood musicals to come.

I had read that the production numbers were something to see, but by the end I no longer cared. Not so hot. Comedy, very poor. Female vocals, very poor. White-man and his vaudevillians, crap. Bing Crosby, as usual, quite good.

Fantastic early example of 2-strip Technicolor

[emjmb · 21 August 2004]

"The King Of Jazz" 1930, is a wonderful example of just what the movies could do in the late 20's early 30's if they put their mind to it. The technical achievement is extremely high, for a film of this period, and one wonders at how cinema audiences of 1930 must have been amazed by this picture. It is photographed in a system called "Two Strip Technicolor". (Full 3-strip Technicolor would not be invented until 1932). The 2-strip Technicolor system managed to capture Red and Green, but not blue. To get around this they would use dyes that were a kind of orange/red and aqua-marine/green to trick audiences into thinking there was blue on screen.

In this movie the "Rhapsody in Blue" number is very convincing.

There is no plot to "The King Of Jazz", it is just one mammoth musical number after another, and that adds to its unique charm. My three favourite numbers are "Ragamuffin Romeo", "It Happened In Monterey", and "My Bridal Veil".

The "Bridal Veil" number utilizes one of the biggest indoor sets I have ever seen. A lot of money was spent on this picture, and it shows. The Bridal Veil itself looks to be about 100 feet long and the bride needs about 40 bridesmaids to help hold it up.

The print that is currently in circulation of "The King Of Jazz" is sadly not in 100% excellent condition. It seems to be made up of pristine sections of print, and battered and scratched dupes. Its a real patchwork version that is probably in need of some restoration work. The title sequence, (with vocals over the titles by Bing Crosby singing "Music Hath Charms") is very clear and in good shape, but then halfway through cuts to an extremely battered dupe copy? The same occurrence happens during the "It Happened In Monterey" number, and also "Bench In The Park", we are given a beautiful print with rich colours and rock steady picture stability, only to cut variously to scratched beaten dupes. I cannot understand why certain sections of the film were preserved but others were not.

I am eagerly awaiting the DVD release of this unique and wonderful film and hope it wont be too long before it gets its well deserved release. There don't seem to be any plans as yet and the only way to see this movie is on television or VHS. This is a true lost opportunity to DVD producers because the film has many wonderful Bing Crosby numbers in it and would be very popular with Bing's fans.

American show business in 1930

[MarioB · 6/10 · 19 August 2000]

This is not really a movie : it looks like future TV show business hour! No plot in this film : just a succession of musical and comedy numbers. Knowing that, King of Jazz is surely an important document of the show business in the USA in 1930. It shows us dancing, singing, big orchestral, comedy, vaudeville, etc. Some of the numbers are very good, some are awful. And the whole movie is in weird primitive Technicolor bichrome! A must to see!

Moonwalking With The King Of Jazz

[StrictlyConfidential · 6/10 · 23 July 2018]

Not only is this extravagant, $2 million Musical/Comedy production from 1930 a real sweet treat of vintage movie-making - But - As an added bonus - You'll actually get to see the very first filmed sequence of "moonwalking" (55 years before late pop-icon, Michael Jackson popularized it).

Yes. Indeed. "The King of Jazz" is pure "Depression-Era" escapism that's all glitz and glamour from start to finish.

I was certainly quite surprised to find out that upon this picture's initial release (with its added novelty of being filmed in 2-tone Technicolor) - It actually bombed, big-time, at the box-office.

Great Movie!

[Richard-148 · 10/10 · 30 July 1999]

One of the greatest movies ever made! This is a wonderful example of the "first generation" (pre-Busby Berekely) Hollywood musicals, which were reviews. That is, plotless - continuous musical numbers and acts (just like the Broadway plays of the era).

"The King of Jazz" is lavishly photographed in two-strip technicolor, with awe-inspiring sets, wonderful music, and great chorus-line dancing. (Keep an eye open for Al Norman, the greatest of the "Eccentric" dancers, doing his "snake hip" dance in the wonderful "Happy Feet" number.) You will see first-hand why Paul Whiteman was truly "The King of Jazz"; some absolute jazz immortals are in his 40-piece orchestra (see a few breath-taking moments of Joe Venuti-Eddie Land doing "Wildcat".) And the Rhythm Boys! And the Brox Sisters! And the original jazz version of "Rhapsody in Blue" with the entire 40-piece orchestra inside a giant blue piano! And the first color sound cartoon (by Walter Lantz) To quote from the movie" Bing Crosby "What kind of production is this?" The Rhythm Boys "A super super special special production!"

Hit and miss

[AAdaSC · 6/10 · 30 November 2010]

This starts off as a very surreal and entertaining film. We have a storybook that opens up and shows us a cartoon of how Paul Whiteman became the king of jazz. It's set in the jungle and is amusingly animated. We are then introduced to the members of the orchestra who file onto a miniature set and then provide us with solo routines. Then the show starts with a song called "The Bridal Veil". It's actually quite good and contains some haunting moments. Except it contains ghastly, smiling children which ruins it in a matter of seconds. And this is where the film suffers. It's an array of good and bad acts. One minute, you are enjoying Bing Crosby and the Rhythm Boys while the next minute you are praying for some "comedy" singer to shut up and go away. Then you get another good song or Al Norman and his crazy dancing and you think "oh good!" but once again, the film removes your enjoyment in a second by shoving an unfunny drunken man routine in your face. And that's the film in a nutshell - some good parts and some not-so-good parts. However, the sets are excellent and this lifts it just above par despite the film being a little too long. Paul Whiteman looks like Oliver Hardy.

Mankind's Memory would Be all the Poorer without this Film

[loza-1 · 10/10 · 24 May 2005]

This film is in two-tone Technicolor. It is rather like a vaudeville brought onto the stage with music, short sketches, and variety turns.

From the perspective of today, the glaring omission is that the American Negro influence is not given any acknowledgement whatever. In the melting pot scene at the end the American Negro influence is glaring conspicuous by its absence. Although there is certainly a European influence in American jazz music, it is less of an influence than African music or - don't forget - Mexican music. But the film was of its time, and at that time, the Amrican Negro playing jazz was not officially referred to, and it would be some time before black artists could be spoken of as musical heroes. Funnily enough Paul Whiteman's star singer Bing Crosby, who appears in this film with the Rhythmn Boys, would have a huge role to play here by his collaborations with black artists like the Mills Brothers.

In spite of all this, we must regard this film in the context of the period it was made, regret the Negro omissions and enjoy the film for its own sake.

Other impressive acts are the trick violinist playing "Pop Goes the Weasel", bel canto singer John Boles and that amazing rubber-legged dancer Al Norman. (Eat your heart out, John Travolta)

Although I was not born till a quarter of a century after the release of this film, I cannot but help a feeling of nostalgia. We will certainly never see the like of these acts again. But for this film, the magic of Boles and Norman and the Whiteman orchestra would be gone for good.

Some Remarks After Viewing The Restoration At New York's Museum Of Modern Art

[boblipton · 7/10 · 6 October 2023]

The movie is a revue, consisting of musical numbers -- often dance numbers -- interspersed with blackout skits and specialty numbers. I particularly enjoyed Wilbur Hall as a comedy specialty and think that the dance was particularly good; there were two apache-influenced numbers and Al Norman in a rubber-legs dance... plus it was nice to see an early iteration of the Rockettes, with their high-kicking style.

How was the restoration? Good. I was looking for problems, but there were only a couple of sequences in which I could see registration problems. The color design was excellent, although I will henceforth refer to the Gershwin number as "Rhapsody in Cyan." There were some blotchy bits and several instances in which stills were used like Lost Horizon, but seen with an audience that filled the house and had come to have a good time, I was very pleased.

One issue I have with is the soundtrack. I can't judge most of the numbers offered, but for "Rhapsody in Blue", the centerpiece number, the sound was... well, I'm not sure how to describe it. It sounds like it was undermiked. Perhaps it is a stylistic issue, but this version didn't sound as full as it might have been. Perhaps I am spoiled by advances in recording technology over the past 85 years. They used the original optical soundtrack and it sounded pristine. Perhaps that's it. Perhaps they cleaned it too much.

In any case, I had a great time. And if the people I had the conversations with are reading, I still don't believe that Rudy Valle did the recordings for Fred Astaire in his movies; I don't believe that Judy Garland was the singing voice of Annette Hanshaw from 1926 through Hanshaw's retirement; and I don't believe that Bing Crosby was supposed to sing "It Happened in Monterey, but he turned up drunk, so they stuffed John Boles into his costume instead. Sorry for my lack of faith, but there you are.

Bizarro Musical Revue

[evanston_dad · 5/10 · 21 May 2021]

A bizarro musical revue that's ostensibly about the history of jazz but doesn't actually feature any jazz music.

There's a musical number late in the movie that sings about how jazz is a melting pot of music from around the world, and we see Scots, Irish, Germans, Americans, and any number of people from other countries get lowered into a gigantic cauldron to presumably be boiled into some sort of musical stew, but there's not a single black person among them. There are lots of completely forgettable musical numbers led by people like a young Bing Crosby, and one dazzling number featuring a limber woman being tossed around like a rag doll. There are some terrible little interludes containing jokes I didn't even understand (had to be alive then, I guess), and a couple that are actually really funny. The film is interesting for a little while as a bit of film history, entertaining for a bit longer to make fun of, but then just tiresome as it overstays its welcome by a good half hour.

Herman Rosse won the Academy Award for art direction for this film, and no wonder. Not only are the impressive sets one of the film's biggest selling points, but they're in color no less. It might be rudimentary color, but still.

Grade: C.

I don't quite echo Mordaunt Hall's miraculously rave review in The New York Times, but...

[JohnHowardReid · 9/10 · 23 October 2017]

Songs by Milton Ager (music) and Jack Yellen (lyrics): "Music Has Charms" (played by Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra, sung by The Rhythm Boys—Bing Crosby, Harry Barris and Al Rinker); "My Bridal Veil" (Whiteman and Orchestra, Jeanette Loff, Stanley Smith, The Russell Markert Dancers, Jeanie Lang and The Hollywood Beauties); "A Bench In the Park" (Whiteman and Orchestra, Jeanette Loff, Stanley Smith, The Rhythm Boys—Crosby, Barris and Rinker, The Brox Sisters, The Russell Markert Dancers, The Sisters "G" and The Hollywood Beauties); "The Song of the Dawn" (John Boles); "Happy Feet" (Whiteman and Orchestra, Jeanie Lang, The Rhythm Boys—Crosby, Barris and Rinker, The Russell Markert Dancers, The Sisters "G", Al Norman, Charles Irwin); "I Like To Do Things For You" (Whiteman and Orchestra, Jeanie Lang, The Rhythm Boys—Crosby, Barris and Rinker). Songs by Mabel Wayne (music) and Billy Rose (lyrics): "It Happened In Monterey" (Jeanette Loff, John Boles, The Russell Markert Dancers, The Sisters "G", George Chiles, Johnny Fulton); "My Ragamuffin Romeo" (sung by George Chiles, Jeanie Lang; danced by Don Rose, Marion Statler). Song by Billy Moll and Harry Barris: "So the Blackbirds and the Bluebirds Got Together" (The Rhythm Boys —Crosby, Barris and Rinker). Music by George Gershwin: "Rhapsody In Blue" (the Whiteman Orchestra conducted by Paul Whiteman. Piano solo by George Gershwin with The Sisters "G", Jacques Cartier, Markert Dancers, Hollywood Beauties). Song by Harry Barris and James Cavanaugh: "Mississippi Mud" (The Rhythm Boys—Crosby, Barris and Rinker). Song by Buddy De Sylva and Robert Katcher: "When Day Is Done" (interpolated in the "Bench In the Park" sequence). Medleys played by Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra including "The Melting Pot of Jazz" production number* were orchestrated by Ferde Grofe from the following: "Caprice Viennoise" by Fritz Kreisler; "Nola" by Felix Arndt and James Burns; "Linger Awhile" by Harry Owens and Vincent Rose; "Aba Daba Honeymoon" by Arthur Fields and Walter Donovan; "Ballet Egyptien" by Alexandre Luigini; "A-Hunting We Will Go"; "Rule Britannia"; "D' Ye Ken John Peel?"; "Santa Lucia"; "Funiculi-Funicula"; "Comin' Through the Rye"; "Vienna Blood" by Johann Strauss; "Fair Killarney"; "The Irish Washer-woman"; "Ay-yi Ay-yi-yi"; "Song of the Volga Boatmen"; "Otchichornia"; a couple of marches by John Philip Sousa; a parody, "Has Anybody Seen Our Nelly?"

Another parody, "Oh, How I'd Like To Own a Fish-store!"eventually leads us into a very funny, if-not-suitable-for-children jest as Slim Summerville explains to Otis Harlan his "Pretty Lucky So Far." The delightful "I'd Like To Do Things for You" has now been restored to its rightful place. Most enjoyable! Who said film critics don't fulfill a useful function? Jeanie Lang romances Paul Whiteman, then Grace Hayes and William Kent have a bash, while Nell O'Day joins the Tommy Atkins Sextette in some show-stopping acrobatics.

Whether you like Barbershop Quartettes (and parodies of same) will determine your appreciation of "Has Anybody Seen Our Nellie?" I found it awfully funny (but then I'm with Sinclair Lewis. I like kicking the boot into dead dreary Main Streets like Shamokin, PA). Incidentally the threesome that join our spellbinding lead vocalist are Laura La Plante, Walter Brennan and William Kent. Stiff-as-a-bored (yes, that's the right spelling) John Boles rejoins us at this point for "Song of the Dawn." Thanks, John. Thanks a lot! (The sound recording, incidentally, is absolutely wonderful here, as indeed it is throughout the entire picture. But just listen to that full-throated roar of the male chorus, as our John urges the dawn into the skies)!

And now we come to what the producer intended as the musical highlight of the whole film, "The Melting Pot of Jazz". This title, of course, merely provides an excuse for a vast nationalistic pot of production numbers from England, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Mexico, France and Spain, with cartloads of singers and hordes of dancing girls. The showgirls, I must admit, are super-attractive as always, though their costumes in this final number are not nearly as appealing as the filmy creations previously on show. All the same, it's enough to make Busby Berkeley gnash his teeth in envy, (particularly as Anderson has anticipated Busby by occasionally employing Buzz's trademark overhead shots).

Incidentally, Anderson's style, apart from these few overhead shots, is strictly proscenium point-of-view. There are no reverse angles. None at all. This doesn't worry me. What does surprise me is a review on a certain web site that complains of a sound track that "pops and hisses". Not on the print under review. Admittedly, the color looks a little washed-out in places, though the two-strip Technicolor remains never less than appealingly novel. Its few blemishes like over- exposure won't worry a soul. The sound track, however, can only be rated one hundred per cent plus. Not a crackle, not a pop, not a hiss. Absolutely brilliant. Turn the volume right up — right, right up — and it's still crystal clear. My only complaint is that the sound track, like the movie, ends somewhat abruptly. Admittedly on an end title. But surely the curtain didn't just ring down at this point? Surely Whiteman provided a few minutes of run-out music to cheer the crowds on their way? (If he did, it ain't there no more. A pity).

Summing up: All told, I don't quite echo Mordaunt Hall's miraculously rave review in The New York Times. Not every vignette rates ten out of ten in my book. Every musical production number, yes. Every "comic" interlude, no. Nonetheless, I still think Mordaunt's definitely on the right wave length: "This sparkling extravaganza reveals John Murray Anderson to be a magician of far greater powers than one imagined, even from his stage compositions. A Technicolor potpourri of songs, dancing and fun, it is a marvel of camera wizardry, joyous color schemes, charming costumes and seductive lighting effects." Right on!

King of Jazz

[CinemaSerf · 7/10 · 12 February 2024]

The title of this film is a touch misleading. I was expecting much more of a jazz-based musical revue but instead got pretty much a whole gamut of colourful and precisely staged repertoire. Paul Whiteman and his accomplished orchestra provide the conduit, as it were, as a variety of performers sing, dance and make us laugh (or cringe) for the next hundred minutes. There's a bit of Bing Crosby's first screen appearance with the "Rhythm Boys" doing a lively version of "Happy Feet" and probably my favourite staging of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" - featuring an orchestra within the belly of the grandest of pianos. What this illustrates really effectively is the huge variety of musical skills that audiences in 1930 could expect to see, and at just how versatile the orchestra was when it came to playing themes from just about every genre. Whoever thought about playing some patriotic Souza on a bicycle pump? It looks great and it sounds good but for me, not being an American, too many of the acts - especially the comedy - didn't really travel. The production itself, though probably impractical to deliver, needed a live audience to breathe some life into it. The skills there are superb, but the whole thing is just a bit sterile and lifeless. As an history of what engaged the American people in the 1920s, this in still an interesting piece of entertainment nostalgia, though - and it is worth a watch.

One Can Only Imagine What Coud Have Been.

[dleavitt-805-83873 · 3/10 · 14 April 2021]

Obvioulsy a movie aobut jazz that includes no African American musicians makes this movie the history of Kenny G.

Social issues aside. What a disappointment. Can you image if they had actual filmed Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Benny Goodman, Bix, Pops, Django, King Oliver,and other real jazz musicians from 1930?

What a missed opportunity. I found it very interesting that there was not one improvised solo in the whole movie. Jazz is improvised art. This was all written out dance music, waltzes, latin music, light operatic singing and of course Bing Crosby who tries but fails miserably to emulate Louis Armstrong's free flowing singing.

Nothing much in this entire movie of actual jazz. Ironically, there were some amazing white jazz musicians during this period but this movie intentionally leaves them out as well. Jazz is not playing impressive technical music that is written down. It is the spontaneous expression of the player's heart, struggles, skills, experiences and love of life intertwining with the sounds of the musicians around them. If jazz is truly the melting pot of American music then this movie offers nothing of that amazing art form.