Syncopation (William Dieterle)

[pro-bassoonist]

Syncopation Blu-ray



NEWS
https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=15469

The Cohen Media Group will bring to Blu-ray director William Dieterle's (Dark City, The Life of Emile Zola) Syncopation (1942), starring Adolphe Menjou, Jackie Cooper, Bonita Granville, Tedd North, and Robert Benchley. Recently restored, Syncopation will be available for purchase on February 10, 2015.

Synopsis: A jazz trumpeter tries to woo a fellow musician in mourning for her dead lover, and sets up a band in an attempt to bring them closer together. Covering a quarter-century of American "syncopated" music (ragtime, jazz, swing, blues, and boogie boogie), Syncopation features music from the turn of the 20th century through prohibition, the Great Depression, and the outbreak of WWII. Featuring jazz greats Benny Goodman, Charlie Barnett, Gene Krupa, Harry James, and more.

Pro-B

[Arkadin]

interesting....................
not sure if I'll get this one, but I like a lot of jazz and it's always cool to see these few old films where legendary performers are actually showcased.

[pro-bassoonist]

Syncopation Blu-ray PRE-ORDER

Cohen Media Group has detailed the Cohen Film Collection Blu-ray release of director William Dieterle's Syncopation, starring Adolphe Menjou, Jackie Cooper, Bonita Granville, Tedd North and Robert Benchley. Recently restored and digitally remastered for its Blu-ray debut, the rediscovered 1942 musical classic streets on February 10th.

Synopsis: A one-of-a-kind cinematic extravaganza, Syncopation is both a love story about two young musicians and a celebration of some of the greatest popular music of the first half of the 20th century. The romance between a young trumpeter (former child star Jackie Cooper of The Champ and Our Gang fame) and a New Orleans-born piano player (Bonita Granville, the silver screen's original Nancy Drew and the future producer of TV's Lassie) serves as the narrative plot line. But the core of the film is its celebratory history of "syncopated" music - jazz - tracing it from the turn-of-the-century sounds of ragtime, through Dixieland, the blues, Chicago jazz and the swing era.

Musical greats of the day are featured in performance, including Benny Goodman, Harry James, Gene Krupa, Charlie Barnet and many more. Also in the cast are Adolphe Menjou, George Bancroft, Robert Benchley and singers Todd Duncan and Connee Boswell. Putting all of the elements together is prolific golden age director William Dieterle (The Life of Emile Zola, Portrait of Jennie, September Affair, The Hunchback of Notre Dame).

For its Cohen Film Collection Blu-ray release, syncopation has been restored in 2K from an archival 35mm fine grain master struck by the Library of Congress from the nitrate negative. In addition to a 2015 re-release trailer, special features include nine short musical films showcasing some of the most iconic performers in jazz history:

"Symphony in Black" (1935 w/Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday) (9:36)
"Rhapsody in Black and Blue" (1932, w/Louis Armstrong) (10:00)
"St. Louis Blues" (1929, w/Bessie Smith) (15:41)
"Cab Calloway's Hi De Ho" (1933) (10:00)
"Bundle of Blues" (1933, w/Duke Ellington) (9:00)
"Hoagy Carmichael" (1939, w/Carmichael and Jack Teagarden) (10:00)
"Artie Shaw's Class in Swing" (1939, w/Shaw) (10:00)
"Jazz a la Cuba" (1933, w/Don Azpiazú) (5:19)
"Black and Tan Fantasy" (1929, w/Duke Ellington and Fredi Washington) (19:00)

Syncopation - Trailer - YouTube

Pro-B

[Tom Monahan]

Is this film any good.? I love old movies and the trailer looks good.

Thanks,
Tom

[JMK]

Syncopation Blu-ray Review

[bigshot]

I've never seen the film, but I bought it blind just for the music. WOW! What I didn't know is that it has two hours of supplements... amazing Paramount shorts with Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, etc... also fully restored in HD from the Library of Congress. I haven't even watched the feature yet, and the supplements alone were worth the price of the disk. Amazing image quality. Projected, they look like film. I've only seen these in beat up 16mm transfers before. Seeing them in pristine 35 is a revelation. Can't wait to watch the feature this weekend.

JMK! You didn't watch the supplements! They are more important than the feature... DUKE ELLINGTON FROM 1929! BILLIE HOLIDAY! BESSIE SMITH! CAB CALLOWAY DURING HIS STINT AT THE COTTON CLUB! LOUIS ARMSTRONG WHEN HE FIRST CAME TO NEW YORK! You spent four paragraphs describing the plot (the least important part of this movie!) and didn't mention the music except to list the performers off the back of the cover! How did you miss that stuff?! Did you even watch the supplements? Do you know who Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington are? You really should revisit that review. You totally missed the best stuff on this disk.

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by bigshot

I've never seen the film, but I bought it blind just for the music. WOW! What I didn't know is that it has two hours of supplements... amazing Paramount shorts with Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, etc... also fully restored in HD from the Library of Congress. I haven't even watched the feature yet, and the supplements alone were worth the price of the disk. Amazing image quality. Projected, they look like film. I've only seen these in beat up 16mm transfers before. Seeing them in pristine 35 is a revelation. Can't wait to watch the feature this weekend.

JMK! You didn't watch the supplements! They are more important than the feature... DUKE ELLINGTON FROM 1929! BILLIE HOLIDAY! BESSIE SMITH! CAB CALLOWAY DURING HIS STINT AT THE COTTON CLUB! LOUIS ARMSTRONG WHEN HE FIRST CAME TO NEW YORK! You spent four paragraphs describing the plot (the least important part of this movie!) and didn't mention the music except to list the performers off the back of the cover! How did you miss that stuff?! Did you even watch the supplements? Do you know who Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington are? You really should revisit that review. You totally missed the best stuff on this disk.

Thank you for this post, I would not have given this disc a second look if I hadn't read this comment. I now plan on buying it for the extra features to give to my dad (hugeeeeee classic jazz nut who unfortunately is stuck with mostly old VHS copies of classic jazz artists to show to his classes).

[manicsounds]

I'm absolutely amazed at the visual and sound quality of the additional short films on the disc (for the most part, as the Bessie Smith short suffers from weak elements).

The sound is in lossless LPCM audio, and the prints look amazing in 1080p. Seems Cohen put the remastering work to use on the shorts, to match the quality of the actual film.

One minor complaint might be the lack of supplements to complement the main film of "Syncopation" (documentary, commentary, etc), but anyone interested in music must get this disc.