DIRECTORS//: John Murray Anderson
PRODUCER: Carl Laemmle Jr
PRODUCTION CO: Universal
SCREENPLAY: Harry Ruskin, Edward T. Lowe Jr, Charles MacArthur
PHOTOGRAPHY: Jerome Ash, Hal Mohr, Ray Rennahan
EDITOR: Robert Carlisle
MUSIC: Alfonso Corelli, James Dietrich, Billy Rose, Milton Ager, George Gershwin, Mabel Wayne, Jack Yellen, Ferde Grofé
WITH: Paul Whiteman, John Boles, Laura La Plante, Jeanie Lang, Jeanette Loff, Bing Crosby, Al Rinker, Harry Barris, William T. Kent

REVIEWS

“Looking like a million, as might have been said in 1930, King of Jazz celebrates the truism that Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley were America’s gifts to 20th-century world culture, even as the film revels in the unexamined prejudices and show-business segregation of the day.”

– J Hoberman, NY Times

 “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 to present a spectacular array of sketches, performances by such acts as the Rhythm Boys (featuring a young Bing Crosby), and orchestral numbers—all lavishly staged by veteran theater director John Murray Anderson. Presented here in the most complete form possible and restored to its original early-Technicolor glory, King of Jazz offers a fascinating snapshot of the way mainstream American popular culture viewed itself at the dawn of the 1930s.”

– Criterion.com

“Universal’s brand-new digital restoration of King of Jazz, [is] now restored to its full length, with its two-color Technicolor burnished to its original glory. “Rhapsody in Blue,” which Whiteman commissioned from George Gershwin, provides a lavish centerpiece – and a problem for color supervisor Natalie Kalmus, since blue was one hue early Technicolor could not reproduce.”

– MoMA

FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS

Hamilton  
Monday, 28 March, 8.00pm

​Dunedin  
Wednesday, 6 April, 7:30pm

Whanganui  
Monday, 2 May, 7.00pm

​Nelson     
Tuesday, 5 July, 6.00pm

​Canterbury  
Monday, 18 July, 7.00pm

Timaru   
Monday, 15 August, 6:00pm

Palmerston North
Wednesday, 14 September, 6pm

Tauranga  
Thursday, 6 October, 6:30pm

Auckland  
Monday, 14 November, 6.15pm

New Plymouth
Wednesday, 23 November, 6pm

Wellington     
Monday, 5 December, 6.15pm
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