King of Jazz. 1930. USA. Directed by John Murray Anderson. In English. DCP. 105 min.
In his push to establish Universal as a first-rank studio, Junior Laemmle put two super-productions on the schedule at once: the Oscar-winning All Quiet on the Western Front and this spectacular musical revue built around the popular band leader Paul Whiteman. “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. The world premiere of Universal’s digital restoration of King of Jazz with its two-color Technicolor burnished to its original glory and at full length, after many years in only cutdown versions, took place at the Museum in 2016.