Vitaphone Cavalcade Of Musical Comedy Shorts (6 Disc)

Hello, First of all, the quality of the picture and sound of these short films is astonishing. Most of these look like they were filmed yesterday. I am almost finished playing through these DVDs for the first time. The first two discs are mostly very interesting, especially the shorts which don't only consist of an orchestra from the early 1930's standing in front of the camera and simply playing. These quickly get boring. I also enjoyed disc 4, and really found disc 5 and 6 enjoyable with their very vivid Technicolor footage. Of course most of the discs are really very silly indeed, but if you just go with it, they are a lot of fun. Then we arrive at disc 3. This consists of a series of short after short, which show clips of various early silent films with an extremely mocking commentary. After the first one, I found the disc almost unwatchable and would certainly never play it again. People who buy this set love the history of Hollywood, and really don't want it mocked. Is it possible that the value of the disc is that it sometimes shows films which no longer exist and this is the only way to see at least a fragment of them? My last and chief objection is the almost complete lack of documentation. This set cries out for some sort of booklet to go with it. I had to surf the net to even get the dates when the shorts were filmed. Thank goodness for "The Vitaphone Project". I am not sorry I bought the set. It will sit in my collection next to "The Jazz Singer" collection, but beware of the above comments. Even the internet has very little information to supplement these shorts.

Kind of a mixed bag. Some of these shorts are fun, others hard to sit through. The vaudeville shorts on Disk 4 are fun to watch, but the sound is terrible. Judy Garland and the Gumm Sisters are not in any of these, despite the description.

A remarkable, amazing find!

The shorts in this collection are:Disc One:Between the Acts at the Opera (1926)Favorite Orchestra of the Motion Picture Colony (1928)Tal Henry and His North Carolinians (1929)Rhythms (1929)The Opry House (1929)Red Nichols and His Five Pennies (1929)23...Skidoo (1930)Fashion's Mirror (1930)Henry Santrey and His Soldiers of Fortune Orchestra (1931)Opening Night (1931)One Way Out (1931)Jack Buchanan with the Glee Quartette (1930)Bubbles (1930) - odd piece with kids dancing and singingDisc Two:The Grand Dame (1931)Nine O'clock Folks (1931)Hot News Margie (1931)The Mild West (1933)Rooftops of Manhattan (1935)Surprise (1935)Disc Three:Thrills of Yesterday: Serious Moments from Serial Days (1931) Movie Album (#1) (1932)Inklings (1933)Movie Album (#2) (1932)Nickelette (1932)Movie Memories (#1) (1933)A Penny a Peep (1934)The Camera Speaks (1934)Hollywood Newsreel (1934)Movie Memories (#2) (1934)A Trip through a Hollywood Studio (1934)Disc Four:Harry Warren, America's Foremost Composer (1933)Barber Shop Blues (1933)A Big City Fantasy (1934)Mirrors (1934)Phil Spitalny & His Musical Queens (1934)Don Redman & His Orchestra (1934)Mr. & Mrs. Jesse Crawford at Home (1939)Vaudeville Reel (#1) (1934)Vaudeville Reel (#2) (1934)Vaudeville Reel (#3) (1935)Vaudeville Reel (#4) (1935)Disc Five:Technicolor -Service with a SmileGood Morning EveWhat, No Men?Gypsy SweetheartOkay Jose Carnival DayDisc Six:King of the Islands (1936)Changing of the Guard (1936)Echo Mountain (1936)The Sunday Round-Up (1936)Romance Road (1938)Out Where the Stars Begin (1938)courtesy DVDTalk.com

The title "Vitaphone Cavalcade of Musical Comedy" is really a misnomer! This 6-disc set has very few of what I would call MUSICAL comedies... Most of it is actually early Vitaphone shorts - some of them taken from early silent footage (albeit with a musical background from the Vitaphone studios) and a few are not even comedies! The title should have been "Early Vitaphone Shorts, Volume 1"... Nonetheless, I found it enjoyable, and - yes - I'm hoping they will release more of them!

Fantastic collection of Vitaphone shorts from Warner Archives. The Technicolor examples are quite stunning though the subject matter varies in quality. There is something for everyone in this collection. B&W shorts "Nine O'Clock Folks" and "Surprise" with rarely seen Vaudeville headliners the Duncan Sisters I also enjoyed very much.The restoration and reproduction quality of both picture and sound is generally excellent for such old and neglected films.

To pay over £30 for this 6 disc set and to watch over 10 hours of these vintage shorts you definately have to be an enthusiast.This is a collection of 53 shorts dating from 1926 till 1938.Each disc has a slighty different theme which i will details as follows:-Disc 1 this contains the earliest shorts dating from 1926.They are mainly bands and vaudeville acts.however there are also a couple of comedy shorts.One of the most bizarre being One Way Out.This is based on the funny(?) premise that one has to go and get a permit to commit suicide and then go to a park where you are turned off in a trice.Has to be seen to be believed.Disc2This consists of one and two reel musical comedies.Most of the performers are now forgotten.the biggest names being that of The Duncan Sisters in SurpriseDisc3This consists mainly of the unfunny shorts made in the 30s putting supposedly funny commentary and inter titles to silent films.Unfortunately it just highlights the fact that at that moment in time these films were thought of as more valuable for the silver nitrate content than the content of the films themselves.They are painful to watch.I doubt that i would ever want to watch this disc again and i dont understand why these shorts were thought worthy of inclusion.The only short of interest was the last which was A Trip through a Hollywood Studio.this shows Busbey Berkeley at work .Disc4A combination of bands and Vaudeville.The firstfeaturing Harry Warren is the most interesting.Disc5The first and most interesting of the Technicolour discs.The shorts start in 1934.the first 2 with Leon Errol are quite amazing.He wakes up in bed wearing orange and grey striped pajamas.His bedsheets are green his wifes are mauve.They conatin musical numbers and are very entertaining.The following 2 feature El brendel,a dialect comedian who is extremely unfunny.As the disc goes on the colour becomes slightly more muted.Disc6This contains 6 more colour shorts.With the exception of the last,Out Where The Stars Begin,they are not very good.The last one though is a real gem.If you go so far as to buy them then i am sure that on the whole you will be more than satisfied.However it would have been nice to have had a booklet to accompany the discs.Incidentally i would add that there is a note on the cover that this will only play on a "Playback Only" Device.This is not correct.