New on Blu-ray: SOUNDIES - THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION

Soundies The Ultimate Collection New On Bluray

Product Description: Soundies have been called the music videos of the 1940s, but that doesn’t begin to describe their cultural importance. It’s true that they feature a remarkable range of talent, from big-band luminaries like Duke Ellington and Count Basie to then-emerging stars like Doris Day and Ricardo Montalban, and lesser-known artists of the American nightclub circuit. But Soundies are also a rich, largely overlooked chronicle of American popular culture during and just after World War II. Produced for coin-operated jukeboxes in neighborhood bars and taverns, Soundies have an uncanny way of revealing what Americans were thinking about topics that weren’t discussed openly, from sexuality to ethnicity and race. Curated by Susan Delson, author of Soundies and the Changing Image of Black Americans on Screen: One Dime at a Time, this four-disc collection presents a diverse sampling of 200 shorts—jazz, country-western, folk, and the boogie woogie roots of rock ’n’ roll—newly restored from 35mm and 16mm materials preserved by the Library of Congress and other archives. Never have so many Soundies been celebrated in one collection, or presented with such care: thematically organized, accompanied by on-screen introductions and a booklet of essays, photos, and credits.

"The Entertainment Factor is supported by its audience. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission."

Find out more about this DVD/Blu-ray release after the jump.

Click the links below to jump directly
to the selected section:

Movie Details

Available Formats (Purchasing Links)

Video

Audio

Subtitles

Special Features & Extras

Trailer and Clips

Pictures

MOVIE DETAILS

JUMP BACK TO TOP

Director: Various

Starring: Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Nat King Cole, Doris Day, Duke Ellington

Genre: Music

Runtime: 600 min

Rating: Not rated

Language: English

Studio: Kino Lorber

Home Video Release Date: July 25, 2023

AVAILABLE FORMATS (click links to order from Amazon):

JUMP BACK TO TOP

Blu-ray

VIDEO

JUMP BACK TO TOP

Blu-ray

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Region: Region A/1

AUDIO

JUMP BACK TO TOP

Dubbed:

Blu-ray: None

Audio Formats:

Blu-ray: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0

SUBTITLES

JUMP BACK TO TOP

Blu-ray: None

SPECIAL FEATURES & EXTRAS

JUMP BACK TO TOP

Illustrated 44-page booklet with essays by Susan Delson, Ellen C. Scott, and Mark Cantor
Filmed introductions by series curator Susan Delson, with Ina Archer, Media Conservationist, National Museum of African American History and Culture
“Inside the Panoram,” a filmed interview with Mark Cantor, author of The Soundies: A History and Catalog of Jukebox Film Shorts of the 1940s
“From the Vaults,” a filmed interview with Matt Barton (Curator of Recording Sound at the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center at the Library of Congress) and Mike Mashon (Head of the Moving Image Section of the Library of Congress)