Review of King of Jazz

This has an animation and in-camera tricks introduction. The main body is a big musical presenting band leader Paul Whiteman as The King of Jazz. It's an early musical a few years after the introduction of sound. It's a series of musical numbers on a big stage setting. It's a large production but there is no overarching connecting plot. The main connecting device is a giant book that is flipped to get to the next chapter. It's also in Technicolor. There are comedic interstitial scenes. As a historical document, it is absolutely fascinating. It's almost Vaudeville on film in that it's just a lot of performers performing on stage. It is a movie of a bygone era. It's also the first film with Bing Crosby. It was a bit of a failure at the time which may be due to a flood of similar musicals. It's a scattershot of lavish musical scenes without much connective tissue. By the midway point, any novelty is worn out as it all becomes more and more of the same fascinating nothingness. It has no story and it's not concentrating on any single character other than Paul Whiteman who is mostly simply a face. This may not be a great film but it is a fascinating one.