The ultimate site about the king of the analogue age
On September 18, 2007 Warner Brothers released a blu ray edition of "Jailhouse Rock", which had been produced half a century earlier for MGM.
The picture is clean, there are no pieces of grain or dust. The whites and greys are very good, but the blacks leave something to be desired. Fine object detail also is good, much better than on the previous outings, but here and there the picture becomes a tad soft. "Jailhouse Rock" certainly looks good for a movie made in 1957, but the newer Warner releases look much better due to be taken from recent 4k scans of the original negatives.
The soundtrack is available in its original mono version as well as in Dolby Surround 5.1 and True HD 5.1. Of course there is not too much going on in the rear, but the surround versions open up the space a bit. Strangely though both 5.1 incarnations sound more or less alike. But no matter what version of the soundtrack you select, they are all quite impressive for a movie of this age.
The release features an audio commentary by Steve Pond, author of "Elvis In Hollywood" and a featurette of 16 minutes, in which Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller are discussing the song "Jailhouse Rock" and tell us, how Elvis and his choreographer remapped all the moves shortly before the accordant scene was shot. Of course we also get to see the original trailer.
Considering this version was released in 2007 Warner did a very good job here. But meanwhile Paramount has proven with their release of "King Creole", that old b/w movies can look much better and also Warner's own "Archive Collection" leaves a superior impression. Hopefully they'll soon include "Jailhouse Rock" in their series, too.
Warner Brothers