Silent Era : DVD : The Iron Horse (1924) Review

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Copyright © 1999-2008 by Carl Bennett. All Rights Reserved.

The Iron Horse
(1924)
on

Following the success of The Covered Wagon (1923), which infused new energy into the dime-novel world of the American Western, Fox Film Corporation produced John Ford’s sweeping epic of the transcontinental railroad.

2007 Fox Home Video edition

The Iron Horse (1924) [domestic and international versions], black & white, 149 minutes (USA version) and 133 minutes (international version), not rated (Canada rated G).

Fox Home Video, no catalog number, UPC 0-24543-48268-0.
Full-frame 4:3 NTSC, two single-sided, dual-layered DVD discs, Region 1, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, English language intertitles, optional French and Spanish language subtitles, closed-captions, 28 chapter stops, keep case (single disc) and slimline keep case (boxset), $19.98.
DVD release date: 4 December 2007.
Country of origin: USA

This first US edition of John Ford’s epic silent western has been mastered from the best-surviving 35mm materials, and features both the 1924 USA domestic-release version and the shorter 1924 international-export version.

The discs are also available in the Ford at Fox Collection: John Ford’s Silent Epics boxset.

USA: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.com.
Canada: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.ca.

2002 BFI Video Publishing edition

The Iron Horse (1924) [international version], color-toned black & white, 134 minutes, classification PG.

BFI Video Publishing, BFIVD521, unknown UPC number.
Full-frame 4:3 PAL, one single-sided, dual-layered? DVD disc, Region 2, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, chapter stops, keep case, £19.99.
DVD release date: 2002.
Country of origin: England

This PAL-format edition was produced for Channel Four Silents presentation on British television by Photoplay Productions and features a music score composed and conducted by John Lanchbery before the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

This Region 2 PAL DVD is now out-of-print.

Other silent era John Ford films available on DVD home video:
Bucking Broadway (1917)
The Ford at Fox Collection: John Ford’s Silent Epics (1920-1928)
Four Sons (1928)
Hangman’s House (1928)
Just Pals (1920)
Straight Shooting (1917)
3 Bad Men (1926)

Other silent era railroad films available on DVD home video:
The Arizona Express (1924)
Crossed Signals (1926)
The Dixie Flyer (1924)
The General (1926)
The Girl in the Pullman (1927)
The West-Bound Limited (1923)

Other silent era western films available on DVD home video:
The Bargain (1914)
The Battle at Elderbush Gulch (1914)
Behind Two Guns (1924)
Blue Blazes Rawden (1918)
Born to Battle (1927)
The Buckaroo Kid (1926)
Custer’s Last Fight (1912)
The Deerslayer (1920)
The Devil Horse (1926)
The Films of William S. Hart (1915)
The Great K&A Train Robbery (1926)
The Great Train Robbery (1903)
The Heart of Texas Ryan (1917)
Hell’s Hinges (1916)
Jesse James Under the Black Flag (1921)
Just Tony (1922)
The Last of the Mohicans (1920)
The Man from Texas (1915)
The Martyrs of the Alamo (1915)
Pioneers of the West (1927)
Redskin (1929)
The Return of ‘Draw’ Egan (1916)
The Son-of-a-Gun! (1918)
The Square Deal Man (1917)
The Squaw Man (1914)
Thundering Hoofs (1924)
The Toll Gate (1920)
The Vanishing American (1925)
Wagon Tracks (1919)
Wild Beauty (1927)

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