Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2025 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
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Murnau, Borzage
and Fox
(1925-1932)
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Contents: Lazybones (1925), Sunrise (1927) [Movietone sound and European silent versions], 7th Heaven (1927), Street Angel (1928), The River (1928) [surviving footage], Lucky Star (1929), They Had to See Paris (1929), City Girl (1929), Song o’ My Heart (1930), Liliom (1930), Bad Girl (1931), After Tomorrow (1932) and Young America (1932).
This massive boxset collection of films directed by F.W. Murnau and Frank Borzage for Fox Film Corporation includes twelve DVD discs stored in die-cut pockets and two full-size books. Impressive and heavy, the set is also an envy-invoking ego boost to own.
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 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
2008 DVD edition
Murnau, Borzage and Fox (1925-1932), black & white and color, 1080 minutes total, not rated, including Lazybones (1925), black & white, 86 minutes, not rated, Sunrise (1927) [silent version with Movietone soundtrack], black & white, 94 minutes, not rated, Sunrise (1927) [European silent version], black & white, 79 minutes, not rated, 7th Heaven (1927), black & white, 119 minutes, not rated, Street Angel (1928), black & white, 101 minutes, not rated, The River (1928), black & white, 55 minutes, not rated, City Girl (1929), black & white, 88 minutes, not rated, Lucky Star (1929), black & white, 99 minutes, not rated, They Had to See Paris (1929), black & white, 83 minutes, not rated, Song o’ My Heart (1930) [full-sound version], black & white, 86 minutes, not rated, Song o’ My Heart (1930) [silent version with Movietone soundtrack], black & white, 90 minutes, not rated, Liliom (1930), black & white, 94 minutes, not rated, Bad Girl (1931), black & white, 88 minutes, not rated, After Tomorrow (1932), black & white, 81 minutes, not rated, Young America (1932), black & white, 70 minutes, not rated, and Murnau, Borzage and Fox (2008), color and black & white, 105 minutes, not rated.
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 35622, UPC 0-24543-56220-7.
Eight single-sided, single-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD discs; 1.20:1 and 1.33:1 aspect ratios in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at ? Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 5.1 surround sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate, and Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, optional French, Spanish and English (sound films only) language subtitles; chapter stops; one single-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD disc; 1.20:1 aspect ratio image in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at ? Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate, and Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, optional French, Spanish and English (sound films only) language subtitles; chapter stops; and three dual-sided, single-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD discs; 1.20:1 aspect ratio image in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at ? Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate, and Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, optional French, Spanish and English (sound films only) language subtitles; chapter stops; clothbound binder with disc pockets in clothbound box; $239.98.
Release date: 9 December 2008.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD boxset collection of F.W. Murnau’s and Frank Borzage’s films directed for Fox Film Corporation in the latter years of the silent era and in the dawn of Movietone sound films is heavy on Borzage and light on Murnau, with only two Murnau films on disc and a full-size book on his lost film 4 Devils (1928).
Some collectors have reported scuffed discs that are packaged in die-cut pockets within the binder, and problems playing the double-sided 7th Heaven/The River disc. This disc packaging choice has been a disturbing trend in larger boxsets like this one and the plastic-slipcased Hitchcock collection with their die-cut disc pockets within stiff cardboard pages. Our own copy of this set has presented no playback problems with the discs on a Panasonic BD player. Others have complained that the set is bulky at seven pounds and hard to handle, with its large binder and two full-size books.
For our comparative reviews of the silent films in this boxset, see our Lazybones on home video, Sunrise on home video, 7th Heaven on home video, Street Angel on home video, The River on home video, Lucky Star on home video and City Girl on home video pages.
Long out-of-print and very hard to find nowadays, this boxset is highly recommended (although some of the films have been released on Blu-ray Disc in improved editions).
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This Region 1 NTSC DVD boxset has been discontinued
and is . . .
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