Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
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Silent Ozu
Three Family Comedies
(1931-1933)
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Contents: Tokyo Chorus (1931), I Was Born, But . . . (1932) and Passing Fancy (1933).
This three-film collection, culled from the earliest years of Yasujirô Ozu’s long cinematic career, contains an audience favorite and the highlight of the collection, I Was Born, But . . . (1932).
Due to the entrenchment of the Benshi narrator tradition in Japanese film exhibition, the production of Japanese silent films extended well into the 1930s. These three films are excellent examples of the continued development of the Japanese silent film and excellent films in the Ozu oeuvre.
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 Eclipse Series
2008 DVD edition
Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies (1931-1933), black & white, 291 minutes total, not rated, including Tokyo Chorus (1931), black & white, 90 minutes, not rated, I Was Born, But . . . (1932), black & white, 90 minutes, not rated, and Passing Fancy (1933), black & white, 100 minutes, not rated.
The Criterion Collection, ECL046-ECL048 (Eclipse Series 10),
UPC 7-15515-02912-4, ISBN number.
Three single-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD discs, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 mono sound, Japanese language intertitles, optional English language subtitles; chapter stops; three slimline DVD keepcases in cardboard slipcase; $44.95.
Release date: 22 April 2008.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD collection has been mastered from three very-good 35mm source prints.
The films are accompanied by music scores performed on piano by Donald Sosin.
For our reviews of the individual films in the collection, see our Tokyo Chorus on home video page, our I Was Born, But . . . on home video page, and our Passing Fancy on home video page.
As would be expected of a Criterion Collection release, this collection has been lovingly produced for home video and is enthusiastically recommended.
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