Silent Era Information*Progressive Silent Film List*Lost Films*People*Theaters
Taylorology*Articles*Home Video*Books*Search
 
Foolish Wives BD
 
Silent Era Home Page  >  Home Video  >  Dancing Mothers
 
Silent Era Films on Home Video
Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved.

Dancing Mothers
(1926)

 

This minor Famous Players-Lasky drama, directed by Herbert Brenon, features Alice Joyce as a long-suffering wife and mother who gave up her career on the stage for a quiet family life. Meanwhile, her husband (Norman Trevor) and daughter (Clara Bow) are back from bouncing around Europe, bringing with them a couple of shipboard infatuations in the persons of a golddigging ‘Russian’ vamp and infamous playboy Gerald Naughton (Conway Tearle).

It is not long before we know who the true star of the film is. Alice Joyce’s somber, sad stares off into the lonely void that separates her from her selfish family cannot hold command of the screen in the wake of Clara Bow’s vivacious and winning performance as the spoiled society party girl.

Carl Bennett

coverGrapevine Video
2005 DVD edition

Dancing Mothers (1926), black & white, 65 minutes, not rated, with At First Sight (1924), black & white, 12 minutes, not rated.

Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10029-1.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R disc, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), 7.0 Mbps average video bit rate, 256 Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 8-bit 2.0 mono sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; 6 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $16.95 (reduced to $14.95).
Release date: 7 February 2005.
Country of origin: USA

This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a rough but good 16mm reduction print that displays a number flaws, such as dust and schmutz, speckling, cupping, and even a print tear. The coarse video transfer does not appear to capture all of the image detail present in the substandard print, but the results are still viewable.

The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting recordings.

Our hope is that a better home video edition will be produced from a higher-quality print. Meanwhile, this is what is available.

 
USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
 
This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is also available directly from . . .
Other silent era CLARA BOW films available on home video.
 
Silent Era Home Page  >  Home Video  >  Dancing Mothers
 
Lodger BD
Become a Patron of Silent Era

LINKS IN THIS COLUMN
WILL TAKE YOU TO
EXTERNAL WEBSITES

SUPPORT SILENT ERA
USING THESE LINKS
WHEN SHOPPING AT
AMAZON

AmazonUS
AmazonCA
AmazonUK

Wings BD

Floating Weeds BD

Vitagraph BD

Road to Ruin BD

Cat and the Canary BD

Boob / Why Be Good BD

Madame DuBarry BD

Stella Maris BD

Three Ages / Hospitality BD

Foolish Wives BD