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Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
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A Dog’s Life
(1918)

Park Circus
2010 DVD edition

The Chaplin Revue (1918-1923),
black & white, 323 minutes total, not rated,
including A Dog’s Life (1918), black & white, ? minutes, BBFC Classification U.

Park Circus, PC0019, UPC 5-060203-34019-3.
Two single-sided, dual-layered, Region 2 PAL DVD discs, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 576 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 5.1 surround sound and Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 mono sound, no foreign language subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase in cardboard slipcover; £15.99.
Release date: 15 November 2010.
Country of origin: Scotland

This PAL DVD collection of The Chaplin Revue, from a Scottish distribution company and produced for home video by MK2 Diffusion, has been mastered from 35mm print materials controlled by the Estate of Charles Chaplin.

The film is presented with the established music score composed by Charles Chapli n.

The disc’s supplemental material includes an introduction by David Robinson.

This being nearly identical in content to the 2004 Warner Home Video edition noted below, owners of that edition may not feel the need to acquire this Park Circus edition. This edition, currently the only high-quality edition in print, is recommended for those who want to add the film to their collection now. With no high-definition home video option, we recommend this edition.

North American collectors will need a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.

United Kingdom: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 2 PAL DVD edition from Amazon.co.uk. Support Silent Era.

Warner Home Video
2004 DVD edition

The Chaplin Revue (1918-1923), black & white, 288 minutes total, not rated, including A Dog’s Life (1918), black & white, 33 minutes, not rated.

Warner Home Video, 34460,
UPC 0-85393-44602-4, ISBN 0-7907-9111-0.
Two 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 stereo and mono sound, English, Spanish and Portuguese language menus, English language intertitles, English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Chinese, Korean and Thai language subtitles, chapter stops; cardboard wrap case with plastic trays in cardboard slipcase; $29.95.
Release date: 2 March 2004.
Country of origin: USA

Our first look at the discs reveals the high quality one would expect from video transfers utilizing 35mm prints and negatives from Chaplin’s own film collection. The detail and greyscale ranges are consistently excellent. However, we have had problems with the disc displaying properly to a 16:9 high-definition television when played from one of our DVD players. The picture fills the 16:9 monitor in width (already wrong for a 4:3 format picture) and crops the top and bottom of the picture to do so. No amount of manipulation of the picture settings ideally resolves the issue. Other DVD players will not have this issue.

Be aware that that isn’t the only issue with the production of this set. Despite how they are labeled, disc 1 is disc two and disc 2 is disc one. Confused? So were we.

The disc includes the option to view the films in the Chaplin Revue form that Chaplin assembled for release in 1959 (including Chaplin’s overview introduction) or as the individual films themselves — appealing to collectors who want the individual films presented as closely as possible to their original form.

The supplementary material includes the unreleased Chaplin film How to Make Movies, the war bond comedies The Bond and [Harry Lauder] (1918), outtakes from Shoulder Arms and Sunnyside, informal momento films, introductions by David Robinson, stills and posters galleries, and trailers.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

CBS/Fox Home Video
2000 DVD edition

The Kid (1921), black & white, 68 minutes, not rated, with A Dog’s Life (1918), black & white, 35 minutes, not rated.

CBS/Fox Home Video, distributed by Image Entertainment,
ID9178CUDVD, UPC 0-14381-91782-6.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD 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), ? Mbps average video bit rate, 192 Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 8-bit 1.0 mono sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; 17 chapter stops; snapper DVD case; $29.99.
Release date: 8 February 2000.
Country of origin: USA

This DVD edition has been conflated and mastered from archival 35mm prints.

This edition is now long out-of-print, and for no other reason (we think) than the longer running time it sometimes fetches high prices for used copies on eBay.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Koch Vision
2000 DVD edition

Chaplin: Early Masterpieces (1915-1918), black & white, 196 minutes total, not rated, including A Dog’s Life (1918), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.

Koch Vision, KOC-DV-6301, UPC 7-41952-63019-7.
Three single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 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, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; chapter stops; three standard DVD keepcases in cardboard slipcase; $19.98.
Release date: 19 December 2000.
Country of origin: USA

We have not seen this 3-disc DVD collection yet. But we do admit that it is intriguing to get three discs for less than $20.00. Unfortunately, we suspect that the quality of the prints used for the video transfers may again be a disappointment, as with nearly all budget-priced home video products.

All of these Chaplin films are already available in high-quality DVD editions. At this time, we do not recommend this out-of-print set.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Alpha Video
2020 DVD edition

A Dog’s Life (1918), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, with The Fireman (1916), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The Rink (1916), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, and The Cure (1917), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.

Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 8300D, UPC 0-89218-83009-8.
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), ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $7.98 (raised to $8.98).
Release date: 14 January 2020.
Country of origin: USA

This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from 8mm and 16mm reduction prints.

The films may be accompanied by soundtracks compiled from preexisting recordings.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Other silent era CHARLES CHAPLIN films available on home video.

Other silent era JACKIE COOGAN films available on home video.

Other SHORT COMEDY FILMS of the silent era available on home video.

Charles Chaplin filmography in The Progressive Silent Film List