Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
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Fanchon
the Cricket
(1915)
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This Famous Players drama, directed by James Kirkwood, stars Mary Pickford, with Jack Standing, Lottie Pickford, Gertrude Norman, Russell Bassett, Richard Lee, Jack Pickford, Fred Astaire and Adele Astaire (yes, that Fred Astaire — in his film debut).
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 Flicker Alley
2018 Blu-ray Disc / DVD edition
Fanchon the Cricket (1915), color-tinted black & white, 115 minutes, not rated.
Flicker Alley, FA0056, UPC 6-17311-68569-9.
One single-sided, single-layered, Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) 24 fps progressive scan image encoded in SDR AVC format at ? Mbps average video bit rate; LPCM 5.1 surround sound encoded at ? Mbps audio bit rate and LPCM 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, optional English language subtitles; 6 chapter stops; and one single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture 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; English language intertitles, optional English language subtitles; 6 chapter stops; 24-page insert booklet; standard two-disc BD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 13 April 2021.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: X / audio: X / additional content: X / overall: X.
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This Blu-ray Disc / DVD edition has been mastered from an archival 35mm restoration print.
The DVD fares just as well.
The film is accompanied by a well-recorded music score composed and performed by Julian Ducatenzeiler and Andy Gladbach. Unfortunately, we feel that the compositions and their recordings are totally disconnected from the action of the film — nearly as bad as if the film were accompanied by a compilation of preexisting recordings.
Supplemental material includes a 24-page insert booklet with essays by Cari Beauchamp and information on the film and on the edition itself.
We recommend this as the best available home video edition (as it is the only edition that we are aware of). The edition is out-of-print through Flicker Alley; distribution is now handled by VCI Entertainment who has released other Pickford titles on Blu-ray Disc and DVD.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc / Region 0 DVD edition from Amazon.com. Support Silent Era.
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This Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc / Region 0 DVD edition is also available from . . .
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