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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The Growth
of the Soil
(1921)
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Thought to be the first feature film produced in Norway, this drama from director Gunnar Sommerfeldt features Karen Poulsen, Amund Ryland and Gunnar Sommerfeldt.
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 Grapevine Video
2009 DVD edition
The Growth of the Soil (1921), black & white, 67 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10173-1.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R 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 7.0 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 384 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 12 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $14.95.
Release date: 2009.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 3 / additional content: 0 / overall: 3
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a good 8mm reduction print that is contrasty, with dark, plugged-up shadow details, and with a significant amount of dust, speckling, schmutz, emulsion chipping, and other print flaws. If better source materials survive, there is a great deal of room for improvement over this edition.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting, low-fidelity orchestral music recordings.
Previously, this was the only known DVD home video edition of The Growth of the Soil. We are unaware whether the Loving the Classics edition noted below is of higher quality, but note its longer running time compared to this edition.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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 Loving the Classics
201? DVD edition
The Growth of the Soil (1921), black & white, 107 minutes, not rated.
Loving the Classics,
no catalog number, unknown UPC number.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R 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, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $14.99.
Release date: 201?
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm reduction print.
The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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Other NORWEGIAN FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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