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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Merry-Go-Round
(1923)
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Erich von Stroheim’s last film for Universal was taken away from him by studio executive Irving Thalberg to be completed by utilitarian director Rupert Julian. Yet the film still retains elements of the von Stroheim style. Notwithstanding Norman Kerry and Mary Philbin, the sets designed by Richard Day (with direction from Stroheim) are the stars of this film.
After six weeks of shooting, during which he shot 83,000 feet of negative for only about one-fifth of the scenario, Stroheim was removed from the production. When the film was finished by Rupert Julian, he stated that only approximately 600 feet of Stroheim footage remained in the film.
Among the supporting cast are Stroheim regulars Cesare Gravina, Dale Fuller and Maude George.
— Carl Bennett
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 Flicker Alley
2025 Blu-ray Disc edition
Merry-Go-Round (1923), black & white, 123 minutes, not rated, with Old Heidelberg (1915), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Flicker Alley, FA0087, UPC 6-17311-68879-9.
One single-sided, dual-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; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, English language SDH subtitles; chapter stops; insert booklet; standard BD keepcase; $39.95.
Release date: 18 March 2025.
Country of origin: USA
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This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from a digital restoration that emulates the original film continuity by conflating the highest-quality surviving film elements from world archives, with digital image restoration and recreation of the original color effects.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and conducted by Robert Israel.
Supplemental material includes audio commentary by Richard Kosarski; a new restoration of Old Heidelberg (1915), with a bit apperance by Erich von Stroheim; featurette “Vienna Actualities,” courtesy of Filmarchiv Austria (17 minutes); featurette “Restoring Merry-Go-Round,” with film archivist Serge Bromberg; and an insert booklet with a new essay on the film by Richard Kosarski, and with notes on the restoration by Serge Bromberg and Lucie Fourmont.
This is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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This
Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition is also available directly from . . .
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 Film Preservation Associates
2003 DVD edition
Merry-Go-Round (1923), color-toned black & white and black & white, 114 minutes, not rated.
Film Preservation Associates, distributed by Image Entertainment, ID9228DSDVD, UPC 0-14381-92282-0.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), 4.5 Mbps average video bit rate, 224 Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, no subtitles; 11 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $24.99.
Release date: 8 April 2003.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 5 / additional content: 0 / overall: 6.
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This DVD edition marked the beginning of a great year for Erich von Stroheim fans, with the majority of his surviving films being released on DVD home video in 2003. The disc has apparently been mastered from 16mm reduction print materials. The windowboxed, natural-speed video transfer is good enough (even on upscaling HD equipment) but, despite a broad range of greytones, picture details in the source print are not a sharp as one would want, with close-ups being very-good but also with long shots that are quite soft in details.
The presentation is accompanied by a music score performed on synthesizers by Eric Beheim.
This is currently the best available DVD home video edition of Merry-Go-Round.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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 The Film Detective
2016 DVD edition
Merry-Go-Round (1923), black & white, 110 minutes, not rated.
The Film Detective,
unknown catalog number, unknown UPC number.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R disc, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in windowboxed 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 subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $9.99.
Release date: 30 June 2016.
Country of origin: USA
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The DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm reduction print.
The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from prexisting recordings.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Other silent era ERICH VON STROHEIM films available on home video.
Other silent film music scores by ROBERT ISRAEL available on home video.
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Erich von Stroheim filmography in The Progressive Silent Film List
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