Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2025 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
|
The
Mollycoddle
(1920)
|
This feature comedy, directed by Victor Fleming, stars Douglas Fairbanks and Ruth Renick, with Wallace Beery, Morris Hughes, George Stewart, Paul Burns, Adele Farrington and Betty Bouton.
|
 Grapevine Video
2016 Blu-ray Disc edition
The Mollycoddle (1920), color-tinted black & white, 82 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video,
no catalog number, UPC 6-60845-44853-7.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 Blu-ray Disc (BD-R BDMV); 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 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard BD keepcase; $19.95.
Release date: April 2016.
Country of origin: USA
|
|
This BD-R edition has been mastered from a 2K high-definition scan of a likely 16mm reduction print.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed by David Knudtson.
Sight unseen, we recommend this home video edition of the film mainly due to its HD scan and release on Blu-ray Disc. (We could be wrong to assume that it is visually better than the Flicker Alley edition noted below.)
|
|
This
Region 0 Blu-ray Disc (BD-R) edition is available directly from . . .
|
|
|
 Flicker Alley
2008 DVD edition
Douglas Fairbanks: A Modern Musketeer (1916-1921), color-toned black & white, color-tinted black & white, color-tinted and color-toned black & white and black & white, 760 minutes total, not rated, including The Mollycoddle (1920), color-toned black & white and color-tinted black & white, 85 minutes, not rated.
Flicker Alley, FA0011,
UPC 6-17311-67359-7, ISBN: 1-8939-6735-2.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc (five DVDs in the set); 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 6.8 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 12 chapter stops; 32-page insert booklet; five slimline DVD keepcases in cardboard slipcase; $89.95.
Release date: 2 December 2008.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 7 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.
|
This DVD edition has been mastered from a very-good 35mm print struck in the 1950s from the camera negative (presumably that held by the Museum of Modern Art), which shows a moderate amount of dust, speckling, schmutz, frame jitters, print tears, in-camera static discharges, and other print flaws. Rapid movements in the picture momentarily reveal the interlacing of the standard resolution video transfer that cannot be hidden by upscaling to a progressive scan on high-definition systems.
The film is accompanied by a musical score composed and performed on piano by Philip Carli.
Supplemental material includes a 32-page booklet with film notes by Jeffrey Vance and Tony Maietta; production stills and pressbook reproductions; an audio essay for A Modern Musketeer by Vance and Maietta; and a reproduction of Fairbanks’ first film contract. This boxset collection won an award at Il Cinema Ritrovato in 2009 for excellence.
This is our recommended DVD home video edition of the film.
|
|
This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition is available directly from . . .
|
|
|
 Grapevine Video
2016 DVD edition
The Mollycoddle (1920), color-tinted black & white, 82 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 6-60845-44765-3.
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; $16.95.
Release date: April 2016.
Country of origin: USA
|
|
This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a 2K high-definition scan of a likely 16mm reduction print.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed by David Knudtson.
|
|
This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
|
|
|
 Alpha Video
2019 DVD edition
The Mollycoddle (1920), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, with The Matrimaniac (1916), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 8200D, UPC 0-89218-82009-9.
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 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $7.98 (raised to $8.98).
Release date: 12 March 2019.
Country of origin: USA
|
|
This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm or 8mm reduction print.
The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
|
This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
ALPHA VIDEO through . . .
|
|
|
|
Other silent era DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS films available on home video.
|
|
Douglas Fairbanks filmography in The Progressive Silent Film List
|
|
