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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The Mothering
Heart
(1913)
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This short drama, directed by D.W. Griffith, stars Lillian Gish and Walter Miller, with Viola Barry, Charles H. West and Kate Bruce.
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 Film Preservation Associates
2002 DVD edition
D.W. Griffith: Years of Discovery 1908-1914 (1908-1914), black & white, 334 minutes total, not rated, including The Mothering Heart (1913), black & white, 23 minutes, not rated.
Film Preservation Associates, distributed by Image Entertainment, ID1270DSDVD, UPC 0-14381-12702-7.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc (two 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 4.6 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 224 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; no chapter stops (within the film); four-page insert booklet; double-wide two-disc DVD keepcase; $39.99.
Release date: 10 September 2002.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 7 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.
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This DVD edition, originally prepared for laserdisc release in 1996 by producer David Shepard, has been mastered from a 35mm source print with some dust and more speckling, persistent frame jitters, emulsion scrapes, visible splices, and other print flaws. The video transfer runs slightly faster than a natural pace.
The film is accompanied by a theatre pipe organ score performed by John Muri.
Supplementary material includes optional audio commentary by Griffith scholar Russell Merritt; and an insert booklet with notes on the films by Merritt.
Visually, the home video editions noted on this page are visually nearly identical, possibly all being sourced from the same analog video transfer. We slightly recommend this edition over the others for the additional feature of Merritt’s audio commentary.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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 Kino on Video
2002 DVD edition
Griffith Masterworks: Biograph Shorts (1908-1914), black & white, 362 minutes total, not rated, including The Mothering Heart (1913), black & white, 23 minutes, not rated.
Kino International, K268, UPC 7-38329-02682-0.
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 4.4 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 foreign language subtitles; no chapter stops (within the film); two-page insert card; double-wide two-disc DVD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 10 December 2002.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 7 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.
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This DVD edition, produced for home video by David Shepard, has been mastered from a very-good 35mm print (presumably that held by the Museum of Modern Art). Dust, significant speckling, emulsion scrapes, persistent frame jitters, visible splices, and other print flaws are present. The video transfer runs slightly faster than a natural pace.
The film is accompanied by a theatre pipe organ score performed by John Muri.
Which edition collectors will want to acquire will purely depend on which films they want to own. We own both sets as the video transfer qualities are very similar if not identical.
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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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 Kino on Video
2002 DVD edition
Griffith Masterworks (1908-1921), color-toned black & white and black & white, 986 minutes total, not rated, including The Mothering Heart (1913), black & white, 23 minutes, not rated.
Kino International,
no catalog number, UPC 7-38329-02702-5.
Seven single-sided, single-layered and dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD discs; 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 4.4 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 foreign language subtitles; no chapter stops (within the film); four standard DVD keepcases and one double-wide two-disc DVD keepcase in cardboard slipcase; $99.95.
Release date: 10 December 2002.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 7 / additional content: 8 / overall: 8.
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This DVD boxset contains the Kino International 2002 edition noted above.
The film is accompanied by a theatre pipe organ score performed by John Muri.
An obvious attraction of this boxset is the additional content in the form of supplemental materials, and the compilation of early Griffith Biograph short films.
A collector’s preference for one home video edition over another will be driven by an evaluation of price, availability and the other films available in each collection.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD boxset from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD boxset from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Other silent era D.W. GRIFFITH films available on home video.
Other silent era LILLIAN GISH films available on home video.
Other SHORT DRAMA FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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Lillian Gish filmography in The Progressive Silent Film List
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