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Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
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Number, Please?
(1920)

Harold Lloyd stars in Number, Please? (1920) as a young man who is vying against Roy Brooks for the attentions of Mildred Davis. When her dog gets away from her at an amusement park, Harold and Roy try to be its chivalrous rescuers. When Mildred wants to take a hot-air balloon ride, both of them vie to be the first to get permission from Mildred’s mother: Roy by running to her house, Harold by trying to get through to her at a bank of busy payphones. The remainder of the film involves a stolen purse.

New Line Home Entertainment
2005 DVD edition

The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection, Volume 3 (1920-1932), black & white, ? minutes total, not rated, including Number, Please? (1920), black & white, 25 minutes, not rated.

New Line Home Entertainment, N8448,
UPC 7-94043-84482-9, ISBN 0-7806-5291-6.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 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), ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, English and Spanish language subtitles, closed captions, chapter stops; and one dual-sided, dual-layered (side A)/single-layered (side B) DVD disc, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, English and Spanish language subtitles; closed captions; chapter stops; standard two-disc DVD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 15 November 2005.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 9 / audio: 8 / additional content: 9 / overall: 9.

This two-disc DVD collection is mastered from 35mm restoration prints overseen by The Harold Lloyd Trust, which should represent the best-surviving prints of these seven Harold Lloyd shorts and feature films.

This out-of-print collection contains the best-available home video edition of Number, Please?, and we recommend it to those who are willing to pursue it.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

The Milestone Collection
2003 DVD edition

The Cook and Other Treasures (1917-1920), color-tinted black & white and black & white, 70 minutes total, not rated, including Number, Please? (1920), black & white, 24 minutes, not rated.

Milestone Film & Video, distributed by Image Entertainment,
ID1035MLSDVD, UPC 0-14381-10352-6.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD disc, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), 5.0 Mbps average video bit rate, 224 Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $24.99.
Release date: 11 February 2003.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 8 / audio: 8 / additional content: 8 / overall: 8.

The source print for the video transfer of Number, Please? is an excellent 35mm print provided by LarCas Productions that is spotted with a light amount of speckling, scuffing, and very light vertical scratches. Only the intertitles appear to be more speckled than the main footage. The greyscale range and image detail of the print is excellent, and the picture is generously framed. Number, Please? is the best-looking film of the three on the disc.

The film is accompanied by a piano score composed and performed by Philip Carli. The stereo recording is well reproduced here.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

The Milestone Cinematheque
2012 DVD edition

The Cook and Other Treasures (1917-1920), color-tinted black & white and black & white, 70 minutes total, not rated, including Number, Please? (1920), black & white, 24 minutes, not rated.

Milestone Films, Mile0087,
UPC 7-84148-00874-5, ISBN 978-1-933920-41-2.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in full-frame 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 foreign language subtitles, chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $24.95.
Release date: 12 June 2012.
Country of origin: USA

The DVD edition noted above has been rereleased in new packaging and distributed directly through Milestone Films.

You can expect the same quality from this edition as from the edition reviewed above.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .

Kino on Video
2004 DVD edition

The Harold Lloyd Collection (1918-1922), black & white, 207 minutes total, not rated, including Number, Please? (1920), black & white, 25 minutes, not rated.

Kino International, K367, UPC 0-38329-03672-0.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in full-frame 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 foreign language subtitles, chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $39.95 (reduced to $29.95).
Release date: 3 August 2004.
Country of origin: USA

This DVD edition of Harold Lloyd films was produced for home video by Lobster Films, Paris.

The films are accompanied by music scores by Neil Brand.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Passport Video
2007 DVD edition

Smiles and Spectacles: A Harold Lloyd Treasury (1917-1947), black & white, 600 minutes total, not rated, including Number, Please? (1920), black & white, 23 minutes, not rated.

Passport Video, DVD-5160, UPC 0-25493-51609-8.
One single-sided, single-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 ? 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 foreign language subtitles; no chapter stops; double-wide five-disc DVD keepcase; $19.98.
Release date: 13 February 2007.
Country of origin: USA