Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
|
Sky High
(1922)
|
Tom Mix stars as an American border guard stopping smugglers of illegal Chinese immigrants in Arizona and Texas.
In 1998, the film was listed in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress’ National Film Preservation Board.
|
 Undercrank Productions
2023 Blu-ray Disc edition
Sky High (1922), black & white and color-tinted black & white, 58 minutes, not rated, with The Big Diamond Robbery (1929), black & white and color-tinted black & white, 65 minutes, not rated.
Undercrank Productions,
no catalog number, UPC 7-45808-09983-1.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Regions ABC 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; Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard BD keepcase; $21.99.
Release date: 25 July 2023.
Country of origin: USA
|
This Blu-ray Disc (BD-R) edition has been mastered in 2K high-resolution from an archival 35mm safety duplicate negative held by the Library of Congress. The negative was struck in the 1970s from a nitrate positive print that was in the beginning stages of decomposition.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on piano by Ben Model.
Sight unseen, this is the best home video edition of the film we know of.
|
|
USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc (BD-R) edition from Amazon.com. Purchase supports Silent Era.
|
|
|
 Undercrank Productions
2023 DVD edition
Sky High (1922), black & white, 58 minutes, not rated, with The Big Diamond Robbery (1929), black & white, 65 minutes, not rated.
Undercrank Productions,
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; $19.98.
Release date: 11 July 2023.
Country of origin: USA
|
|
This DVD-R edition has been mastered in 2K high-resolution from an archival 35mm preservation print held by the Library of Congress.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on virtual theater pipe organ by Ben Model.
Even sight unseen, this is the best DVD home video edition of the film we know of.
|
|
USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
|
|
|
 Grapevine Video
2010 DVD edition
Sky High (1922), black & white, 58 minutes, not rated, with An Arizona Wooing (1915), black & white, 15 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10404-6.
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; 20 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $12.95.
Release date: August 2010.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 4 / additional content: 5 / overall: 3.
|
This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a 16mm reduction print that was duplicated from a vintage rerelease print. The source print is quite dark, and the video transfer seems at times to not be able to capture enough light through the print to maintain a stable image, but at very least the intertitles remain readable.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack of preexisting monaural recordings that are some of them so digitally compressed that they playback with a metallic ringing (a sure indicator of overcompression). The audio is sometimes isolated in the right channel exclusively.
The disc is supplemented with a Tom Mix short for Selig Polyscope that looks far better than the main feature.
Wow, it hardly seems possible that this quality is acceptable for home video these days. Mighty rough going, pardner.
|
|
USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
|
|
|
|
This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is also available directly from . . .
|
|
|
 Sinister Cinema
2008 DVD edition
Sky High (1922), black & white, 49 minutes, not rated.
Sinister Cinema, W329, no 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; $11.95 (reduced to $8.95).
Release date: 27 May 2011.
Country of origin: USA
|
|
This DVD-R edition has been mastered from 16mm reduction print materials.
The film is likely accompanied by a compilation of preexisting recordings.
|
|
USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
|
|
|
|
This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is also available directly from . . .
|
|
|
 Alpha Video
2010 DVD edition
Sky High (1922), black & white, 49 minutes, not rated, with Just Tony (1922), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 6332D, UPC 0-89218-63329-3.
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 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: 30 March 2010.
Country of origin: USA
|
| This budget DVD edition has likely been mastered from 16mm reduction print materials.
The film is likely accompanied by a compilation of preexisting recordings.
|
|
USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
|
|
|
|
This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is also available directly from . . .
|
|
|
 Reelclassicdvd.com
200? DVD edition
Sky High (1922), black & white, 49 minutes, not rated, with Wild and Woolly (1917), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Reelclassicdvd.com, no catalog number, UPC 7-62185-05402-4.
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; $20.00.
Release date: 200?
Country of origin: USA
|
|
This DVD-R edition has been mastered from 16mm reduction print materials.
The film is accompanied by a piano music score performed by Stuart Oderman.
|
This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
REELCLASSIC DVD through . . .
|
|
|
|
Other silent era TOM MIX films available on home video.
Other WESTERN FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
Other AVIATION FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
|
