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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Wandering Willies
(1926)
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This Mack Sennett comedy, directed by Del Lord, features Billy Bevan and Andy Clyde, with Ruth Hiatt, Kewpie Morgan, Bobby Dunn and Dave Morris.
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 Film Preservation Associates
2002 DVD edition
Slapstick Encyclopedia (1909-1929), black & white and color-toned black & white, 1089 minutes total, not rated, including Wandering Willies (1926), black & white, 20 minutes, not rated.
Film Preservation Associates, distributed by Image Entertainment, ID0699DSDVD, UPC 0-14381-06992-1.
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 4.8 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); five standard DVD keepcases in cardboard slipcase; $69.99.
Release date: 7 May 2002.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 8 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.
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This DVD edition has been mastered from a 16mm reduction print that has a light amount of dust and speckling, with the occasional flaw. The video transfer gives us a slight greyed-out picture with grey highlights.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed by Robert Israel, performed by a small ensemble.
Recommended. If no copies of this boxset can be found, you can consider the Madacy edition noted below as it is functionally the same with comparable picture quality.
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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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 Madacy Entertainment
2012 DVD edition
Slapstick Encyclopedia (1909-1929), black & white and color-toned black & white, 1089 minutes total, not rated, including Wandering Willies (1926), black & white, 20 minutes, not rated.
Madacy Entertainment, distributed by Image Entertainment,
VB951290, UPC 6-28261-12909-6.
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 5.0 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); rollfold cardboard DVD videobook with cardboard disc pockets, $16.98.
Release date: 25 September 2012.
Country of origin: Canada
Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 8 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.
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This DVD edition has been mastered from a 16mm reduction print that has a light amount of dust and speckling, with the occasional flaw. The video transfer gives us a slight greyed-out picture with grey highlights.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed by Robert Israel, performed by a small ensemble.
As this collection was prepared from the same digital files as utilized for the Film Preservation Associates release noted above, the quality will be the same.
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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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 Alpha Video
2012 DVD edition
Forgotten Funnymen: Billy Bevan (1924-1928), black & white, 83 minutes total, not rated, including Wandering Willies (1926) [export version], black & white, 15 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 6754D, UPC 0-89218-67549-1.
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 6.6 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 384 Kbps audio bit rate; no intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; 5 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $7.98 (raised to $8.98).
Release date: 17 April 2012.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 5 / audio: 4 / additional content: 5 / overall: 5.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a very-good 16mm reduction print, but the video transfer has a number of shots where the highlights are completely blasted-out. Of note is that this edition has sourced an alternate version of the film than is usually seen on home video. The print (which we assume is the export version of the film) is made up of alternate takes and concurrent shots that are taken primarily from the left camera position. The film as presented here has no intertitles because (we can assume) the intertitles were not in English. Whether it is the print or the transfer, the picture is tightly cropped on the left side and the bottom compared to (what can be assumed to be) the domestic version.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting low-fidelity recordings.
This edition is only recommended as a record of the alternate version of this film as the above editions are of better viewing quality.
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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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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is also available directly from . . .
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 Grapevine Video
2005 DVD edition
South of Panama (1928), color-tinted black & white, 67 minutes, not rated, with Wandering Willies (1926), black & white, 19 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10057-4.
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 4.4 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); MPEG 2.0 mono sound encoded at 224 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; 6 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $14.95.
Release date: November 2005.
Country of origin: USA •
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 4 / additional content: 4 / overall: 4.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a good 8mm reduction print. The video transfer is rather blurry.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack of preexisting recordings.
This edition is not recommended for this film as the above editions are of far better quality.
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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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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is also available directly from . . .
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Other SHORT COMEDY FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
Other silent film music scores by ROBERT ISRAEL available on home video.
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