Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2025 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
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Bears and Bad Men
(1918)
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This short comedy, directed by Larry Semon, stars Larry Semon and Madge Kirby, with Stan Laurel, William McCall, Blanche Payson, Frank Alexander, William Hauber, Pete Gordon and Mae Laurel.
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 Flicker Alley
2021 Blu-ray Disc edition
Laurel or Hardy: Early Solo Films of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy (1914-1926), black & white, 590 minutes total, not rated, including Bears and Bad Men (1918), black & white, 21 minutes, not rated.
Flicker Alley, FA0073, UPC 6-17311-68739-6.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc (two BDs in the set); 1.27:1 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; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 864 Mbps average audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 2 chapter stops; 32-page insert booklet; standard two-disc BD keepcase; $49.95.
Release date: 29 January 2021.
Country of origin: USA
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This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from 2K high definition scans of archival film elements.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on piano by Eric Le Guen.
Supplemental material includes an image gallery featuring photographs from the Library of Congress collections; and a 32-page insert booklet with film notes from film historian Rob Stone, as well as notes on the restorations from Lobster Film’s Serge Bromberg.
This is our recommended home video edition of this film.
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This
Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition is available directly from . . .
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 Looser Than Loose
2005 DVD edition
A Stan Laurel Reference Library, Volume One: 1890-1918 (1918-1919), black & white, 60 minutes total, not rated, including Bears and Bad Men (1918), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Looser Than Loose Vintage Entertainment,
no catalog number, 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 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $19.99.
Release date: 2005.
Country of origin: USA •
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This DVD-R edition of five short Stan Laurel comedies, made before his successful teaming with Oliver Hardy, features one rare Laurel film not available in other collections.
The films are presented with music scores comprised of vintage 78rpm acoustic recordings.
Supplemental material includes a surviving fragment of a very early Stan Laurel film; two audio interviews; letter readings; and a photo slideshow.
Sight unseen, this is our recommended DVD home video edition of the film.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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Other silent era STAN LAUREL films available on home video.
Other SHORT COMEDY FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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