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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Borderline
(1930)
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This late feature drama, directed by Kenneth MacPherson, stars Paul Robeson and Eslanda Robeson, with Hilda Doolittle, Gavin Arthur, Blanche Lewin, Charlotte Arthur and Winifred Ellerman.
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 Kino Classics
2025 DVD edition
Borderline (1930), black & white, 74 minutes, not rated.
Kino Lorber, K26984, UPC 7-38329-26984-5.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc; 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; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard BD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 22 April 2025.
Country of origin: USA
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This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from archival film elements.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed by Paul D. Miller (DJ Spooky) with a small ensemble.
Supplemental material includes audio commentary by Anthony Slide.
This is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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This
Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition is available directly from . . .
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 The Criterion Collection
2007 DVD edition
Paul Robeson: Portraits of the Artist (1925-1979), black & white and color, 586 minutes total. not rated, including Borderline (1930), black & white, 65 minutes, not rated.
The Criterion Collection, unknown catalog number (collection number 369), unknown UPC number, unknown ISBN number.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD disc (four 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 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, optional English language SDH subtitles; chapter stops; insert booklet; four cardboard wraps with plastic DVD trays in cardboard slipcase; $99.95.
Release date: 13 February 2007.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD edition has been mastered from the best surviving archival film elements.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed by Courtney Pine.
Supplemental material includes audio commentary by Pearl Bowser on Body and Soul; audio commentary by Jeffrey C. Stewart on The Emperor Jones; a 1958 Pacifica Radio interview with Paul Robeson; four programs featuring interviews with actors Ruby Dee and James Earl Jones, filmmaker William Greaves, cinematographer Tom Hurwitz, film historians Ian Christie and Stephen Bourne, and Paul Robeson Jr., and including film clips from Song of Freedom (1936), King Solomon's Mines (1937), and Big Fella (1938); and an insert booklet with an excerpt from Paul Robeson's Here I Stand; essays by Clement Alexander Price, Hilton Als, Charles Burnett, Ian Christie, Deborah Willis, and Charles Musser; a reprinted article by Harlem Renaissance writer Geraldyn Dismond; and a note from Pete Seeger.
This is our recommended DVD home video edition of the film.
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This Region 1 NTSC DVD edition is available directly from . . .
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Other AFRICAN-AMERICAN FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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