 Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2025 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved. |
The
Forbidden City
(1918)
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Norma Talmadge stars as a Chinese girl in love with an American (Thomas Meighan) working as part of a diplomatic envoy in China. Talmadge then plays their daughter in search for her lost father.
E.A. Warren plays an early Chinese role, which would become a staple in his career.
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Grapevine Video
2004 DVD edition
The Social Secretary (1916), color-toned black & white, 52 minutes, not rated, with The Forbidden City (1918), black & white, 62 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10042-0.
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 4.8 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 224 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 6 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $14.95.
Release date: 2004.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 4 / audio: 4 / additional content: 4 / overall: 4.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a very-good 16mm reduction print. The older analog video transfer, originally prepared for release on VHS videotape in the 1990s, does not hold highlight details, which are blasted out to white in many cases, nor hold open shadow areas, which are dark and featureless. The middle tones are OK, which makes the edition still watchable with only a few frustrations. There is the normal amount of dust, speckling and frame jitters seen in most 16mm reduction prints of this vintage.
The film is accompanied by a music score performed on piano that was likely taken from the source print’s optical soundtrack. The audio quality is only fair, with the muffled piano sounding like a vintage 1960s 16mm soundtrack.
This disc is currently the only known home video edition of The Forbidden City on DVD. However, it appears that there is more picture information in the source print than is reproduced in the older video transfer. Perhaps this edition could be remastered on newer telecine equipment sometime in the future — or, better still, a new edition could be produced from the 35mm print held by the Library of Congress.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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Loving the Classics
202? DVD edition
The Forbidden City (1918), black & white, 62 minutes, not rated.
Loving the Classics,
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 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $14.99.
Release date: 202?
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm reduction print.
The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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Other silent era NORMA TALMADGE films available on home video.
Other ASIAN-THEMED FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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