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Teeth
(1924)

This feature action drama, directed by John G. Blystone, stars Tom Mix and Lucy Fox, with George Bancroft, Edward Piel, Lucien Littlefield, Tony the horse, and Duke the dog as “Teeth.”

An abused dog escapes the pathologically cruel Dan Angus (Bancroft), a train brakeman, before he abandons the train in the town of Ten Mile. The dog’s owner, Paula Grayson (Fox), leaves the train to search for her lost dog who has been found and tended to by Dave Deering (Mix). Planning on fleeing to the mountains, Angus murders the postmaster and steals the post office’s paltry amount of cash and stamps. Stupidly, the under sheriff accuses Dave of the crime. Wounded in a run-in with Dave, Angus is found in Dave’s cabin having planted incriminating evidence against Deering when the sheriff’s posse arrives.

Dave meets Paula in an icy chance encounter, the cruel Angus kidnaps Paula and starts a huge fire to cover his tracks. Amid flames and smoke the melodrama builds, with brave Teeth the hero, and things are eventually sorted out with Angus getting his just reward.

Bancroft is unrelenting and well worth watching for the cruelty and slimyness of his performance. Tacked onto the story for the sake of a female presence, Fox does what she can with a slightly-written role. Meanwhile, Tom is as ever Tom Mix and wears his signature gloves in this film although, this time, they are not the white Mickey Mouse gloves.

— Carl Bennett

Kino Classics
2025 Blu-ray Disc edition

Wonder Dogs!: Canine Stars of the Silent Era (1897-1928), black & white, color-tinted black & white, color-toned black & white, and color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 477 minutes total, not rated, including Teeth (1924), black & white and color-tinted black & white, 51 minutes, not rated.

Kino Lorber, K27007, UPC 7-38329-27007-0.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc (two BDs in the set); 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 20.4 Mbps average video bit rate; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 2.0 Mbps audio bit rate (music), and Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate (commentary); English language intertitles, no subtitles; no chapter stops (within the film); standard two-disc BD keepcase; $39.95.
Release date: 20 May 2025.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 8 / additional content: 8 / overall: 8

This Blu-ray Disc collection has been mastered at high-resolution from a 35mm nitrate positive from the Národní filmový archiv and now held by the Library of Congress. The incomplete Czech print (missing reel six) is of good to very-good quality, with a significant amount of dust and speckling, schmutz, thin vertical scratches, occasional splice jitters, filmstock scuffing and tears, and other print flaws. At times, the source material feels a bit dupey rendering an image quality equivalent to a very-good 16mm print. Watchable, but we felt that we were often taken out of the film’s story by some of the more prominent print flaws. New intertitles were translated and digitally reset in English utilizing the print’s Czech titles, a music cue sheet, and the story’s source novel to approximate the original intertitles. Missing footage (reel six) has been bridged with expositional intertitles and still frames. We commend the video producers for cobbling together the best-available version of the film possible.

The film is accompanied by a music score compiled and performed on piano by Andrew Earle Simpson.

Supplemental material includes audio commentaries by the prolific Anthony Slide (including one for Teeth); interviews with archivists and curators of this collection Lynanne Schweighofer and George Willeman (21 minutes); and an interview with composer Andrew Earle Simpson on reconstructing a music score for Teeth from a contemporary music cue sheet (12 minutes).

This is our recommended home video edition of the film.

This Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition is available directly from . . .