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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Cameo Kirby
(1923)
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This historical drama, directed by John Ford, stars John Gilbert as Cameo Kirby with Gertrude Olmstead, Alan Hale, Eric Mayne, William E. Lawrence, Richard Tucker, Phillips Smalley, Jack McDonald and Jean Arthur.
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 Loving the Classics
2004 DVD edition
Cameo Kirby (1923), color-tinted black & white, 74 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 6.1 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 sound encoded at 256 Kbps audio bit rate; Portuguese language intertitles, permanent English language subtitles; 5 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $14.99.
Release date: 2004.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 2 / audio: 0 / additional content: 0 / overall: 2.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a poor VHS videotape copy of a 16mm or 8mm reduction print. The videotape appears to be, at least, a second or third generation dupe, with tracking flaws and video noise throughout. As would be expected, the resulting picture lacks fine image details and is contrasty and quite dark, with the intertitles nearly unreadable (but, hey, most of us don’t read Portuguese anyway). The source print includes a significant amount of dust, speckling, vertical scratches, exposure fluctuations, scuffing and other print flaws.
The film is not accompanied by a soundtrack of any sort except for a persistent humming and buzzing.
This home video edition is extremely tough viewing between the low-resolution picture and the lack of English intertitles. Regretably, these shortcomings must be endured if you are a John Ford or John Gilbert collector. Otherwise, you may just choose to see the film on YouTube (from the same low-quality, yellow-tinted source).
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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 Silent Hall of Fame Enterprises
2016 DVD edition
Cameo Kirby (1923), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Silent Hall of Fame Enterprises, 105, unknown 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; slimline CD jewelcase; $34.99 (raised again to $44.99).
Release date: 2016.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a VHS videotape copy of a reduction print as is evidenced by the smeary picture details in the publisher-provided still frame above. This presentation has likely been sourced from the same Portuguese-language print as others.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music sources.
Not recommended at this ridiculous price point.
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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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Other silent era JOHN FORD films available on home video.
Other silent era JOHN GILBERT films available on home video.
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