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Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
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The Light
in the Dark
[The Light of Faith]
(1922)

The Light in the Dark (1922), originally produced by star Hope Hampton and directed by Clarence Brown, has survived only in a drastically-edited three-reel version prepared and retitled The Light of Faith by a Christian organization in the 1930s. The film was used in its abridged form as an inspirational film.

The tale of redemption, by way of the Holy Grail, is an average romance drama of its day. It is difficult to determine, in its half-length abridged form, whether the film was ever anything more.

The film has been reconstructed by the George Eastman Museum film archive to a 70-minute approximation of its original state.

— Carl Bennett

Film Preservation Associates
2000 DVD edition

Oliver Twist (1922), color-tinted and toned black & white, 74 minutes, not rated, with The Light in the Dark (1922) [abridged The Light of faith version], color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 32 minutes, not rated.

Film Preservation Associates, distributed by Image Entertainment, ID5835DSDVD, UPC 0-14381-58352-6.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), 5.0 Mbps average video bit rate, 192 Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 8-bit 2.0 mono sound, English language intertitles, no subtitles; 9 chapter stops; snapper DVD case; $24.99.
Release date: 29 August 2000.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 5 / additional content: 6 / overall: 7.

The 35mm print utilized for the video transfer is excellent, with crisp details and a broad range of greytones. The print is only slightly compromised by a few splices, light speckling and scarce emulsion damage.

The film is accompanied by a piano score performed by Hank Troy, which is presented in sporadically-crackling mono sound with a high-cycle audio whine. Not so good.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .

Reelclassicdvd.com
2009 DVD edition

The Phantom of the Opera (1925), black & white and color, ? minutes, not rated, and The Phantom of the Opera (1925) [1929 rerelease version], black & white and color, 76 minutes, not rated, and The Phantom of the Opera (1925) [1929 rerelease version], black & white, ? minutes, not rated, with The Light in the Dark (1922) [abridged The Light of faith version], color-toned black & white, 32 minutes, not rated.

Reelclassicdvd.com, no catalog number, UPC 7-62185-05132-0.
Four single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R discs, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 8-bit 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, no subtitles; no chapter stops (within the film); standard DVD keepcase; $35.00.
Release date: 2009
Country of origin: USA

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

This four-disc DVD-R edition includes a presentation of the Light of Faith version of The Light in the Dark (1922), which has been transferred from a very-good color-toned 16mm reduction print that is reasonably detailed. Some shadows in the print are too dark, and there is the usual amount of dust and speckling, but the print is nonetheless of above-average quality. The slightly windowboxed digital video transfer will appear as full-frame on many televisions.

The film is accompanied by a music score performed on piano by Stuart Oderman.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
REELCLASSIC DVD through . . .

Grapevine Video
2014 DVD edition

Lon Chaney: Films & Fragments (1914-1922), black & white, 98 minutes total, not rated, including The Light in the Dark (1922) [abridged The Light of faith version], black & white, 38 minutes, not rated.

Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10669-9.
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; $16.95.
Release date: July 2014.
Country of origin: USA

This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm reduction print.

The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed by David Knudtson.

Supplemental material includes footage from the set of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923); and trailers for The Shock (1923) and lost film The Big City (1928).