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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Riley the Cop
(1928)
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This comedy-drama, directed by John Ford, stars J. Farrell MacDonald as Riley with Nancy Drexel, David Rollins, Louise Fazenda and Harry Schultz.
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 Loving the Classics
201? DVD edition
Riley the Cop (1928), black & white, 68 minutes, not rated.
Loving the Classics,
no catalog number, 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 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $14.99.
Release date: 201?
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.
For now, this is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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Unidentified publisher
2008 DVD edition
Riley the Cop (1928), black & white, 66 minutes, not rated.
Unidentified individual seller,
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 7.0 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 14 chapter stops; paper disc envelope; $9.99.
Release date: 2008.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 4 / audio: 5 / additional content: 0 / overall: 4.
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This DVD-R edition, acquired through eBay, has been mastered from a VHS videotape copy of an American Movie Classics cablecast during one of their film restoration festivals. It should be understandable that the resulting picture is coarse and a bit smeary in its details, with some videotape tracking warping. Left in the video transfer is a light amount of dust, speckling and other print flaws.
The film is accompanied by the film’s original Movietone synchronized soundtrack, with orchestral music arranged by S.L. ‘Roxy ’ Rothafel.
Not a great (or legal) presentation. The disc is probably no longer available.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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Other silent era JOHN FORD films available on home video.
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