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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Sorrows of Satan
(1926)
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This rare D.W. Griffith production stars Adolphe Menjou, Carol Dempster, Ricardo Cortez and Lya de Putti.
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 CryptFlicks
2003 DVD edition
Sorrows of Satan (1926), black & white, 90 minutes, not rated.
CryptFlicks, 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 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 18 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $10.00.
Release date: 2003.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 2 / audio: 3 / additional content: 0 / overall: 2.
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This DVD-R edition of the rare D.W. Griffith film has been mastered from a VHS videotape copy of a full-frame video transfer from a 16mm reduction print. The low-resolution of the VHS source tape renders a poor, smeary picture that is hard to watch.
The presentation features a canned music score to accompany the film.
Not consistently available, and not at all good, this edition shows up for sale from time to time on eBay. This, unfortunately, is likely to be the best — gag! — DVD home video edition of this film.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from OBSCURE TREASURES.
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 Unidentified iOffer Retailer
2016 DVD edition
Sorrows of Satan (1926), black & white, 86 minutes, not rated.
Unidentified iOffer retailer, 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 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $13.99.
Release date: 2016.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition of the rare D.W. Griffith film has likely been mastered from the same VHS videotape copy of a full-frame video transfer from a 16mm reduction print, as is currently available on the Internet Archive. That version appears to have been taken from the CryptFlicks edition noted above.
The film is noted as being accompanied by an organ music score.
This retailer also sells pirated editions of releases by Kino Lorber, Eureka Entertainment and The Criterion Collection on iOffer. Given the horrible quality of the known home video editions of this film, we would recommend that you download the Internet Archive files and burn your own horrible DVD-R edition rather than support questionably-legal retailers like this one.
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 Silent Hall of Fame Enterprises
2022 DVD edition
Sorrows of Satan (1926), black & white, 90 minutes, not rated.
Silent Hall of Fame Enterprises, 242, 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: 2022.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a VHS videotape copy of a 16mm or 8mm reduction print (as might be surmised from the smeary publisher-provided still frame above).
The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
Reluctantly, this is our recommended home video edition of the film and we still criticize this publisher for their overpriced offerings that give the consumer as little value as possible.
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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 D.W. GRIFFITH films available on home video.
Other silent era ADOLPHE MENJOU films available on home video.
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