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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Ace of
Cactus Range
(1924)
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This B-studio western, directed by Denver Dixon (Victor Adamson) and Malon Andrus, stars Art Mix with Virginia Warwick, Clifford Davidson and Harvey Stafford.
Deputy U.S. Marshall ‘Bob’ Cullen (Mix) is on a secret mission in the desert and stumbles upon Virginia Marsden (Warwick) evading Bull Davidson (Davidson) the leader of a small gang of outlaws working the Mexican border. Meanwhile, corrupt weasel (with a silly moustache) Randolph Truthers (Stafford) is in cahoots with Davidson in a gemstone smuggling scheme.
Because ‘he knows too much’, Virginia and her father are kidnapped by Truthers and Davidson who take them into the desert with Cullen and the law in pursuit.
There’s no sign of the diamonds (spoiler alert! — until the end) and the film’s action is mostly comprised of horseback riding through the desert and a few fist fights. Nonetheless, the law and love prevail over the forces of evil.
It’s worth mentioning that the quick and dirty production values of low-budget westerns are to be seen in cameraman Jack Fuqua’s difficulty in keeping the actors in frame during horse riding sequences that were shot from a moving camera car. Time and money did not allow for longer takes that might have yielded more stable footage for the film’s editor to use.
The film is no great shakes, with its formula plot and stereotypical characters including the small town sheriff who is in his seventies (seems like they all are), but it is representative of common Saturday afternoon neighborhood theater fare of the mid-1920s.
— Carl Bennett
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 Grapevine Video
2010 DVD edition
Art Mix Double Feature (1924), black & white and color-toned black & white, 101 minutes total, not rated,
including Ace of Cactus Range (1924), black & white and color-toned black & white, 55 minutes, not rated, with Romance of the Wasteland (1924), black & white and color-tinted black & white, 46 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10387-2.
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 4.0 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 384 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; 8 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $14.95.
Release date: 2 April 2010.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 5 / audio: 5 / additional content: 5 / overall: 5.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a good 16mm reduction print which has more than a few splices, presumably from print breaks, that sometimes causes the picture to jump out of frame. Reel two of the original source print was in active decomposition when it was duplicated and the image is often obliterated by the print damage. As is typical of most reduction prints, the backgrounds are often nearly solid black as the picture contrast favors keeping some details in highlights to the loss of shadow details. The video transfer, which runs close to natural speed, is at best OK but the picture is overcropped by a bit and cuts off the left side of intertitles from time to time.
The film is accompanied by a music score compiled from preexisting music sources, mostly a synthesizer performance (that sounds like Eric Beheim) that is at times taxing.
Not a great presentation but this is the best home video edition of the film we know of.
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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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This Region 0 NTSC DVD+R edition is available directly from . . .
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 Alpha Video
2013 DVD edition
Ace of Cactus Range (1924), black & white, 67 minutes, not rated,
with The Making of Broncho Billy (1913), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, and Tight Cargo (1926), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 7113D, UPC 0-89218-71139-7.
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 foreign language subtitles, chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $7.98 (raised to $8.98).
Release date: 30 July 2013.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm reduction print, which may be different from the print utilized for Grapevine Video’s edition (noted above) given the longer running time.
The film is likely accompanied by a compiled music score of preexisting recordings.
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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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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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 Nostalgia Family Video
2010 DVD edition
Ace of Cactus Range (1924), black & white and color-toned black & white, 55 minutes, not rated.
Nostalgia Family Video, 4528D, 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 foreign language subtitles; no chapter stops; clamshell CD case; $14.99.
Release date: 2010.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition was likely mastered from a 16mm reduction print.
The disc had no navigation menu, chapter stops or package artwork and was sold in a clear clamshell case.
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NOSTALGIA FAMILY VIDEO has discontinued business
and this DVD-R edition is . . .
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Other WESTERN FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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