Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
|
Beggars of Life
(1928)
|
This hard-edged, gritty drama, directed by William A. Wellman, features Wallace Beery, Richard Arlen and Louise Brooks. One of the most important of Brooks’ surviving films.
When Jim, a boyish tramp (Richard Arlen), happens by chance to meet Nancy, a young orphan (Louise Brooks), in a remote farmhouse with the body of a murdered farmer, they pair up to get her as far away from the law as possible. When her first attempt to hop a freight train fails, Jim is forced to allow her to stick with him heading to Canada.
In the ensuing days, Nancy is presented to others as Jim’s kid brother and they encounter railroad bulls, angry farmers, fellow tramps and Oklahoma Red (Wallace Beery) a bigger-than-life bully of a personality. Of course, it is not long before Nancy is recognized as a young woman and a mob of tramps closes in on her. To stop their sexual advance, Jim reveals that she is wanted for murder with a $1,000 reward. To avoid entanglements with the law, Jim and Nancy are shunned by the tramps. Red steps in to announce that they all will be riding the last train through that night. A fight is averted when detectives arrive looking for Nancy and the tramps overpower them. The whole mob manages to get away on the passing train.
Oklahoma Red announces that Nancy is his gal.
While not a household name (even to silent era enthusiasts), Henry Gerrard scores a big win with his distinctive and often beautifully framed (and sometimes heavily filtered) cinematography.
Original release prints were available to theaters in a silent version and with a Movietone soundtrack. In the synchronized sound version of the film, Wallace Beery is noted to have sung a song. Of course, the sequence
|
 Kino Classics
2017 Blu-ray Disc edition
Beggars of Life (1928), black & white, 91 minutes, not rated.
Kino Lorber, K21702, UPC 7-38329-21702-0.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region A Blu-ray Disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) 24 fps progressive scan image encoded in SDR AVC format at 35.5 Mbps average video bit rate; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 1.6 Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; 10 chapter stops; standard BD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 22 August 2017.
Country of origin: USA
|
This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from the digital restoration from 35mm film materials preserved by the George Eastman Museum and preservation funding by The Film Foundation. The source material features a broad range of greytones, and is marked by speckling, emulsion flaws, flashframes and scratches. Some of the flaws appear to have been reduced in frequency and severity by digital clean-up software.
The film is accompanied by a music score compiled and performed by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, employing selections from the original 1928 Paramount cue-sheets.
The disc’s supplementary material includes an audio commentary by actor and biographer William Wellman Jr.; an audio commentary by Thomas Gladysz, founding director of the Louise Brooks Society; and an insert booklet with an essay by film critic Nick Pinkerton.
|
|
USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
|
|
|
|
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
|
|
|
 Kino Classics
2017 DVD edition
Beggars of Life (1928), black & white, 91 minutes, not rated.
Kino Lorber, K21701, UPC 7-38329-21701-3.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (720 x 480 pixels) anamorphic 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; $24.95.
Release date: 22 August 2017.
Country of origin: USA
|
This DVD edition has been mastered from the digital restoration from 35mm film materials preserved by the George Eastman Museum and preservation funding by The Film Foundation.
The film is accompanied by a music score compiled and performed by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, employing selections from the original 1928 Paramount cue-sheets.
The disc’s supplementary material includes an audio commentary by actor and biographer William Wellman, Jr.; an audio commentary by Thomas Gladysz, founding director of the Louise Brooks Society; and an insert booklet with an essay by film critic Nick Pinkerton. The packaging includes alternative case cover artwork (shown above).
|
|
USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
|
|
|
|
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
|
|
|
 Grapevine Video
2015 DVD edition
Beggars of Life (1928), color-tinted black & white, 83 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC [?] 8-42614-10019-2?
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 ? Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 256 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; 12 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $19.95.
Release date: 16 January 2015.
Country of origin: USA •
Ratings (1-10): video: 5 / audio: 5 / additional content: 0 / overall: 5.
|
This DVD-R edition has been digitally remastered at 24fps from a 16mm reduction print of the silent version of the film. The new video transfer improves the picture a bit, but there is only just so much detail in the source print.
The film is presented with a music score compiled, with more successful results than usual, from preexisting high-fidelity stereo orchestral recordings.
Currently, this is the best available home video edition of this film, but there is a lot of room for improvement.
|
|
This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
|
|
|
 Grapevine Video
2003 DVD edition
Beggars of Life (1928), color-tinted black & white, 100 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10019-2.
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 5.5 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 1.0 mono sound encoded at 256 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; 12 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $18.95 (reduced to $16.95).
Release date: 2003 (rereleased 7 February 2005).
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 5 / additional content: 0 / overall: 3.
|
This DVD-R edition has been mastered from an older analog video transfer of a 16mm reduction print of the silent version of the film.
The film is presented with a music score performed on electric organ.
|
|
This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is . . .
|
|
|
 Loving the Classics
2010 DVD edition
Beggars of Life (1928), black & white, 100 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 ? 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 foreign language subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $14.99.
Release date: 2010?
Country of origin: USA
|
|
This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm reduction print.
The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting recordings.
Be advised, it can take a very looooong time for your order to be fulfilled by Loving the Classics.
|
|
This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is . . .
|
|
|
|
Other silent era WILLIAM A. WELLMAN films available on home video.
Other silent era LOUISE BROOKS films available on home video.
Other silent era RICHARD ARLEN films available on home video.
|
|
Louise Brooks filmography in The Progressive Silent Film List
|
|
