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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By the Sun’s Rays
(1914)
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One of the earliest surviving Lon Chaney film roles, By the Sun’s Rays (1914) is a one-reel western drama with Chaney as a coniving crook who facilitates gold shipment robberies.
Surviving film prints originate from a Super 8 reduction print held in a private collection in England that was originally marketed in the 1970s by Breakspear Films. A preservation 16mm reduction print negative was struck from the 8mm print and remains the chief archival material for the film.
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 Undercrank Productions
2022 Blu-ray Disc edition
Lon Chaney: Before the Thousand Faces, Volume 2 (1914-1917), black & white, 160 minutes total, not rated,
including By the Sun’s Rays (1914), color-toned black & white, 13 minutes, not rated.
Undercrank Productions,
no catalog number, UPC 7-45808-09974-9.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 Blu-ray Disc (two BD-R BDMV discs in the set); 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 28.8 Mbps average video bit rate; Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; chapter stops; standard two-disc BD keepcase; $29.98.
Release date: 2 August 2022.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 7 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.
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This BD-R edition has been scanned at high-resolution from fine-grain 16mm duplicate negative copied from the sole surviving print, an 8mm reduction positive. The original source material from which the Super 8 print was copied was moderately damaged and had a number of flaws that were hard-printed into the 8mm reduction print. Some additional flaws may have been introduced into the 16mm preservation negative. That being said, the natural-speed high-resolution scan brings out all of the image detail that can be captured and gives us the clearest home video presentation of the film that is available.
The film is presented with a music score performed on digital keyboards by edition producer Jon Mirsalis.
This edition is a considerable improvement over previous home video editions of this film. We recommend this BD-R Blu-ray Disc as the best-looking edition available.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 Blu-ray Disc (BD-R) edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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 Undercrank Productions
2022 DVD edition
Lon Chaney: Before the Thousand Faces, Volume 2 (1914-1917), black & white, 160 minutes total, not rated,
including By the Sun’s Rays (1914), color-toned black & white, 13 minutes, not rated.
Undercrank Productions,
no catalog number, UPC 7-45808-09975-6.
Two single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R discs; 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 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; chapter stops; standard two-disc DVD keepcase; $24.98.
Release date: 2 August 2022.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has been scanned at high-resolution from 16mm duplicate negative copied from the sole surviving print, an 8mm reduction positive.
The film is presented with a music score performed on digital keyboards by edition producer Jon Mirsalis.
We recommend this disc as the best available DVD home video edition of this film.
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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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 Kino Classics
2012 DVD edition
The Penalty (1920), color-tinted black & white, 93 minutes, not rated,
with By the Sun’s Rays (1914), black & white, 11 minutes, not rated.
Kino Lorber, K1059, UPC 7-38329-10592-1.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 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 35.4 Mbps average video bit rate; LPCM 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 2.3 Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; no chapter stops; standard BD keepcase in cardboard slipcover; $34.95.
Release date: 23 October 2012.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 5 / additional content: 7 / overall: 5.
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This Blu-ray Disc edition features a standard resolution presentation of By the Sun’s Rays (1914) Chaney’s earliest surviving film from what appears to be an 8mm reduction print. The windowboxed (within a pillarboxed frame) standard definition video transfer used for Kino’s previous Blu-ray Disc and DVD releases of this title (see below) has been repurposed for this release. The resulting image is a bit grey in the contrasty picture highlights. Dust, speckling, emulsion chipping and splices are all present in the source print. The picture quality is virtually the same regardless of the disc format.
The film is presented with piano and violin accompaniment compiled by Rodney Sauer. The music is, at times, abruptly edited together.
This standard-definition presentation may not be enough of an improvement over Kino’s decade-old DVD edition of this film to recommend that collectors replace their old DVD with this new BD edition.
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USA: Click to purchase this Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click to purchase this Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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 Kino Classics
2023 Blu-ray Disc edition
The Trap (1922), color-tinted black & white, 53 minutes, not rated,
with By the Sun’s Rays (1914), black & white, 11 minutes, not rated, and Lon Chaney: Behind the Mask (1996), color, color-toned black & white and black & white, 65 minutes, not rated.
Kino Lorber, K26226, UPC 7-38329-26226-6.
One single-sided, single-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 7.0 Mbps average video bit rate; Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; no chapter stops; standard BD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 18 April 2023.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 5 / additional content: 7 / overall: 5.
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This Blu-ray Disc edition of this Lon Chaney short film may have been mastered from a good 8mm reduction positive. The windowboxed (within a pillarboxed frame) standard definition video transfer used for Kino’s previous Blu-ray Disc and DVD releases of this title has been repurposed for this release. The resulting image is a bit grey in the contrasty picture highlights. Dust, speckling, emulsion chipping and splices are all present in the source print. The picture quality is virtually the same regardless of the disc format.
The film is presented with piano and violin accompaniment compiled by Rodney Sauer. The music is, at times, abruptly edited together.
Supplementary material includes the documentary Lon Chaney: Behind the Mask (1996) and the main title release of the northwoods drama The Trap (1922).
If the scan of this film has been upgraded to high-definition for this release, we would expect this to be the best available home video edition of By the Sun’s Rays.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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This Region A Blu-ray Disc edition is also available directly from . . .
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 Kino on Video
2001 DVD edition
The Penalty (1920), color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 93 minutes, not rated,
with By the Sun’s Rays (1914), black & white, 11 minutes, not rated.
Kino International, K216, UPC 7-38329-02162-7.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD 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 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; no chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 9 October 2001.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 5 / additional content: 7 / overall: 5.
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This DVD edition presents By the Sun’s Rays (1914), Chaney’s earliest surviving film, has been transferred from an 8mm reduction print that is likely the only surviving print of the film. The print is good to rough in quality, being transferred from a well worn, scratched and slightly decomposed (in places) 35mm print way back when. But the film has not looked this good on home video before this appearance.
The film is presented with a musical accompaniment performed on piano and violin compiled by Rodney Sauer. The music is, at times, abruptly edited together.
Although it is out-of-print, this edition is still recommended for those collectors who prefer DVD over Blu-ray Disc.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Other silent era LON CHANEY films available on home video.
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