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Triple Feature
Comedy Classics
Volume 2
(1922-1926)

Contents: The Paleface (1922), The Blacksmith (1922) and The General (1926).

Navarre Corporation has released a line of budget triple feature DVDs whose collective content spans from the silent era to latter day camp classics. The quality ranges from the usual budget video 16mm reduction prints to transfers of surprising quality (for budget video) from 35mm prints.

This disc features a collection of Buster Keaton films.

— Carl Bennett

Navarre Corporation
2002 DVD edition

Triple Feature Comedy Classics, Volume 2 (1922-1926), black & white, 147 minutes totak, not rated,
including The General (1926), black & white, 107 minutes, not rated, The Paleface (1922), black & white, 20 minutes, not rated, and The Blacksmith (1922), black & white, 19 minutes, not rated.

Navarre Corporation, 1629, UPC 7-41027-16299-8.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD disc, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), 2.5 Mbps average video bit rate, 192 Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 mono sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $9.98.
Release date: 12 March 2002.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 5 / audio: 5 / additional content: 5 / overall: 5.

This low-budget DVD collection of Buster Keaton films is a little short on content when the disc is compared to others in the Navarre triple feature DVD series, with its inclusion of one feature film and two short comedies. However, for some collectors, the disc might be worth its modest cost.

Our review of this edition of The General (1926) appears on our The General on home video page.

The Paleface (1922) and The Blacksmith (1922), two very good Keaton shorts, are the standouts on this disc, which appear to be presented from video transfers originally prepared by David Shepard for home video release by Kino International. Both films have utilized 35mm print materials for the transfers, which feature a broad range of greytones and very good image detail. However, experienced eyes will detect a slightly lower-quality appearance to these shorts on this Navarre disc over the Kino editions, due to the higher MPEG compression of the video information. Both films are accompanied by canned orchestral music scores.

If viewers are more budget than quality conscious, this disc will be a good buy. However, we recommend the Kino International DVD editions of these films over this disc from Navarre.

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