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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The Four Horsemen
of the Apocalypse
(1921)
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Rudolph Valentino stars in this Rex Ingram production from the novel by Vicente Blasco-Ibáñez. Alice Terry costars (as would be expected in an Ingram film), and a host of recognized actors support including Josef Swickard, Brinsley Shaw, Alan Hale, Mabel Van Buren, Nigel de Brulier, John Sainpolis, Mark Fenton, Stuart Holmes, Jean Hersholt, Kathleen Key, Wallace Beery, Curt Rehfeld, Harry S. Northrup, Claire De Lorez and Bull Montana.
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 Delta Entertainment
2006 DVD edition
Rudolph Valentino: The Great Lover (2006), color, color-toned black & white and black & white, 78 minutes, not rated,
with The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), black & white, 131 minutes, not rated.
Delta Entertainment, 82 825, UPC 0-18111-28259-8.
One dual-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in windowboxed 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, 12 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $6.98.
Release date: 21 March 2006.
Country of origin: USA
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This budget DVD edition of The Four Horsemen has been mastered from a VHS videotape copy of a slightly windowboxed video transfer from a moderately contrasty 16mm reduction print, yielding a reluctantly watchable disc. What image detail was left in the reduction print is worsened by substandard digital video mastering. Freeze-frames from every point in the disc are full of compression artifacts that won’t escape the critical eye.
This disc also includes a documentary on Valentino, and a 1923 audio recording of The Kashmiri Song by Rudolph Valentino.
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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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 Reel Vault
2009 DVD edition
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), black & white, 132 minutes, not rated.
Reel Vault, 3557D, UPC 6-44827-35572-3.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at 5.0 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; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; unknown suggested retail price.
Release date: 2009.
Country of origin: USA •
Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 6 / additional content: 0 / overall: 6.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a 16mm reduction print. There is a moderate amount of speckling and dust, with the occasional emusion chiping and other print flaws. Image detail is a bit softer than would be desired.
The film is accompanied by an improvised music score performed on an upright piano by Keith Taylor.
Over the years, this company has released DVD-R editions under a number of company names, with the same catalog number and UPC number, including Nostalgia Family Video, Hollywood’s Attic (as originally reviewed), RetroFlix, and (as of 2015) Reel Vault. The edition is not bad but there is still hope that a better-looking home video edition will be produced by a national company.
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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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Nostalgia Family Video
200? DVD edition
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), black & white, 158 minutes, not rated.
Nostalgia Family Video, 3557D, UPC 6-44827-35572-3.
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; $19.99.
Release date: 200?.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition was likely mastered from a 16mm reduction print.
The film is accompanied by a music score performed by Blaine Gale.
Over the years, this company has released DVD-R editions under a number of company names, with the same catalog number and UPC number, including Nostalgia Family Video (as originally noted), Hollywood’s Attic, and (as of 2015) Reel Vault. Apparently, the edition was rereleased under the Hollywood’s Attic moniker with a new music score by Keith Taylor (as noted above).
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NOSTALGIA FAMILY VIDEO has discontinued business
and this DVD-R edition is . . .
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Other RUDOLPH VALENTINO films available on home video.
Other silent era REX INGRAM films available on home video.
Other WORLD WAR I FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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