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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Hearts of the
World
(1918)
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This World War I drama, directed by D.W. Griffith, features Lillian Gish, Robert Harron and Dorothy Gish, with an appearance by Erich von Stroheim.
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 Alpha Video
2014 DVD edition
Hearts of the World (1918), black & white, 124 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 7352D, UPC 0-89218-73529-4.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R 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), ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 mono sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $7.98 (raised to $8.98).
Release date: 25 March 2014.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 5 / additional content: 0 / overall: 5.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a very-good 16mm reduction print, which is of reasonable visual quality. The film’s action runs a little fast having been transferred at sound film speed.
The film is accompanied by a canned orchestral music score edited together to loosely accompany the film.
It has been mystifying why there are not several high-quality DVD home video editions of this film. Well worth its modest cost, until a better edition is produced.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available through . . .
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 The Film Detective
2015 DVD edition
Hearts of the World (1918), black & white, 117 minutes, not rated.
The Film Detective,
unknown catalog number, unknown UPC number.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R 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), ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 mono sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $9.99.
Release date: 6 August 2015.
Country of origin: USA
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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.
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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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 Reel Vault
2015 DVD edition
Hearts of the World (1918), black & white, 116 minutes, not rated.
Reel Vault, 2026D, UPC 0-44827-20262-1.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R 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), 4.8 Mbps average video bit rate, 256 Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 mono sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, 23 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $5.95.
Release date: 15 July 2015.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 5 / additional content: 0 / overall: 5.
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This DVD-R edition has been produced from an analog videotape master transferred from a very-good 35mm print (or 16mm reduction print), with a broad range of greytones and deep blacks. We haven’t been able to verify, but we suspect that this may have been duplicated from the Republic Pictures laserdisc (or VHS videotape) edition from the 1990s.
The film is accompanied by a custom music score performed on piano, which may likely be the score recorded by William Perry (sounds like him) for the Paul Killiam rerelease print produced in the 1960s or early 1970s. There is a slight warble in the soundtrack that may annoy some of the more attentive (and sensitive) listeners.
To repeat, it has been mystifying why there are not more (and better) DVD home video editions of this film. The reasonable quality is a value given the disc’s modest cost, but if this has been duplicated from another company’s product, we can’t recommend it. 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 reviewed), Hollywood’s Attic, RetroFlix, and (as of 2015) Reel Vault.
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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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Other silent era D.W. GRIFFITH films available on home video.
Other silent era LILLIAN GISH films available on home video.
Other silent era ERICH VON STROHEIM films available on home video.
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