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Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved.

The
Iron Mask
(1929)

When Douglas Fairbanks released his final silent film, The Iron Mask (1929), he chose to nod acknowledgement toward the recently-established trend to sound films with a spoken prologue and a mid-story exposition bridge, appearing as D’Artagnan.

This sequel to Fairbanks’ The Three Musketeers (1921) is based on the musketeer novels by Alexander Dumas, and features the often-filmed story of twin heirs to the throne of France separated at birth by the evil Cardinal Richelieu (Nigel de Brulier) and raised separately. Richelieu manages the also separate the four musketeers, and makes D’Artagnan bodyguard to the young prince of France. When the twins are grown, De Rochefort (Ulrich Haupt) plots to substitute the boy raised as the prince for his twin who grew up embittered and mean, and thus control the royal throne. The musketeers (now grown old) learn the truth of their birth and help defeat the plans of the now dead Richelieu and the conniving De Rochefort and restore the throne of France to its intended heir.

For years the synchronized sound elements (Vitaphone discs) were thought to be lost. When the film was rereleased under the auspices of the Fairbanks estate by Odyssey Pictures Corporation in 1952, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. dubbed his father’s introductory speech and narrated the film, which has been stripped of its original intertitle cards. New music was composed for this film by Allan Gray and the narration was written by Richard Llewellyn.

Recently, copies of the original Vitaphone soundtrack discs were recovered, and they have been resynched to preservation prints of the film. In 1999, Photoplay Productions premiered their composite restoration of the film, which had utilized a print held by the Museum of Modern Art, the Vitaphone discs (for Fairbanks’ prologue and midfilm narration), and featured a new music score written by Carl Davis.

— Carl Bennett

Cohen Film Collection
2023 Blu-ray Disc edition

The Three Musketeers (1921), black & white, 136 minutes, not rated,
with The Iron Mask (1929), black & white, 104 minutes, not rated.

Cohen Film Collection, distributed by Kino Lorber,
unknown catalog number, UPC 7-38329-26415-4.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region A Blu-ray Disc, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) progressive scan AVC (MPEG-4) format, SDR (standard dynamic range), ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? Mbps audio bit rate, DTS-HD Master Audio 48 kHz 5.1 surround sound, and Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 stereo sound; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; chapter stops; standard BD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 17 October 2023.
Country of origin: USA

This Blu-ray edition of The Iron Mask, produced by Cohen Film Collection, has been mastered from the 1999 photochemical restoration of the film conducted by Patrick Stanbury and Kevin Brownlow of Photoplay Productions in association with the Museum of Modern Art and The Douris Corporation that utilized Douglas Fairbanks' personal nitrate print. Picture restoration work was done at Cinema Arts, Incorporated, and Haghefilm, resulting in a new 35mm restoration negative. The sound sequences were copied from original discs held at the Library of Congress and digitally restored at Cedar Audio of London. Additional digital restoration of the analog restoration elements were carried out in 2017 on behalf of Cohen Film Collection at Roundabout Entertainment. The 35mm full-aperture negative of the 1999 restoration was scanned at 4K high-resolution, with more than 160 hours of digital clean-up completed at 2K resolution.

The film is likely to be presented with a music score composed by Carl Davis and performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

This will likely be the best available home video edition of The Iron Mask.

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.

This Region A Blu-ray Disc edition is also available directly from . . .

Kino on Video
2002 DVD edition

The Iron Mask (1929), black & white, 103 minutes, not rated.

Kino International, K248 DVD, UPC 7-38329-02482-6.
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 7.0 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; 12 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 18 June 2002.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 9 / additional content: 6 / overall: 8.

Fortunately the Vitaphone sound discs for the original part-talkie version of The Iron Mask were recently recovered and utilized for a new 1999 edition of The Iron Mask produced by Patrick Stanbury and Kevin Brownlow of Photoplay Productions.

The 35mm print utilized for the video transfer is generally of higher than very-good quality but isn’t quite of consistently excellent quality. Image details are a little soft and the overall greyscale range is slightly contrasty. The print is very lightly speckled, but the transfer is generally free of other flaws. The transfer is also a little on the dark side, which helps to hold the print’s highlight details.

Carl Davis has written another excellent music score, performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra in digital stereo, which accompanies the film well in its — in turns — romantic, comedic, swashbuckling and menacing moments.

Disc supplements include outtake footage, a stills and artwork gallery, brief essays, and exerpts from the 1952 version of the film.

Overall, this remains the best DVD edition of the film we have seen and we highly recommend this Kino DVD edition of the film.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

The Film Detective
2015 DVD edition

The Iron Mask (1929), black & white, 95 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 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 ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $9.99.
Release date: 4 August 2015.
Country of origin: USA

This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm reduction print.

The film is likely to be accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting recordings.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Delta Entertainment
2005 DVD edition

Douglas Fairbanks: The Great Swashbuckler (1976), black & white and color, 90 minutes, not rated,
with The Iron Mask (1929), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.

Delta Entertainment,
unknown catalog number, unknown UPC number.
One dual-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 ? 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; $6.99.
Release date: 29 November 2005.
Country of origin: USA

This double-sided DVD features the two Fairbanks features on one side, and the documentary on the flip. The film is accompanied by a prerecorded score of classical recordings.

The disc also contains a slight supplemental section.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

St. Clair Vision
2006 DVD edition

Classic Tales of Adventure (1921-1955), black & white, 880 minutes total, not rated,
including The Iron Mask (1929), black & white, 100 minutes, not rated.

St. Clair Vision, PDS87269-3VD, UPC 7-77966-87269-8.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc (three DVDs in the set); 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 3.0 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 5.1 surround sound (processed from mono sources) encoded at 256 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; 8 chapter stops; three-disc DVD keepcase; $9.98.
Release date: 2 May 2006.
Country of origin: Canada

Ratings (1-10): video: 4 / audio: 5 / additional content: 5 / overall: 5.

This DVD edition has been mastered from a very-good 16mm reduction print, but the older analog video transfer appears to be subpar, with occasional video glitches, dark streaking to the right of type in intertitles, and signs of image strobing in fast lateral action.

The film is accompanied by a collection of preexisting monaural orchestral recordings from a variety of sources, which begs the question why St. Clair Vision thinks that 5.1 surround sound is justified, other than to dupe an unknowing consumer into thinking they are getting a disc of value.

With better editions to be had, why would you consider this one?

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Reel Enterprises
2006 DVD edition

The Iron Mask (1929), black & white, 87 minutes, not rated.

Reel Enterprises,
unknown catalog number, unknown UPC number.
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 ? 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; $9.95.
Release date: 13 November 2006.
Country of origin: USA

This budget DVD edition may be mastered from 16mm reduction print materials.

Word has it that a logomark appears in the bottom right-hand corner of the picture throughout, and that it is accompanying by a repeating prerecorded soundtrack. Best to avoid altogether.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Navarre Corporation
2002 DVD edition

Triple Feature Drama Classics, Volume 2 (1926-1934), black & white and color toned black & white, 253 minutes total, not rated,
including The Iron Mask (1929), black & white, 72 minutes, not rated.

Navarre Corporation, 1624, UPC 7-41027-16249-3.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 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 3.0 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; 9 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: 6 / overall: 6.

The video transfer for this Navarre edition is of the 1952 rerelease version and features a generously cropped presentation of a very-good 16mm reduction print that generally maintains a good range of greytones but occasionally is contrasty. Some shots are overexposed.

The sound rerelease reproduced the original film (which looks as though it were taken at approximately 18-20 frames per second) at the sound speed of 24 frames per second so that action is generally too fast, though not terribly so. Some footage frames in the sound rerelease were double printed to extend the length of the original shots. Many overlapping dissolves were created where originally there were straight cuts between shots. At least one shot was reproduced forward then reversed to lengthen the shot and another tracks in and out (by way of an optical printer) on an original shot of the iron-masked king. A videotape glitch rolls through the picture at 56:13.

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.

Synergy Entertainment
2007 DVD edition

The Iron Mask (1929), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.

Synergy Entertainment,
unknown catalog number, unknown 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; $9.99.
Release date: 4 June 2007.
Country of origin: USA

Wanna bet this budget disc is the same as the Reel Enterprises edition noted above, repackaged to rip-off consumers and retailers? It is likely mastered from 16mm reduction print materials.

Seek and destroy.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Digiview Productions
2004 DVD edition

The Iron Mask (1929), black & white, 72 minutes, not rated.

Digiview Productions, MV-614, UPC 8-72322-00248-8.
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 ? 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; slimline DVD keepcase; unknown suggested retail price.
Release date: 2004
Country of origin: USA

We have not seen this ultra-cheap edition, manufactured in China and marketed in the USA, but suspect that it has been mastered from a 16mm reduction print.

Which version is presented here — original silent or sound rerelease — is also unknown.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition is . . .