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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Lucrezia Borgia
(1922)
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This German historical drama, directed by Richard Oswald, stars Conrad Veidt, Liane Haid and Paul Wegener, with support from Albert Bassermann, Heinrich George, William Dieterle and Alfons Fryland.
Veidt is deliciously evil in his role as Cesare Borgia.
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 Grapevine Video
2012 DVD edition
Lucrezia Borgia (1922), black & white, color-tinted black & white and color-toned black & white, 129 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10422-0.
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 4.5 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 224 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; 24 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $19.95.
Release date: 29 May 2012.
Country of origin: USA •
Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 7 / additional content: 0 / overall: 6.
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This DVD-R edition an analog video transfer of an English language 35mm release print. There is quite a bit of dust, speckling and other print flaws in the source material and the picture reveals some edge aliasing and compression artifacts due to the length of the film and the storage limitations of DVD discs. The image is a bit jittery and is distracting at times because of it. A few spots of beginning decomposition are present in the source print. Note that the English intertitles spell Borgia’s name as “Lucrecia” throughout the film.
The film is accompanied by a theatre organ music score composed and performed by Blaine Gale, recorded during a live presentation of the film. Better than average accompaniment for a Grapevine Video release.
Only a passable presentation but this is likely to be the best home video edition of the film that is currently available. The print materials could be utilized for a high-quality Blu-ray Disc edition, if someone would bother.
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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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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is also available directly from . . .
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 Alpha Video
2020 DVD edition
Lucrezia Borgia (1922), black & white, 129 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment,
ALP 8358D, UPC 0-89218-83589-5.
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; $7.98 (raised to $8.98).
Release date: 29 September 2020.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition is likely to have been mastered from a 16mm or 8mm reduction print.
The presentation is likely to be accompanied by a cobbled-together music score of preexisting musical recordings.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase a Region 0 NTSC DVD-R of this edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is also available directly from . . .
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Other silent era CONRAD VEIDT films available on home video.
Other silent era PAUL WEGENER films available on home video.
Other GERMAN FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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