Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
The Miracle Man
(1919) |
One of Lon Chaney’s sought-after film roles featured him as a contortionist working with a team of confidence men to take advantage of gullible yokels. The film is now presumed lost, with the exception of approximately 3 minutes of footage that has survived as part of compilation film documentary. |
 Kino Classics
2012 DVD edition
The Penalty (1920), color-tinted black & white, 93 minutes, not rated,
with exerpts from The Miracle Man (1919), black & white, 3 minutes, not rated.
Kino Lorber, K1059, UPC 7-38329-10592-1.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 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, ? Kbps audio bit rate, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound and LPCM 48 kHz 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, no chapter stops; standard BD keepcase in cardboard slipcover; $34.95.
Release date: 23 October 2012.
Country of origin: USA
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This Blu-ray Disc edition of surviving exerpts from The Miracle Man (1919) has been mastered from a very-good 35mm print of a sound compilation film.
This edition may be enough of an improvement over Kino’s DVD edition noted below that it may be worth updating one’s copy of the footage.
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USA: Click to purchase this Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports the Silent Era website.
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Canada: Click to purchase this Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports the Silent Era website.
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 Kino on Video
2001 DVD edition
The Penalty (1920), color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 93 minutes, not rated,
with exerpts from The Miracle Man (1919), black & white, 3 minutes, not rated.
Kino International, K216, UPC 7-38329-02162-7.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), ? Mbps average video bit rate, 192 Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, no chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 9 October 2001.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 8 / audio: 7 / additional content: 9 / overall: 8.
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This DVD edition presents surviving exerpts from The Miracle Man (1919) from a very-good 35mm print of a sound compilation film, the only know surviving footage of the film.
Chaney’s physical control alone in his ‘miracle’ transformation is incredible. The audio commentary from the compilation film includes the statement, “This was the big scene that helped make The Miracle Man a picture that will never be forgotten.” If only the film had survived to help keep the film from being forgotten! The film had survived long enough to be exerpted in this film but has disintegrated by today — another reason to preserve films now!
This disc is still a serviceable edition of the film.
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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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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Other silent era LON CHANEY films available on home video.
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