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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Tarzan and the
Golden Lion
(1927)
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Directed by prolific B-film director J.P. McGowan, this feature-film entry in the Tarzan oeuvre features James Pierce in the leading role as the jungle man, and Boris Karloff in a minor role.
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 Grapevine Video
2008 DVD edition
Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1927), color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 57 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no 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; 6 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $12.95.
Release date: 2008.
Country of origin: USA •
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This DVD-R edition from Grapevine Video has been mastered from a VHS videotape copy of an analog video transfer made from a very-good 16mm reduction print. The transfer likely dates to an earlier home video release from Grapevine on VHS. Telltale signs of VHS are seen in the darkish smears to the right of bright highlights in the picture such as those to the right of Dorothy Dunbar’s nose and chin in the still frame above. The print is OK, but the video transfer by way of half-inch analog videotape is not.
The film is accompanied by a custom music score performed on MIDI synthesizer, and new, video-based intertitles have been inserted throughout the film.
We slightly favor this edition because of its color tinting and toning, which dresses up the older video transfer.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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 Alpha Video
2006 DVD edition
Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1927), black & white, 59 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 5113D, UPC 0-89218-51139-3.
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 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; 6 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $6.98 (raised to $8.98).
Release date: 25 July 2006.
Country of origin: USA
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This budget DVD edition has been mastered from the same video transfer made from a very-good 16mm reduction print as the Grapevine Video edition above. Apparently Alpha Home Entertainment felt it necessary to place a black bar at the bottom of the picture to mask the characteristic tracking misalignments that typically show up at the bottom of a VHS picture.
The intertitles have been replaced with video-based intertitles. If resetting the type is necessary to translate foreign language intertitles, we don’t think that it is necessary to try to emulate old film in new video intertitles.
The film is accompanied by a music score performed on digital piano by Rachel Gutches.
The edition from Grapevine Video, noted above, looks slightly better than this one by virtue of its tinting and toning.
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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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United Kingdom: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.co.uk. Support Silent Era.
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Other TARZAN FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
Other silent era J.P. McGOWAN films available on home video.
Other silent era BORIS KARLOFF films available on home video.
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