Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved. |
The Trail of
the Octopus
(1919-1920) |
This Hallmark serial, starring Ben Wilson and Neva Gerber, survives (except for chapter nine) in the Library of Congress.
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The Serial Squadron
2012 DVD edition
The Trail of the Octopus (1919-1920), color-tinted black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
The Serial Squadron, no catalog number, no UPC number.
Three single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R discs, 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? 2.0 stereo? sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; chapter stops; standard three-disc DVD keepcase; $39.95.
Release date: 1 October 2012.
Country of origin: USA
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The source material for this new video transfer, produced by Eric Stedman, is the original and only surviving 35mm positive print from the Library of Congress, recovered and donated by Henry Miyamoto in 2001. The picture is very sharp with occasional minor issues of focus going in and out mainly in episode one due to the age and warping of the print. One chapter of the serial, chapter nine, is not known to exist in any form anywhere but a summary of the action has been included. The set includes all 14 surviving chapters.
The presentation is accompanied by a new musical score by Kevin McLeod.
This first edition has been replaced by an upgraded Blu-ray Disc edition.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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Other SERIAL FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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