Silent Era Home Page > Home Video > The Eagle
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SILENT ERA FILMS ON HOME VIDEO
Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2009 by Carl Bennett.
All Rights Reserved.
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The Eagle
(1925) |
When a Russian lieutenant deserts the czarina’s army, choosing not to be a sexual dalliance of hers, he becomes a Robin Hood-like defender of the downtrodden named The Black Eagle. The Eagle soon finds that he is smitten with the refined daughter of the man who has robbed his own family of their estate. Much of the film pivots on the growing relationship between Rudolph Valentino as Lieutenant Dubrovski and Vilma Banky as Mascha, as The Black Eagle seeks to collect his revenge on her father.
The Eagle (1925) was Rudolph Valentino’s return to feature motion pictures after his protracted contract dispute with Famous Players-Lasky Corporation. Valentino had kept himself busy with vaudeville tours and appearances in independently-produced short documentary films, until his Paramount contract expired, and in 1925 negotiated a new contract for films to be distributed by United Artists. The Eagle was directed by one of Hollywood’s top directors, Clarence Brown, and designed by the great William Cameron Menzies, but is ultimately little more than a romantic vehicle for screen idol Rudolph. And the Valentino charm is here in full effect, with plenty of gauzed close-ups of the somber and now-smiling Rudolph for fans to swoon over. — Carl Bennett
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 2002 Image Entertainment edition
The Eagle (1925), black & white, 72 minutes, not rated.
Worldview Entertainment, distributed by Image Entertainment,
ID1574WVDVD, UPC 0-14381-15742-0.
Full-frame 4:3 NTSC, one single-sided, single-layered DVD disc, Region 1, 5 Mbps average video bit rate, 224 kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 1.0 mono sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, 14 chapter stops, keep case, $24.99.
DVD release date: 25 June 2002.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 5 / audio: 5 / additional content: 0 / overall: 5. |
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 This Killiam presentation has been transferred from a beaten and dusty 16mm reduction print that, nonetheless, features a very good range of graytones and good image detail. The print is further compromised by light to moderate speckling, long vertical scratches, and several moments of drastic print scuffing. The transfer has been too tightly framed, and some intertitles will be cropped on some televisions. A moving frameline, annoyingly adjusted throughout the progress of the film, further reveals the amount of over-cropping.
Compared to the best edition of The Eagle on home video, the 1989 laserdisc from Image Entertainment (transferred from Kevin Brownlow and David Gill’s presentation for British television), this Killiam DVD edition suffers by comparison. The Brownlow and Gill edition not only features open framing of the picture image, it was also transferred from a 35mm print in the Raymond Rohauer collection and thus features greater image detail.
One of the main reasons a collector may want to obtain this Killiam edition of The Eagle is the music score performed on theater pipe organ by the late Lee Erwin, the first of his performances released on DVD. The music has been transferred from the optical soundtrack of one of the Killiam prints of the film. The resulting audio quality is OK, with some crackling and pops, but fares better here than on other Killiam DVD releases.
Ultimately, the edition is watchable, with its above-average 16mm source print, but it is frustrating that (what appears to be) a new transfer should be so tightly cropped and utilize a reduction print when quality 35mm materials have survived. We advice collectors that, in the absence of a better home video edition in their collections, this Killiam edition may be serviceable until a better-quality edition is produced for DVD.
USA: Click the logomark at right to purchase
a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.com. |
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Canada: Click the logomark at right to purchase
a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.ca. |
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 2007 Reel Enterprises edition
The Eagle (1925), black & white, 70 minutes, not rated.
Reel Enterprises, unknown catalog number, unknown UPC number.
Full-frame 4:3 NTSC, one single-sided, single-layered DVD-R disc, Region 0, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, chapter stops, keep case, $9.95.
DVD release date: 5 April 2007.
Country of origin: USA
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This budget DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from 16mm reduction print materials.
USA: Click the logomark at right to purchase
a Region 0 NTSC DVD-R of this edition from Amazon.com. |
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Canada: Click the logomark at right to purchase
a Region 0 NTSC DVD-R of this edition from Amazon.ca. |
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 2009 Passport Video edition
The Rudolph Valentino Collection (1918-1925),
black & white, 420 minutes total, not rated,
including The Eagle (1925), black & white, ? minutes, not rated,
with A Society Sensation (1918), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The Married Virgin (1918), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The Sheik (1921), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Blood and Sand (1922), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Rudolph Valentino and His 88 American Beauties (1923), black & white, 13 minutes, not rated, and Cobra (1925), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Passport Video, unknown catalog number, unknown UPC number.
Full-frame 4:3 NTSC, three single-sided, dual-layered DVD discs, Region 0, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, chapter stops, multidisc keep case, $19.98.
DVD release date: 11 August 2009.
Country of origin: USA
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This three-disc collection of Rudolph Valentino films may have been mastered from 16mm reduction prints. All of the films in the collection have previously appeared on DVD in high-quality editions.
USA: Click the logomark at right to purchase
a Region 0 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.com. |
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Canada: Click the logomark at right to purchase
a Region 0 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.ca. |
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 2002 Navarre Corporation edition
The Eagle (1925), black & white, 81 minutes, not rated,
with The Lost World (1925), color-toned black & white, 69 minutes, not rated, with The Lodger (1926), black & white, 80 minutes, not rated.
Navarre Corporation, 1631, UPC 7-41027-16319-3.
Full-frame 4:3 NTSC, one single-sided, dual-layered DVD disc, Region 1, 3 Mbps average video bit rate, 192 kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 mono sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, 6 chapter stops, keep case, $9.98.
DVD release date: 16 April 2002.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 4 / audio: 5 / additional content: 5 / overall: 5.
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 For the Navarre video transfer, the first on DVD, a 16mm reduction print has been used that is slightly contrasty, with soft image detail, moderate dust and speckling, some print scuffing, splices, and fine vertical scratches. The framing is tight but the intertitles will remain readable, and the film has been transferred at a proper speed, unlike the Killiam DVD edition that followed this one. Overall, the print is watchable but some of the burnt-out image highlights are annoying.
The presentation is accompanied by a canned orchestral soundtrack.
USA: Click the logomark at right to purchase
a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.com. |
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Canada: Click the logomark at right to purchase
a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.ca. |
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 2003 Instant Vision edition
The Eagle (1925), black & white, 91 minutes, classification E.
Instant Vision Limited, DVDIV060, unknown UPC number.
Full-frame 4:3 PAL, one single-sided, single-layered DVD disc, Region 2, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 mono? sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, chapter stops, keep case, £9.99.
DVD release date: 21 July 2003.
Country of origin: England
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It is unknown what quality of materials have been utilized for this PAL British edition.
United Kingdom: Click the logomark at right to purchase
a Region 2 PAL DVD of this edition from Amazon.co.uk. |
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| Other RUDOLPH VALENTINO films available on home video.
Other silent era Clarence Brown films available on home video:
Flesh and the Devil (1927)
The Last of the Mohicans (1920)
The Light in the Dark (1921)
Smouldering Fires (1924)
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