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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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His Picture in
the Papers
(1916) |
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 2008 Flicker Alley edition
Douglas Fairbanks: A Modern Musketeer (1916-1921),
color-toned black & white, color-tinted black & white and black & white,
760 minutes total, not rated,
including His Picture in the Papers (1916),
color-toned black & white, 62 minutes, not rated,
with The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916), color-toned black & white, 27 minutes, not rated, Flirting with Fate (1916), black & white, 57 minutes, not rated, The Matrimaniac (1916), black & white, 46 minutes, not rated, Wild and Woolly (1917), color-toned black & white, 72 minutes, not rated, Reaching for the Moon (1917), color-toned black & white, 69 minutes, not rated, A Modern Musketeer (1917), color-tinted black & white, 69 minutes, not rated, When the Clouds Roll By (1919), color-toned black & white, 86 minutes, not rated, The Mollycoddle (1920), color-toned black & white, 85 minutes, not rated, The Mark of Zorro (1920), color-toned black & white, 107 minutes, not rated, and The Nut (1921), black & white, 65 minutes, not rated.
Flicker Alley, FA0011, UPC 6-17311-67359-7, ISBN: 1-8939-6735-2.
Full-frame 4:3 NTSC, five 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, slimline keep cases in cardboard slipcase, $89.95.
DVD release date: 2 December 2008.
Country of origin: USA
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 Our first look at this five-disc, eleven-film collection has generally been a delight, and the release of these films on DVD home video has been a long time coming for the relatively neglected Douglas Fairbanks. At first overwhelming, this collection of films released by Triangle, Artcraft Pictures and Fairbanks’ own United Artists is a great overview of the first phase of Fairbanks’ motion picture career, predominantly comprised of his light-hearted comedies, leading to the well-known action-adventure films of the 1920s.
The coarsely transferred His Picture in the Papers, with its coarse (vertical!) pixels that are easily detected and distracting on high-definition monitors, may play acceptably on standard televisions.
The films are accompanied by musical scores performed by Eric Beheim, Philip Carli, Frederick Hodges, Robert Israel, Rodney Sauer, The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, and Franklin Stover.
Included is a 32-page booklet with an essay by Jeffrey Vance and Tony Maietta. The supplemental material includes productions stills and pressbook reproductions, an audio essay for A Modern Musketeer, and a reproduction of Fairbanks’ first film contract. This boxset collection won an award at Il Cinema Ritrovato in 2009 for excellence.
Note: A few DVD players have encountered problems playing some discs in this boxset. Flicker Alley has inititated a program to replace defective discs from this Fairbanks set. Click here to report defective discs.
USA: Click the logomark at right to purchase
a Region 0 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.com. |
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 2004 Unknown Video edition
His Picture in the Papers (1916), black & white, 52 minutes, not rated,
with At Dawn (1914), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Unknown Video, no catalog number, no 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 mono sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, chapter stops, keep case, $18.95.
DVD release date: 22 November 2004.
Country of origin: USA
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