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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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Man with the
Movie Camera
(1929) |
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 1998 Image Entertainment edition
Man with the Movie Camera (1929), black & white, 68 minutes, not rated.
Film Preservation Associates, distributed by Image Entertainment,
ID4589DSDVD, UPC 0-14381-45892-3.
Windowboxed 4:3 NTSC, one single-sided, single-layered DVD disc, Region 0, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound, Russian language intertitles, permanent English language subtitles, 12 chapter stops, snapper case (reissued in keep case), $24.99.
DVD release date: 28 October 1998 (rereleased 26 February 2002).
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 7 / additional content: 7 / overall: 6.
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 This early DVD edition, originally prepared by David Shepard for release on laserdisc and VHS videotape in 1996, appears to have been transferred from a very-good-to-excellent 35mm early synchronized-sound print of the film from the 1930s.
Framing evidence on this disc suggests that the surviving source material had an optical soundtrack running along the left side of the filmprint, leaving only approximately 1.20:1 of the original camera negative aperture on the rerelease print, or — to state it another way — approximately 10-percent of the left side of the original image had been sacrificed to accommodate the rerelease print soundtrack.
For an older analog video transfer, a very-good job has been done of capturing the fine details and broad grayscale range of the source material. Only some occasional RGB artifacts are seen in tight horizontal picture details and some trellised fringing of the yellow English-language subtitles bespeak of the older video transfer technology that was utlized. The transfer is good enough to create a nearly filmlike picture on high-definition equipment capable of upconverting a standard-definition NTSC signal to a 1080p HD signal.
The presentation features an original music score by The Alloy Orchestra, following the written music directions of Dziga Vertov, originally produced for the Pordenone Silent Film Festival in 1995 and recorded in 1996, and an audio commentary by researcher Yuri Tsivian.
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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 2003 Kino International edition
Man with the Movie Camera (1929), black & white, 68 minutes, not rated.
Kino International, K297, UPC 0-38329-02972-2.
Full-frame 4:3 NTSC, one single-sided, single-layered DVD disc, Region 1, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound, Russian? language intertitles, English? language subtitles, chapter stops, keep case, $24.99.
DVD release date: 13 May 2003.
Country of origin: USA
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This edition has been licensed from the British Film Institute. Music by Michael Nyman.
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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 2008 Triad Productions edition
Man with the Movie Camera (1929), black & white, 68 minutes, not rated.
Triad Productions, unknown catalog number, unknown UPC number.
Full-frame 4:3 NTSC, one single-sided, single-layered DVD disc, Region 0, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound, Russian? language intertitles, English? language subtitles, chapter stops, keep case, $21.99.
DVD release date: 14 July 2008.
Country of origin: USA
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It is unknown what materials were used for this edition.
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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Other silent era Dziga Vertov films available on home video:
Kino-Eye (1924)
Other RUSSIAN silent era films available on home video.
Other silent era documentaries available on home video:
Chang: A Drama in the Wilderness (1927)
Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life (1925)
In the Land of the War Canoes (1914)
Nanook of the North (1922)
South (1919)
World War I Films of the Silent Era (1916-1917)
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