Silent Era : DVD : October (1928) Review

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Reviews of silent film releases on DVD home video.
Copyright © 1999-2008 by Carl Bennett. All Rights Reserved.

October
(1928)
on

1998 Image Entertainment edition

October (1928), black & white, 103 minutes, not rated.

Image Entertainment, ID4576CODVD, UPC 0-14381-45762-9.
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 mono sound, Russian language intertitles?, English language subtitles?, chapter stops, snapper case, $24.99.
DVD release date: 29 December 1998.
Country of origin: USA

This early DVD edition, from Corinth Films (U.S. distributor of the film), has been transferred from a 35mm Russian preservation print. The film is accompanied by the modern Russian music score attached to commonly-available prints of the film.

USA: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 0 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.com.
Canada: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 0 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.ca.

2006 Films-sans-frontières edition

October (1928), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, with Glumov’s Diary (1923), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Strike (1924), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Battleship Potemkin (1925), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Old and New [The General Line] (1929), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Sentimental Romance (1930), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Que Viva Mexico! (1932), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Bezhin Meadow (1937), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Alexander Nevsky (1938), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, and Ivan the Terrible (1944), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.

Films-sans-frontières, unknown catalog number, unknown UPC number.
Full-frame 4:3 PAL, four single-sided?, dual-layered? DVD discs, Region 2, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo? sound, Russian language intertitles, French and English language subtitles, chapter stops, keep case, €90,00.
DVD release date: 2006.
Country of origin: France

We have not viewed this edition, but have received reports that the visual quality ranges from very-good to excellent. This edition features a music score by Meisel.

This Region 2 PAL DVD is available directly from Films-sans-frontières.

2003 Grapevine Video edition

October (1928), black & white, 103 minutes, not rated.

Grapevine 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, PCM 2.0 mono sound, Russian language intertitles?, English language subtitles?, chapter stops, keep case, $9.95.
DVD release date: 2003.
Country of origin: USA

This budget edition may have been mastered from a 16mm reduction print.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R is available directly from Grapevine Video.

Other silent era Sergei Eisenstein films available on DVD home video:
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Glumov’s Diary (1923)
Old and New (1929)
Strike (1924)

Plus:
Earth (1930) with 31-minute reconstruction of Sergei Eisenstein’s Bezhin Meadow (1937)

About Sergei Eisenstein:
Sergei Eisenstein: Autobiography (1996)

Other Russian silent era films available on DVD home video:
Aelita (1924)
Arsenal (1928)
Bed and Sofa (1927)
By the Law (1926)
The Cameraman’s Revenge and Other Fantastic Tales: Ladislaw Starewicz (1912-1958)
Chess Fever (1925)
Earth (1930)
The End of St. Petersburg (1927)
The Girl with the Hatbox (1927)
Kino-Eye (1924)
Mad Love: The Films of Evgeni Bauer (1913-1917)
Man with the Movie Camera (1929)
Mother (1926)
My Grandmother (1929)
Storm Over Asia (1928)
Zvenigora (1927)

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