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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.

The Scar of Shame
(1927)

This crime drama from the Colored Players Film Corporation dahses in a little social commentary into its mix of two-bit hustlers, upper-middle-class stoicism, guns, attempted rape and suicide. The story by David Starkman, as directed by Frank Perugini, is melodramatic yet effective. The “all colored” cast is led by Harry Henderson, Lucia Lynn Moses, Norman Johnstone and Lawrence Chenault.

2001 The Library of Congress
Smithsonian Video edition

The Scar of Shame (1927), black & white, 79 minutes, not rated.

The Library of Congress/Smithsonian Video, distributed by Image Entertainment,
ID9807UMDVD, UPC 0-14381-98072-1.
Full-frame 4:3 NTSC, three single-sided, dual-layered DVD discs, Region 1, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo and mono sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, chapter stops, three cardboard wrapped plastic trays in cardboard slipcase?, $79.99.
DVD release date: 13 March 2001.
Country of origin: USA

This 34-film collection, now regretably out-of-print, contains the best available version of The Scar of Shame, transferred from a 35mm print.

 
USA: Click the logomark at right to purchase
a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.com.
 
Canada: Click the logomark at right to purchase
a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.ca.

2003 Encore Home Video edition

The Scar of Shame (1927), black & white, 67 minutes, not rated.

Encore Home Video, F 416, 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, $18.88.
DVD release date: 2003.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 6 / additional content: 0 / overall: 7.

This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a 35mm duplicate negative of the same 35mm print held by the Library of Congress utilized for the edition noted above. There is some image instability, a little speckling, moderate dust and other minor print damage, but the grayscale range is a little flat and image detail is reasonably good, with some highlight and shadow details held and some of them lost. The resulting quality of the full-frame video transfer is very-good and is comparable to the LoC/Smithsonian edition.

The film is accompanied by John Muri performing on the Barton theatre organ. The musical performance is flawless, but it has been reproduced from a slightly damaged optical soundtrack transfer, and some crackling, dropouts and infrequent distortion are audible.

Given that this is the only home video edition of this film that is available, and that it has been mastered from the LoC 35mm print, we recommend this DVD-R edition.

 

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R disc is available directly from Encore Home Video.

Other silent era AFRICAN-AMERICAN PRODUCTIONS available on home video.
 
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