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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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Ben-Hur
(1925) |
This biblical epic, one of the most-famous films of the silent era, stars Ramon Novarro as Judah and Francis X. Bushman as Messala.
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 2005 Warner Home Video edition
Ben-Hur (1925), black & white, color-tinted black & white and color,
143 minutes, not rated,
with Ben-Hur (1959), color, 222 minutes, rated G.
Warner Home Video, 67535,
UPC 0-12569-67535-3, ISBN 1-4198-1079-0.
Full-frame 4:3 NTSC, four single-sided, dual-layered DVD discs, Region 1, 5.5 Mbps average video bit rate, 192 kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, foreign language subtitles, 39 chapter stops, plastic trays on cardboard gatefold wrapper in cardboard slipcase, $39.95.
DVD release date: 13 September 2005.
Country of origin: USA
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 This four-disc set includes the Photoplay Productions presentation of the silent Ben-Hur (1925), with music score composed by Carl Davis. This edition of the film has not been available to collectors on home video since its 1990s appearance on MGM Home Video laserdisc.
Word has reached us that there are a few examples of different intertitles and missing shots as compared to the laserdisc edition.
The bonus to silent-film collectors is the remastered Ben-Hur (1959) featuring Charlton Heston.
This is, beyond any doubt, the only edition of Ben-Hur worth owning on DVD home video.
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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 2009 unknown Korean edition
Ben-Hur (1925), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Unknown Korean company, unknown catalog number, unknown UPC number.
Full-frame 4:3 NTSC, one single-sided, dual-layered? DVD disc, Region 2, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 mono sound, English? language intertitles, Korean? language subtitles, chapter stops, keep case?, unknown suggested retail price.
DVD release date: 2009.
Country of origin: Korea
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This Korean edition appeared for sale on eBay in 2009. Korean DVD product has a tradition of low bit-rate disc encoding that renders coarse picture images with easily-seen video compression artifacts. That may be the case with this edition.
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 2005 unknown Chinese edition
Ben-Hur (1925), black & white, color-tinted black & white and color?, ? minutes, not rated.
Unknown Chinese company, unknown catalog number, unknown UPC number.
Full-frame 4:3 NTSC, one single-sided, dual-layered? DVD disc, Region 2, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 mono sound, English? language intertitles, Chinese language subtitles, chapter stops, keep case?, unknown suggested retail price.
DVD release date: 2005.
Country of origin: China
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| This Chinese edition appeared for sale on eBay in late 2005 and reputedly has been mastered from the Kevin Brownlow and David Gill video edition that features music by Carl Davis. |
 2003 IVCF edition
Ben-Hur (1925), black & white, 141 minutes, not rated.
IVCF, IVCF-2176, unknown UPC number.
Full-frame 4:3 NTSC, one single-sided, dual-layered DVD disc, Region 2, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 mono sound, English? language intertitles, Japanese language subtitles, chapter stops, keep case?, ¥3500.
DVD release date: 20 June 2003.
Country of origin: Japan
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This Japanese edition contains “explanitory footage” by film critic by Nagaharu Yodogawa.
This Region 2 NTSC DVD edition is available from CD Japan.
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Other silent era Ramon Novarro films available on home video:
The Red Lily (1924)
Scaramouche (1923)
Other silent era Technicolor films available on home video:
The Black Pirate (1926)
Campus Vamp (1928)
The King of Kings (1927)
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Redskin (1929)
Seven Chances (1925)
The Toll of the Sea (1922)
The Toy Shop (1928)
Other silent era religious films available on home video:
Christus (1915)
From the Manger to the Cross (1912)
Joan the Woman (1915)
The King of Kings (1927)
The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ (1905)
Nathan the Wise (1922)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
The Ten Commandments (1923)
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