Silent Era : Home Video : Murnau, Borzage and Fox (1925-1932) Review

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Murnau, Borzage
and Fox
(1925-1932)

Contents: Lazybones (1925), Sunrise (1927) [Movietone sound and European silent versions], 7th Heaven (1927), Street Angel (1928), The River (1928) [surviving footage], Lucky Star (1929), They Had to See Paris (1929), City Girl (1929), Song o’ My Heart (1930), Liliom (1930), Bad Girl (1931), After Tomorrow (1932) and Young America (1932).

2008 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment edition

Murnau, Borzage and Fox (1925-1932), black & white and color, ? minutes total, not rated,
including Lazybones (1925), black & white, 86 minutes, not rated, Sunrise (1927) [silent version with Movietone soundtrack], black & white, 94 minutes, not rated, Sunrise (1927) [European silent version], black & white, 79 minutes, not rated, 7th Heaven (1927), black & white, 119 minutes, not rated, Street Angel (1928), black & white, 101 minutes, not rated, The River (1928), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, City Girl (1929), black & white, 88 minutes, not rated, Lucky Star (1929), black & white, 99 minutes, not rated, They Had to See Paris (1929), black & white, 83 minutes, not rated, Song o’ My Heart (1930) [full-sound version], black & white, 86 minutes, not rated, Song o’ My Heart (1930) [silent version with Movietone soundtrack], black & white, 90 minutes, not rated, Liliom (1930), black & white, 94 minutes, not rated, Bad Girl (1931), black & white, 88 minutes, not rated, After Tomorrow (1932), black & white, 81 minutes, not rated, Young America (1932), black & white, 70 minutes, not rated, and Murnau, Borzage and Fox (2008), color and black & white, 105 minutes, not rated.

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 35622, UPC 0-24543-56220-7.
Full-frame 4:3 NTSC, eight single-sided, single-layered DVD discs, one single-sided, dual-layered DVD disc, and three dual-sided, single-layered DVD discs, Region 1, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo and mono sound, English language intertitles, French, Spanish and English (sound films only) language subtitles, chapter stops, clothbound binder with disc pockets in clothbound box, $239.98.
DVD release date: 9 December 2008.
Country of origin: USA

This collection of F.W. Murnau’s and Frank Borzage’s films directed for Fox Film Corporation in the latter years of the silent era and in the dawn of Movietone sound films is heavy on Borzage and light on Murnau, with only two Murnau films on disc and a full-size book on his lost film 4 Devils (1928).

Some collectors have reported scuffed discs that are packaged in die-cut pockets within the binder, and problems playing the double-sided 7th Heaven/The River disc. This disc packaging choice has been a disturbing trend in larger boxsets like this one and the plastic-slipcased Hitchcock collection with their die-cut disc pockets within stiff cardboard pages. Our own copy of this set has presented no playback problems with the discs on a Panasonic BD player. Others have complained that the set is bulky at seven pounds and hard to handle, with its large binder and two full-size books.

Read details on the silent films in this set on our DVD review pages for Lazybones (1925), Sunrise (1927) and City Girl (1929).

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.

Other F.W. MURNAU films available on home video.

Other Frank Borzage silent era films available on home video:
The River (1928)

F.W. Murnau filmography in The Progressive Silent Film List

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