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 2010 Park Circus Blu-ray Disc / DVD edition
City Lights (1931), black & white, 83 minutes, BBFC Classification U. Park Circus, PCB0017, UPC 5-060203-34017-9.Pillarboxed 16:9 24FPS AVCHD / full-frame 4:3 PAL, one single-sided Blu-ray Disc and one single-sided, dual-layered DVD disc, Region B / Region 2, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? kbps audio bit rate, DTS-HD 5.1 surround sound and Dolby Digital 2.0 mono sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, chapter stops, two-disc standard BD keepcase in cardboard slipcover, £19.99. BD release date: 15 November 2010. Country of origin: Scotland |
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| This UK high-definition edition of City Lights, from a Scottish distribution company and produced for home video by MK2, features a new high-definition video transfer from 35mm print materials controlled by the Estate of Charles Chaplin.
The film is presented with the established music score composed by Charles Chaplin. The disc’s supplemental material includes an introduction by David Robinson. Other than its HD transfer, and this edition being nearly identical in content to the 2004 Warner Home Video edition noted below, owners of that edition may not feel the need to acquire this Park Circus edition. This edition, currently the only high-quality edition in print, is recommended for those who want to add the film to their collection now. North American collectors will need a Region B or region-free Blu-ray Disc player and/or a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.
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 2004 Warner Home Video DVD edition
City Lights (1931), black & white, 83 minutes, Rated G. Warner Home Video, 37648, UPC 0-85393-76482-1, ISBN 0-7907-7165-9.Full-frame 4:3 NTSC, two single-sided, dual-layered DVD discs, Region 1, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Thai and Korean language subtitles, 20 chapter stops, two plastic DVD trays on cardboard wrap in cardboard slipcase, $29.95. DVD release date: 2 March 2004. Country of origin: USA |
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This new home video edition was digitally restored from excellent 35mm materials held by the Estate of Charles Chaplin. At first glance, the full-frame video transfer well reproduces the broad graytones range and image details of the source materials. However, we have had problems with the disc displaying properly to a 16:9 high-definition television when played from one of our DVD players. The picture fills the 16:9 monitor in width (already wrong for a 4:3 format picture) and crops the top and bottom of the picture to do so. No amount of manipulation of the picture settings ideally resolves the issue. Other DVD players will not have this problem. The supplementary material includes Georgia Hale’s screen test as the blind girl, a short documentary, and more.
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 2000 Image Entertainment DVD edition
City Lights (1931), black & white, 87 minutes, Rated G. CBS/Fox Home Video, distributed by Image Entertainment, ID9181CUDVD, UPC 0-14381-91812-0.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 and mono sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, chapter stops, snapper DVD case, $29.99. DVD release date: 8 February 2000. Country of origin: USA |
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| It appears that the masters from the 1993 Chaplin: A Legacy of Laughter laserdisc series were utilized for this and other year 2000 Chaplin DVD releases. The City Lights DVD features the mono tracks of the original 1931 film soundtrack and PCM stereo tracks of the reconstructed music score arranged by Carl Davis and recorded in 1989.
The disc is now contractually out-of-print to make way for the Warner edition noted above.
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| Other silent era CHARLES CHAPLIN films available on home video. | ||||||||
| Charles Chaplin filmography in The Progressive Silent Film List | ||||||||
| Silent Era Home Page > Home Video > City Lights || Top of Page |
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