Silent Era : Home Video : Before the Nickelodeon: The Early Cinema of Edwin S. Porter (1982) Review

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Before the Nickelodeon
The Early Cinema of
Edwin S. Porter
(1982)

This documentary by primitive cinema authority Charles Musser covers the career of Edison cameraman/director Edwin S. Porter.

2008 Kino International DVD edition

Before the Nickelodeon: The Early Cinema of Edwin S. Porter (1982), black & white and color-tinted black & white, ? minutes, not rated,
with Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show (1902), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Waiting at the Church (1906), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, and Life of a Cowboy (1906), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.

Kino International, unknown catalog number, unknown UPC number.
Windowboxed 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, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, 10 chapter stops, standard DVD keepcase, $24.99.
DVD release date: 22 April 2008.
Country of origin: USA

Our first look at Thomas Hanlon’s documentary shows a very-good source print, with modern view inserts of some of the sample film clips. Documentary narration by Blanche Sweet.

Surprisingly, with such a short documentary, we feel that the films should be the focus of this disc and the documentary should be its supplementary material. Overall, the image quality is very-good and the experience a little like sitting in a classroom and watching a 16mm print.

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 BFI Video Publishing DVD edition

Before the Nickelodeon: The Early Cinema of Edwin S. Porter (1982), black & white and color-tinted black & white, 40 minutes, Classification E.

BFI Video Publishing, BFIVD 577, UPC 5-03567-30057-7, ISBN 503567300577, EAN 5.03567E+11.
Letterboxed 4:3 PAL, one single-sided, single-layered? DVD disc, Region 2, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 mono sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, chapter stops, standard DVD keepcase, £15.65.
DVD release date: 28 August 2006.
Country of origin: England

We have not viewed this edition, which should be nearly identical to the Kino edition noted above. The package includes a 12-page booklet with notations by Luke McKernan.

North American collectors will need a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.

United Kingdom: Click the logomark at right to purchase
a Region 2 PAL DVD of this edition from Amazon.co.uk.

This Region 2 PAL DVD edition is also available directly from the BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE.

Other silent era-related DOCUMENTARIES available on home video.

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