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The Eyes of
Julia Deep
(1918)

One of the few surviving examples of Mary Miles Minter’s film career, The Eyes of Julia Deep is a prime example of Minter’s following the path already well-trod by Mary Pickford with its story of young and self-sufficient department store clerk Julia Deep helping a spoiled and profligate heir (Allan Forrest) learn the value of a day’s work.

Sunrise Silents
2005 DVD edition

The Eyes of Julia Deep (1918), color-tinted black & white, 57 minutes, not rated, with A One Night Stand (1915), color-tinted black & white, 14 minutes, not rated, Mystery of the Double Cross [chapter 1: “The Lady in Number ‘7’”] (1917), color-tinted black & white, 23 minutes, not rated, Old Heidelberg (1915) [excerpt], color-tinted black & white, 14 minutes, not rated.

Sunrise Silents,
EOJD-N (NTSC) and EOJD-P (PAL), no UPC number.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC or PAL DVD-R disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at 5.0 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; 5 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $21.95.
Release date: 9 June 2005.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 4 / audio: 6 / additional content: 5 / overall: 5.

This DVD-R edition from Sunrise Silents has utilized what appears to be a 16mm reduction print for its natural-speed video transfer. The source print is only good-to-very-good, with soft image details, typical 16mm contrastiness characterized by plugged-up shadows and nearly featureless highlights, dust and speckling, some frame jitters, and splices that reveal gaps in the narrative. Intertitles are readable throughout.

The disc features musical accompaniment performed on a MIDI-based synthesizer.

Supplemental material includes a Mary Miles Minter photo gallery (15 images), glass slide gallery (13 images), a Keystone comedy starring Chester Conklin transferred from a good 16mm reduction print, the first episode of Mystery of the Double Cross (1917) transferred from a good 16mm reduction print, and exerpts from Old Heidelberg (1915) transferred from a good 16mm reduction print.

Don’t be misled by occasional claims by Sunrise Silents that their discs contain commentary on the film. As is commonly understood among DVD consumers, audio commentary is an alternative audio track that runs in conjunction with the film featuring historical and anecdotal information about the film and filmmakers. Sunrise Silents’ discs instead feature a video introduction by edition producer Rich Olivieri, which is referred to as “commentary,” that serves much the same purpose as the three-minute introductions to films featured on TCM and AMC cable networks.

An OK viewing experience, even on HD systems, we recommend the disc until a better edition comes along.

SUNRISE SILENTS has discontinued business and this edition is . . .