This early drama from director Ernst Lubitsch features Pola Negri as Carmen.
Grapevine Video
2006 DVD edition
Gypsy Blood [Carmen] (1918) [1921 USA release version], black & white and color-toned black & white, 80 minutes, not rated,
with The Vagabond (1916), black & white, 22 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10241-7.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 DVD-R disc, full-frame 4:3 NTSC format, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 mono sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, 12 chapter stops, standard DVD keepcase, $19.95 (reduced to $14.95).
DVD release date: 2006.
Country of origin: USA
This edition from public-domain home video company Grapevine Video has been transferred from a good to very-good 16mm reduction print of the edited version prepared for release in the United States in 1921, which features English language intertitles. The source print is, as is to be expected, soft of image detail, contrasty with blasted-out highlights, some speckling and dust, and a higher than usual amount of schmutz at the edges of the frame early in the film. The picture is jittery throughout. The video master has been transferred at slightly faster than natural speed.
The film is accompanied by a music score of abruptly-edited prerecorded orchestral and Spanish-style guitar music.
To be sure, this isn’t an ideal edition of the film, with its OK visual quality and edited American source print, but it is likely the better of the available home video editions.
USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports the Silent Era website.
Gypsy Blood [Carmen] (1918), black & white, 65 minutes, not rated.
TeleVista, unknown catalog number, unknown UPC number.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 DVD disc, full-frame 4:3 NTSC format, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, chapter stops, standard DVD keepcase, $19.95.
DVD release date: 9 June 2009.
Country of origin: USA
This budget edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm reduction print.
Don’t expect much. We would be very surprised if this edition looked better than the Grapevine Video edition noted above.
USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports the Silent Era website.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports the Silent Era website.
United Kingdom: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.co.uk. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
