Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
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Harakiri
(1919)
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Harakiri (1919), starring the lovely Lil Dagover, is Fritz Lang’s take on the Madame Butterfly story.
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 Kino Classics
2017 Blu-ray Disc edition
Fritz Lang: The Silent Films (1919-1929), color-tinted black & white and black & white, 1628 minutes total, not rated, including Harakiri (1919), color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 87 minutes, not rated.
Kino Lorber, K20997, UPC 7-38329-20997-1.
Twelve single-sided, dual-layered, Region A Blu-ray Discs, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) progressive scan AVC (MPEG-4) format, SDR (standard dynamic range), ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? Mbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 stereo sound, German and English language intertitles, optional English language subtitles; chapter stops; hardbound album with slip-in die-cut cardboard pages in cardboard slipcase; $149.95.
Release date: 21 November 2017.
Country of origin: USA
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This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from an upconverted standard definition scan, which was utilized for Kino’s 2012 DVD edition (noted below). While that may send up red flags for some collectors, the results are a slight improvement over the DVD edition. The unnatural white highlights present in the DVD edition have been softened in the upconversion processing and are not as distracting here. The rough condition of the surviving print material probably doesn’t warrant a high-defition scan. The print has a number of print breaks that cause the action to leap forward, there is a more-than-common amount of dust and schmutz, and the picture has not been digitally stabilized as there remains a considerable amount of frame movement at times.
The film is accompanied by an original music score by Aljoscha Zimmermann performed by a small ensemble.
The supplemental material includes a 32-page booklet featuring an essay by Tom Gunning.
We highly recommend this Blu-ray Disc boxset, especially if you would like to collect all of Fritz Lang’s silent films in one fell swoop.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc boxset from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc boxset from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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 Kino Classics
2012 DVD edition
Fritz Lang: The Early Works (1919-1921), color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 238 minutes total, not rated, including Harakiri (1919), color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 87 minutes, not rated.
Kino Lorber, K1092, UPC 7-38329-10922-6.
Three single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD discs, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), ? Mbps average video bit rate, 192 Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 8-bit 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, chapter stops; standard three-disc DVD keepcase in cardboard slipcase; $39.95.
Release date: 6 November 2012.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD edition of early Fritz Lang feature films has been mastered from restoration prints by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung.
The film is accompanied by an original music score by Aljoscha Zimmermann performed by a small ensemble.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition is also available directly from . . .
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Other silent era FRITZ LANG films available on home video.
Other GERMAN FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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