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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The
Scarlet Car
(1917)
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This early role for Lon Chaney features him as a bank teller who unwillingly becomes involved in an embezzlement scheme. The film, directed by Joseph de Grasse, features Franklyn Farnum, Edith Johnson, Sam de Grasse, Howard Crampton and Al Filson.
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 Undercrank Productions
2022 Blu-ray Disc edition
Lon Chaney: Before the Thousand Faces, Volume 2 (1914-1917), black & white, 160 minutes total, not rated, including The Scarlet Car (1917), color-toned black & white, 61 minutes, not rated.
Undercrank Productions,
no catalog number, UPC 7-45808-09974-9.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 Blu-ray Disc (two BD-R BDMV discs in the set); 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) 24 fps progressive scan image encoded in SDR AVC format at 32.0 Mbps average video bit rate; Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; 6 chapter stops; standard two-disc BD keepcase; $29.98.
Release date: 2 August 2022.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 8 / audio: 7 / additional content: 7 / overall: 8.
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This BD-R edition has been mastered from an archival 35mm nitrate print held by the Library of Congress film archive (reel two of the nitrate print has decomposed and a 35mm fine-grain preservation negative was scanned for this edition). The print is incomplete, with portions lost to splices. Some short sections of the source material have been double-printed to allow a sense of what the original footage was to convey. Overall, the bulk of the nitrate in intact and quite detailed in image quality. The duplicate negative is only of very-good quality and serves the purpose as stand-in for footage lost to decomposition.
The film is presented with a music score composed and performed on digital keyboards by edition producer Jon Mirsalis.
We enthusiastically recommend this BD-R Blu-ray Disc disc as the best-looking home video edition of this film that is available.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 Blu-ray Disc (BD-R) edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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 Undercrank Productions
2022 DVD edition
Lon Chaney: Before the Thousand Faces, Volume 2 (1914-1917), black & white, 160 minutes total, not rated, including The Scarlet Car (1917), color-toned black & white, 62 minutes, not rated.
Undercrank Productions,
no catalog number, UPC 7-45808-09975-6.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R discs (two discs in the set); 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 ? Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; chapter stops; standard two-disc DVD keepcase; $24.98.
Release date: 2 August 2022.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from surviving archival 35mm print materials held by the Library of Congress film archive.
The film is presented with a music score composed and performed on digital keyboards by edition producer Jon Mirsalis.
We recommend this disc, sight unseen, as the best available DVD home video edition of the film.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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 Grapevine Video
2006 DVD edition
The Scarlet Car (1917), black & white, color-tinted black & white and color-toned black & white, 51 minutes, not rated, with The Fireman (1916), black & white, 21 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10003-1.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC 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 ? Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $14.95.
Release date: 2006.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 4 / audio: 4 / additional content: 5 / overall: 4
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a 16mm reduction print (of what appears to be the early Library of Congress preservation print) that is quite dark in places. Some highlight details are blasted-out to a featureless blur. The standard amount of dust and speckling remains in the natural-speed analog video transfer.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting recordings.
We recoommend the Undercrank Productions editions noted above over this older independent home video edition.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is also available directly from . . .
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 Classic Video Streams
2009 DVD edition
The Actors: Rare Films of Lon Chaney, Sr. (1917-1919), black & white, 121 minutes total, not rated, including The Scarlet Car (1917), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Classic Video Streams,
unknown catalog number, unknown UPC number.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R disc, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 mono sound; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; chapter stops; slimline DVD keepcase; $16.95.
Release date: 31 August 2009.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition of two early Lon Chaney feature films, both with Chaney in supporting roles, has likely been mastered from 16mm reduction prints.
The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack of preexisting recordings.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Other silent era LON CHANEY films available on home video.
Other CRIME FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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