Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2013 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

The Trap (1922)

Lon Chaney, Alan Hale and Dagmar Godowsky star in this Northwoods drama.

This budget edition has been mastered from an analog videotape of a transfer from a 16mm reduction print. The resulting picture is low resolution and contrasty, with completely blasted out highlight details. As a result, all intertitles have been reset as video-based still frames to make them readable. The source print is quite dusty, speckled and worn, and has occasional clusters of splices. Action in the transfer runs a bit too quickly for natural speed, which can make Chaney’s overacting comical. Altogether, watching the disc is a challenge at best.

The disc features an original music score performed on digital piano and MIDI keyboards by Kevin Slick. If you have trouble sleeping, try this soundtrack.

This edition of The Trap is a poor excuse for a commercial home video release and ultimately a consumer rip-off.

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.