Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2025 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
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Flight
(1929)
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This early sound feature drama, directed by Frank Capra, stars Jack Holt and Ralph Graves, with Lila Lee, Alan Roscoe, Harold Goodwin and Jimmy de la Cruze.
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 Sony Pictures
Home Entertainment
2024 Blu-ray Disc edition
Frank Capra at Columbia (1928-2024), black & white, ? minutes total, not rated, including Flight (1929), black & white, 116 minutes, not rated, with Ladies of Leisure (1930), black & white, 100 minutes, not rated.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment,
12709928, UPC 0-43396-63593-7.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc; 1.20:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) 24 fps progressive scan image encoded in SDR AVC format at 27.8 Mbps average video bit rate; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono sound encoded at 1.6 Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, permanent English language subtitles (missing audio sequence only); 16 chapter stops; standard BD keepcase in cardboard library box; $230.99.
Release date: 19 November 2024.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 9 / audio: 7 / additional content: 9 / overall: 9.
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This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from an excellent 35mm print. The image has been digitally stabilized and cleaned, with significantly reduced film grain (not gone but also not prominent). The greyscale range is excellent with controlled highlight and shadow details. A pleasure to watch.
The film is accompanied by its original synchronized soundtrack. Audio has been cleaned, with virtually no pops and crackles, but the primitive audio technology and mixing techniques can still make exterior dialog hard to understand. A brief section of missing audio beginning at 44:25 has been seemlessly replaced with ambient sound and subtitles for missing dialog.
Supplemental material includes a silent theatrical trailer for Flight; audio commentary for Ladies of Leisure by Jeremy Arnold; and the full-length documentaries, Frank Capra’s American Dream (1997) by Kenneth Bowser, and Frank Capra: Mr. America (2023) by Matthew Wells.
For information regarding other films included in the boxset, see our Frank Capra at Columbia on home video page.
This is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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This Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition is available from
SONY PICTURES through . . .
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 Alpha Video
2025 DVD edition
Flight (1929), black & white, 107 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 8666D, UPC 0-89218-86669-1.
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 subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $9.99.
Release date: 29 July 2025.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm or 8mm reduction print.
The film is likely accompanied by its original synchronized soundtrack.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
ALPHA VIDEO through . . .
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 Loving the Classics
202? DVD edition
Flight (1929), black & white, 110 minutes, not rated.
Loving the Classics,
no catalog number, no UPC number.
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 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $14.99.
Release date: 202?
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm reduction print.
The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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Other silent era FRANK CAPRA films available on home video.
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