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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The Hilarious
Posters
[Les affiches en goguette]
(1906)
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This early short comedy, directed by Georges Méliès, features a transformation of paper posters into a series of living characters who cause havoc for four constables, but is also the kind of nonsense that 1906 audiences were beginning to get bored with.
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 Flicker Alley
2008 DVD edition
Georges Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema (1896-1913), black & white and color-tinted black & white, 782 minutes total, not rated, including The Hilarious Posters [Les affiches en goguette] (1906), black & white, 3 minutes, not rated.
Flicker Alley, FA0007,
UPC 6-17311-67359-7, ISBN 1-893967-35-2.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc (five DVDs 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 6.4 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; 36-page insert booklet; five plastic DVD trays and cardboard rollfold case in cardboard slipcase; $89.95.
Release date: 11 March 2008.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 8 / additional content: 8 / overall: 8.
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This DVD edition, produced by Eric Lange of Lobster Films and David Shepard of Film Preservation Associates, has been transferred from very-good print material. Many of the films that have previously appeared on disc have been remastered in high-definition yielding, for now, a definitive collection on DVD.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on synthesizer by Alexander Rannie.
Supplementary material includes a documentary on Méliès by Georges Franju, featuring Méliès’ son and widow; and a 36-page insert booklet with essays by Norman McLaren and John Frazer (Méliès biographer and cataloguer).
This is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition is available directly from . . .
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 Kino on Video
2002 DVD edition
The Movies Begin (1894-1913), black & white and color-tinted black & white, 414 minutes total, not rated, including Les Affiches en goguette [The Hilarious Posters] (1906), black & white, 3 minutes, not rated.
Kino International, K236A-E, UPC 7-38329-02362-1.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc (five DVDs in the set); 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in full-frame and windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at 5.5 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; five standard DVD keepcases in cardboard box; $99.95.
Release date: 19 February 2002.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 8 / additional content: 8 / overall: 8.
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This DVD edition has been mastered from a 35mm print and of exceptional quality. However, we are unhappy with the release years, director’s names, etc., that are superimposed on the original main titles of some of these films in this set. If it truly is necessary to impart that information, simply create an introductory card that appears before the film begins. Note that some of the films are identified with incorrect release years.
Altogether, there are supposed to be 13 unannounced bonus films spread among the discs’ content, but we were only able to locate 11 of them. Considering the bonus films are quite short and are 16mm restoration prints of the Library of Congress paper prints, access to them is a small value-added perc.
If you do not already own David Shepard’s two-volume Landmarks of Early Film laserdisc or DVD editions culled from this collection, then seriously consider purchasing the Movies Begin boxset. All of the content of the Landmarks discs is available here, with the additional films of the other The Movies Begin programs and the bonus films of this early DVD edition.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD boxset has been discontinued
and is . . .
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 Kino International
2008 DVD edition
The Magic of Méliès (1904-1908), black & white and hand-tinted color, 103 minutes total, not rated, including Les affiches en goguette [The Hilarious Posters] (1906), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Kino International, K588, UPC 7-38329-05882-1.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD 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; $24.95.
Release date: 22 April 2008.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD edition of this Méliès program is program-identical to disc four of The Movies Begin boxset from Kino (noted above) and to the Film Preservation Associates edition (noted below). The disc quality may have benefitted from its remastering.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed by Alexander Rannie.
Supplementary material includes the documentary, Georges Méliès: Cinema Magician, which serves as an introduction to the cinematic work of Méliès. Its French-accented narration is a drawback, as is the generally moderate quality of the motion picture materials and soundtrack. Inserted into the documentary is a new transfer of a hand-tinted print of Le voyage travers l’impossible [An Impossible Voyage] (1904).
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This Region 1 NTSC DVD edition is available directly from . . .
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 Film Preservation Associates
1999 DVD edition
Landmarks of Early Film, Volume 2: The Magic of Méliès (1904-1908), black & white and hand-tinted color, 101 minutes total, not rated, including Les Affiches en goguette [The Hilarious Posters] (1906), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Film Preservation Associates, distributed by Image Entertainment, ID4668DSDVD, UPC 0-14381-46682-9.
One single-sided, single-layered?, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc (reissued on 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, and Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; snapper DVD case (reissued in standard DVD keepcase), $24.99.
Release date: 30 March 1999.
Country of origin: USA
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This early DVD edition has been mastered from an older analog video transfer prepared for videotape and laserdisc in the 1990s. Ignoring the older prints used in the Méliès documentary, the materials utilized for the video transfers of the short films range from very good to excellent.
Overall, the program’s appeal is brought down by the documentary, but the generous number of quality Méliès’ films include here makes the disc a worthwhile addition to the silent film enthusiasts’ collection. The edition was reissued on DVD-R disc.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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 Arte Video
2002 DVD edition
Méliès the Magician (1898-190?), black & white, 130 minutes total, not rated, including The Hilarious Posters [Les affiches en goguette] (1906), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Arte Video, distributed by Facets Video,
unknown catalog number, unknown UPC number.
One single-sided, dual-layered?, Region 1 NTSC DVD 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; $29.95.
Release date: 15 January 2002.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm reduction print.
Supplementary material includes a documentary on Méliès by Jacques Mény.
We have not seen this disc for review as yet. However, we have heard that a small logomark is superimposed on the lower left-hand corner throughout the program, and some or all of the films are tightly cropped possibly indicating their transfer from 16mm reduction prints.
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This Region 1 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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Other GEORGES MÉLIÈS films available on home video.
Other FRENCH FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
Other EARLY FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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