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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His Master’s
Voice
(1925)
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This World War I drama, directed by Renaud Hoffman, stars Thunder the marvel dog, with George Hackathorne, Marjorie Daw, Mary Carr, Will Walling and Brooks Benedict.
Diminutive and bookish Bob Henley (Hackathorne) is bullied by his rival Jack Fenton (Benedict) in a struggle for the affections of Mary Blake (Daw). Would-be architect Bob is drafted into World War I service just as he is attempting to win an engagement to design the town’s new library. Shifty Jack offers to submit Bob’s design on his behalf. Bob is a fool.
As Bob prepares to depart for the war, Thunder is enlisted also. In France, Mary works in a hospital and Thunder helps on the ambulances. Fearful and neurotic Bob is worthless as a soldier (and increasingly unworthy of our sympathies, as the film goes on). Such a set-up as this signals the pat turn of events to come.
Thunder, having found his master, bolsters Bob’s courage and returns him to the front lines where he is soon placed in a not-unexpected opportunity to be an accidental hero (with Thunder’s assistance, of course). You can write the remainder of the story yourself as there are no surprises to be had in this programmer.
— Carl Bennett
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 Kino Classics
2025 Blu-ray Disc edition
Wonder Dogs!: Canine Stars of the Silent Era (1897-1928), black & white, color-tinted black & white, color-toned black & white, and color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 477 minutes total, not rated, including His Master’s Voice (1925), color-tinted black & white, and color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 52 minutes, not rated.
Kino Lorber, K27007, UPC 7-38329-27007-0.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc (two BDs 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 24.6 Mbps average video bit rate; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 1.6 Mbps audio bit rate (music), and Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate (commentary); English language intertitles, no subtitles; no chapter stops (within the film); standard two-disc BD keepcase; $39.95.
Release date: 20 May 2025.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 8 / audio: 8 / additional content: 8 / overall: 8.
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This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from an archival 35mm color-tinted film print of the original silent version held by the Library of Congress that is of very-good visual quality but incomplete. Missing footage is bridged with expositional intertitles along with the new digital intertitles reset for this edition. As with other films in the collection, no digital clean-up has been performed on the dust, speckling, schmutz, fine vertical scratches, loose and jerky splices, flickering exposure fluctuations, frame jitters, tinting inconsistencies, or other print flaws in the scans, leaving the film to appear in its honest survival state. Most of these can be ignored but there are sections of the print with splices occurring in rapid succession that inevitably distract the viewer.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on piano by Carolyn Koch.
Supplemental material includes audio commentaries by the prolific Anthony Slide (including one for His Master’s Voice); interviews with curators/archivists Lynanne Schweighofer and George Willeman; and an interview with composer Andrew Earle Simpson.
This is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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This
Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition is available directly from . . .
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 Grapevine Video
200? DVD edition
His Master’s Voice (1925), black & white, 50 minutes, not rated, with Fangs of Vengeance (1926) [abridged], black & white, 14 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, unknown 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; $16.95.
Release date: 200?
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a 35mm print.
The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
Supplemental material includes an abridged feature film featuring Fearless the police dog.
This is our recommended DVD home video edition of the film.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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 Alpha Video
2016 DVD edition
His Master’s Voice (1925), black & white, 50 minutes, not rated, with Unmasked (1917), black & white, 14 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 7772D, UPC 0-89218-77729-4.
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; $7.98 (raised again to $9.99).
Release date: 1 March 2016.
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 a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
ALPHA VIDEO through . . .
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 Loving the Classics
201? DVD edition
His Master’s Voice (1925), black & white, 45 minutes, not rated.
Loving the Classics,
no catalog number, unknown 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: 201?
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 ANIMAL STARS films available on home video.
Other WORLD WAR I FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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