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
Law’s Lash
(1928)
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This Northwoods drama, directed by Noel Mason Smith, stars Robert Ellis and Mary Maybery, with support from Richard R. Neill, Jack Marsh, LeRoy Mason, William Walters and Klondike the dog.
Ah, the law enforcement adventures of a Royal Northwest Mountie and his dog in the Canadian far north. Little else to report.
Sharp-eyed viewers still paying attention will note the rank and name spelling differences between insert shots and a number of the intertitles, indicating poor continuity by the production staff.
We were surprised to learn that no character in the film was named “Pierre.”
— 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 The Law’s Lash (1928), black & white, 50 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 19.6 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 a very-good to excellent 35mm film print held by the Library of Congress which is quite detailed and with a fairly balanced greyscale range. As with other films in the collection, no digital clean-up has been performed on the dust, speckling, schmutz, fine vertical scratches, nascent nitrate decomposition, flickering exposure fluctuations, frame jitters, or other print flaws in the scans, leaving the film to appear in its honest survival state.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed by Jaasmaan Singh and performed by a small ensemble.
Supplemental material includes audio commentaries by the prolific Anthony Slide (including one for The Law’s Lash); interviews with archivists and curators of this collection Lynanne Schweighofer and George Willeman (21 minutes); and an interview with composer Andrew Earle Simpson (12 minutes).
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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 Alpha Video
2014 DVD edition
The White Outlaw (1929), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, with The Law’s Lash (1928), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 7325D, UPC 0-89218-73259-0.
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: 25 February 2014.
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 to be accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting 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
202? DVD edition
The Law’s Lash (1928), black & white, 61 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 ANIMAL STARS films available on home video.
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