Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
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Leaves from
Satan’s Book
(1920)
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Inspired by D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation (1915), Carl Theodor Dreyer created this multistoried film that is linked thematically by the influence of Satan.
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 Danish Film Institute
2009? DVD edition
Leaves from Satan’s Book (1920), black & white, 157 minutes, not rated.
Danish Film Institute, distributed by Edition Filmmuseum,
no catalog number, no UPC number.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 PAL DVD disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 576 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; Danish language intertitles, optional English language subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; DKK 99,00 (€19,95).
Release date: 2009?
Country of origin: Denmark •
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This early film by Carl Theodor Dreyer, his second as director, has been released on PAL DVD by the Danish Film Institute, and has been mastered in high-definition from a restored fine-grain duplicate negative.
The film is accompanied by a piano score by Ronen Thalmay.
Given the HD mastering and the longer running time, we think that this will be the best available home video edition of this film.
North American collectors will need a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.
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This Region 0 PAL DVD edition is available directly from . . .
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 Film Preservation Associates
2005 DVD edition
Leaves from Satan’s Book (1920), color-tinted black & white, 121 minutes, not rated.
Film Preservation Associates, distributed by Image Entertainment, ID5671DSDVD, UPC 0-14381-56712-0.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 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 4.7 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 224 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; 29 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $24.99.
Release date: 5 April 2005.
Country of origin: USA •
Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 7 / additional content: 0 / overall: 6.
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This DVD edition of Dreyer’s second film has been mastered from a good 35mm print, with some overall contrastiness that produces plugged-up shadows and some detailless highlights.
The film is accompanied by a modern music score performed on piano.
This edition is now out-of-print.
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| USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era. |
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| Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era. |
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 Grapevine Video
2003 DVD edition
Leaves from Satan’s Book (1920), black & white, 130 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10066-6.
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 foreign language subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $16.95 (reduced to $12.95).
Release date: 2003.
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 recordings.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is also available directly from . . .
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Other silent era CARL THEODOR DREYER films available on home video.
Other HORROR FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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