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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La Folie du
Docteur Tube
(1915)
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This experimental one-reeler makes extensive use of warped mirror distortion for comic effects.
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 Film Preservation Associates
2000 DVD edition
Lucrèzia Borgia (1935), black & white, 93 minutes, not rated, with La Folie du Docteur Tube (1915), black & white, 11 minutes, not rated.
Film Preservation Associates, distributed by Image Entertainment, ID5744FPDVD, UPC 0-14381-57442-5.
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 4.4 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 1.0 mono sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, optional English language subtitles (Lucrèzia Borgia only); no chapter stops (within the film); snapper DVD case; $24.99.
Release date: 4 July 2000.
Country of origin: USA •
Ratings (1-10): video: 5 / audio: 0 / additional content: 5 / overall: 5.
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Of the three films included in this DVD edition of Abel Gance’s Lucrèzia Borgia, we are only familiar with the pioneering avant-garde short film La Folie du Docteur Tube, which has been available for several years on public-domain videotapes transferred from tolerable 16mm reduction prints. This edition has been mastered from a tolerable 16mm reduction print as preserved by the Cinémathèque Française.
The film is presented without any musical accompaniment. The audio tracks are encoded into the disc but there is no music.
We are certain that this DVD will aid viewers in a reassessment of Gance’s cinematic career.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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 Nostalgia Family Video
2010 DVD edition
Avant Garde Short Subjects from France (1915-1928), black & white, 70 minutes total, not rated, including La Folie du Docteur Tube (1915), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Nostalgia Family Video, 5253D, 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 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; clamshell CD case; $14.99.
Release date: 2010.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition was likely mastered from 16mm reduction prints.
To order a DVD edition, you must enter “Replace My VHS Title with Standard ‘No Frillz’ DVD” in the comments section at order checkout.
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NOSTALGIA FAMILY VIDEO has discontinued business
and this DVD-R edition is . . .
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Other silent era ABEL GANCE films available on home video.
Other FRENCH FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
Other AVANT-GARDE FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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