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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A Gentleman
of Paris
(1927)
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This comedy-drama from Paramount Pictures features charming Adolphe Menjou in a starring role as an aristocratic French ne’er-do-well who makes a big social mistake. Shirley O’Hara, Nicholas Soussanin and Lawrence Grant support. A worthwhile Menjou excursion.
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 Grapevine Video
2010 DVD edition
A Gentleman of Paris (1927), black & white, 65 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10391-9.
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 6.0 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); LPCM 2.0 mono sound encoded at 1.5 Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 12 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $14.95.
Release date: 7 May 2010.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 4 / audio: 3 / additional content: 0 / overall: 4.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a good 16mm reduction print that has some moderately modulated exposure fluctuations and plugged-up shadows making reading intertitles a challenge. The film’s action in the natural-speed, full-frame video transfer, is still reasonably easy to follow. As should be expected of 16mm, the source material displays a typical amount of dust, speckling, emulsion scuffing, beginning nitrate decomposition, and other print flaws.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on electric organ by Bruce Roberts. The audio quality is distressingly low-fidelity — listening to this disc reminds us of the awful, old Videobrary VHS videotape days in the late 1980s. Shudder.
Certainly not a great home video product, but it is currently the only available edition of the film. A passable disc until a quality home video edition is released.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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 Loving the Classics
201? DVD edition
A Gentleman of Paris (1927), black & white, 65 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 ADOLPHE MENJOU films available on home video.
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