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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The Man
Beneath
(1919)
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This romantic crime drama, directed by William Worthington, stars Sessue Hayakawa and Helen Jerome Eddy, with Pauline Curley, John Gilbert, Fountain La Rue, Fanny Midgley and Wedgewood Nowell.
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 The Milestone Cinematheque
2024 Blu-ray Disc edition
The Dragon Painter (1919), color-tinted black & white, color-toned black & white, color-tinted and color-toned black & white, and black & white, 61 minutes, not rated, with His Birthright (1918) [incomplete], color-tinted black & white, and color-toned black & white, 47 minutes, not rated, and The Man Beneath (1919), color-toned black & white, and color-tinted black & white, 66 minutes, not rated.
Milestone Films, distributed by Kino Lorber,
K26765, UPC 7-38329-26765-0.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc; 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 28.2 Mbps average video bit rate; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 1.6 Mbps audio bit rate; Dutch language intertitles, permanent English language subtitles; 8 chapter stops; 16-page insert booklet; standard BD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 24 September 2024.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 7 / additional content: 8 / overall: 7.
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This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from archival 35mm print materials held by Eye Film Instituut Nederland. It appears that little if any digital clean-up has been performed on the scan. There is a significant amount of dust, speckling, schmutz, emulsion blooms, scrapes and chipping, vertical scratches, timing marks, and other print flaws. There is significant nitrate decomposition in the final reel. While quite watchable, the print condition will be an impediment to some viewers.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on piano by Brett Miller.
Supplemental material includes the fascinating documentary “Reconstructing The Dragon Painter,” with side-by-side comparisons of the two source prints and with running commentary by Robert Byrne and Kathy Rose O’Regan (66 minutes); and a 16-page insert booklet.
For our comparative reviews of the other films on this disc, see our The Dragon Painter on home video and His Birthright on home video pages.
This is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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This
Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition is also available from
MILESTONE FILMS through . . .
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 Silent Hall of Fame Enterprises
2016 DVD edition
The Man Beneath (1919), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Silent Hall of Fame Enterprises, 126, 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; slimline CD jewelcase; $34.99 (raised again to $44.99).
Release date: 2016.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 35mm or 16mm reduction print (as might be surmised from the publisher-provided still frame above).
The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
We still criticize this publisher for their overpriced offerings that give the consumer as little value as possible.
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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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Other silent era SESSUE HAYAKAWA films available on home video.
Other silent era JOHN GILBERT films available on home video.
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