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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Street Angel
(1928)
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Frank Borzage’s circus drama, Street Angel (1928), is another teaming of director Borzage with Fox stars Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor (who had won the first Academy Award® for Actress for her combined performances in 7th Heaven and Street Angel, both directed by Borzage, and for Sunrise).
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 20th Century Fox
Home Entertainment
2008 DVD edition
Murnau, Borzage and Fox (1925-1932), black & white and color, 1080 minutes total, not rated, including Street Angel (1928), black & white, 101 minutes, not rated.
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment,
35622, UPC 0-24543-56220-7.
Eight single-sided, single-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD discs; 1.33:1 and 1.20:1 aspect ratios 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) 5.1 surround sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate, and Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, optional French, Spanish and English (sound films only) language subtitles; chapter stops; one single-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD disc; 1.20:1 aspect ratio image 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, and Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, optional French, Spanish and English (sound films only) language subtitles; chapter stops; and three dual-sided, single-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD discs; 1.20:1 aspect ratio image 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, and Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, optional French, Spanish and English (sound films only) language subtitles; chapter stops; clothbound binder with disc pockets in clothbound box; $239.98.
Release date: 9 December 2008.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD edition of Frank Borzage’s Street Angel (1928) has been mastered from a very-good Movietone 35mm duplicate print (the picture being cropped to an approximate 1.20:1 ratio).
The film is presented here with its original mono Movietone soundtrack.
Some collectors have reported scuffed discs that are packaged in die-cut pockets within the binder, and problems playing the double-sided 7th Heaven/The River disc. This disc packaging choice has been a disturbing trend in larger boxsets like this one and the plastic-slipcased Hitchcock collection with their die-cut disc pockets within stiff cardboard pages. Our own copy of this set has presented no playback problems with the discs on a Panasonic BD player. Others have complained that the set is bulky at seven pounds and hard to handle, with its large binder and two full-size books.
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This Region 1 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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 British Film Institute
2009 DVD edition
7th Heaven (1927), black & white, 114 minutes, BBFC Classification PG, with Street Angel (1928), black & white, 97 minutes, BBFC Classification PG.
British Film Institute, BFIVD618, UPC 5-035673-006184.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 2 PAL DVD disc; 1.19:1 aspect ratio image 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; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops, standard DVD keepcase; unknown suggested retail price.
Release date: 26 October 2009
Country of origin: England
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This British Region 2 PAL DVD edition has been mastered from a very-good Movietone 35mm duplicate print (the picture being cropped to an approximate 1.20:1 ratio). It is likely to be identical in visual quality to the Fox edition noted above.
The film is presented with its original mono Movietone soundtrack.
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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United Kingdom: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 2 PAL DVD edition from Amazon.co.uk. Purchase supports Silent Era.
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 Loving the Classics
2025 DVD edition
Street Angel (1928), black & white, 102 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: 28 September 2025
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 FRANK BORZAGE films available on home video.
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