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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Wedding Bells
(1924)
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Monty Banks wants to get married, but a building tenant has saddled him with a dog that his fiancée insists must go before she will walk down the aisle.
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Grapevine Video
2018 DVD edition
The Films of Monte Banks (1923-1924), black & white, 92 minutes total, not rated, including Wedding Bells (1924), black & white, 18 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, 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; $16.95.
Release date: 5 October 2018.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition of Wedding Bells has been remastered with an improved scan and digital clean-up. All of the films in the collection have been transferred from 35mm nitrate prints.
The film is presented with either a custom music score by David Knudtson or a soundtrack compiled from preexisting recordings.
This is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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Grapevine Video
2002 DVD edition
The Films of Monte Banks (1923-1924), black & white, 92 minutes total, not rated, including Wedding Bells (1924), black & white, 18 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, 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 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $19.95 (reduced to $14.95).
Release date: 2002.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition of the Monty Banks comedy is likely to be identical to the presentation reviewed below.
All of the films have been transferred from 35mm nitrate prints.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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 Grapevine Video
2003 DVD edition
Are Parents People? (1925), black & white, 65 minutes, not rated, with Wedding Bells (1924), black & white, 17 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10016-1.
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 6.2 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 224 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; no chapter stops (within the film); standard DVD keepcase; $16.95.
Release date: 2003.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 6 / additional content: 5 / overall: 5.
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This DVD-R edition of the Monty Banks comedy has been transferred from a 35mm nitrate print that is riddled with splices. The video transfer is a bit dark, with closed-up shadow details and long vertical scratches, but is of higher quality than most of the Grapevine Video product due mostly to the source material.
The film is accompanied by a collection of 1930s jazz recordings.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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 Alpha Video
2017 DVD edition
Monty Banks: Hollywood’s Forgotten Comic Genius (1923-1927), black & white, 103 minutes total, not rated, including Wedding Bells (1924), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 7957D, UPC 0-89218-79579-3.
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; standard DVD keepcase; $7.98 (raised again to $9.99).
Release date: 16 May 2017.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm or 8mm reduction print.
The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
Please note that we purchsed a copy of this edition but found that it would not play in any of our players and arrangements would not be made to replace the defective disc.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
ALPHA VIDEO through . . .
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Other SHORT COMEDY FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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