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 Avenging
Conscience
(1914)
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Based on Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” and his poem “Annabelle Lee,” this early feature film from D.W. Griffith stars Henry B. Walthall as the young man who seeks to escape his domineering uncle (Spottiswoode Aitken) by murder. He and his lover (Blanche Sweet) are then tortured by Poesque entities, nightmares and guilt.
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 Kino International
2008 DVD edition
The Avenging Conscience (1914), black & white, 84 minutes, not rated, with Edgar Allan Poe (1909), black & white, 7 minutes, not rated.
Kino International, K642, UPC 7-38329-06422-8.
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 4.5 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 24 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $24.95.
Release date: 18 November 2008.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 7 / additional content: 5 / overall: 6.
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This DVD edition of this early feature film from D.W. Griffith has been mastered in high-definition from a very-good 35mm print in the Raymond Rohauer film collection. The picture is reasonably sharp and balanced in its greytones but there is some print wear in the form of scuffing and scratches, and the video transfer could have used some digital stabilization to get rid of the picture jitters.
The film is presented with a piano music score performed by Martin Marks.
The disc is supplemented with an early Griffith split-reel with Edgar Allan Poe as its protagonist, and notes on the score to The Avenging Conscience by Martin Marks.
This is our recommended edition of the film.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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United Kingdom: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.co.uk. Support Silent Era.
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 Grapevine Video
2011 DVD edition
The Avenging Conscience (1914), black & white, 88 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; $14.95.
Release date: June 2011.
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 recordings.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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 Alpha Video
2019 DVD edition
The Raven (1915), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, with The Avenging Conscience (1914), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 8282D, UPC 0-89218-82829-3.
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 ? 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 to $8.98).
Release date: 12 November 2019.
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 accompanied by a music score composed and performed by Jennifer Rouse.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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Other silent era D.W. GRIFFITH films available on home video.
Other silent era BLANCHE SWEET films available on home video.
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