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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Behind
the Door
(1919)
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This World War I drama, directed by Irvin V. Willat for Thomas H. Ince Productions, Incorporated, stars Hobart Bosworth, Jane Novak and Wallace Beery, with support from James Gordon, Richard Wayne, J.P. Lockney, Gibson Gowland, Otto Hoffman and Tom Ashton.
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 Flicker Alley
2017 Blu-ray Disc / DVD edition
Behind the Door (1919), color-tinted black & white, and color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 71 minutes, not rated.
Flicker Alley, FA0051, UPC 6-17311-68519-4.
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 36.6 Mbps average video bit rate; LPCM 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 2.3 Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 11 chapter stops; and one single-sided, dual-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 7.6 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 224 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 11 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $39.99.
Release date: 4 April 2017.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 8 / audio: 8 / additional content: 7 / overall: 8.
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This dual-format Blu-ray Disc / DVD edition has been mastered from the 35mm restoration produced by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. The restoration print has been conflated from two known surviving film elements (a 35mm nitrate export version negative held by the Gosfilmofond and an incomplete 35mm print held by the Library of Congress) utilizing director Willat’s copy of the original scenario. The results are generally excellent with some footage lost altogether and represented by production stills and expository intertitles, some footage inserted from the LoC print, and some footage significantly marred by advancing nitrate decomposition.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on piano by Stephen Horne.
Supplementary material includes a complete presentation of the Russian release version with music by Horne; outtakes from Behind the Door; the featurette “Restoring Irvin Willat’s Behind the Door” documenting the restoration of the film; the featurette “Kevin Brownlow Spotlights Irvin Willat” with film historian and Honorary Academy Award® winner Kevin Brownlow; a slideshow gallery of film stills and promotional materials for Behind the Door; and a booklet featuring rare photographs, and essays by film historian Jay Weissburg, film restorer Robert Byrne, and composer Stephen Horne.
This is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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USA: Click to order this Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc / Region 0 DVD disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click to order Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc / Region 0 DVD disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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United Kingdom: Click to order this Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc / Region 0 DVD edition from Amazon.co.uk. Support Silent Era.
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Click the button at right to order this Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc / Region 0 DVD edition directly from . . .
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 Loving the Classics
201? DVD edition
Behind the Door (1919), black & white, 70 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 WORLD WAR I FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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