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
Chechahcos
(1924)
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The Chechahcos (1924) is a feature fiction film production of the Alaska Moving Picture Corporation, which was shot in Alaska and directed by Lewis H. Moomaw (who was involved in other independent production companies located in the Pacific Northwest).
A young ‘orphaned’ girl grows up in Alaska to discover love and a lost mother.
One does wonder whether this film might have been an inspiration for Charles Chaplin’s The Gold Rush (1925), with its depiction of the Chilcoot Pass trek of gold propectors early in the film. We may never know whether Chaplin actually saw this film.
— Carl Bennett
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 Anchorage Fine Arts Society
2019 Blu-ray Disc / DVD edition
The Chechahcos (1924), black & white, 82 minutes, not rated.
Anchorage Fine Arts Society,
no catalog number, UPC 8-88295-97419-6.
One single-sided, single-layered, Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) progressive scan AVC (MPEG-4) format, SDR (standard dynamic range), ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? Mbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; and one single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; two-disc paper wrapper; $25.00.
Release date: December 2019.
Country of origin: USA
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This dual-format edition has been scanned in high-resolution from a 35mm print preserved by Alaska Film Archives at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Some image stabilization, digital clean-up and retouching has been performed.
The film is accompanied by a music score compiled and “synchronized” by Eric Beheim and performed by the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra.
The DVD edition is comparable in quality to the Treasures edition noted below, but with deeper blacks.
Supplemental material includes a short documentary of the production of the film (18 minutes), a featurette on the film’s preservation and restoration (6 minutes), a featurette on the scoring of the film (12 minutes), and an image gallery (28 images).
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This Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc / Region 0 NTSC DVD edition is available directly from the ANCHORAGE FINE ARTS SOCIETY.
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 National Film Preservation Foundation
2000/2005 DVD edition
Treasures from American Film Archives (1893-1960), black & white and color, 642 minutes, not rated, including The Chechahcos (1924), black & white, 86 minutes, not rated.
National Film Preservation Foundation, distributed by Image Entertainment, NATD9706DVD (rereleased as NATD0918DVD),
UPC 0-14381-97062-3 (rereleased as 0-14381-09182-3).
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), 6.0 Mbps average video bit rate, 192 Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 8-bit 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; four cardboard wrapped plastic trays with 150-page book of program notes (rereleased with four smaller bookets) in cardboard slipcase; $99.99 (rereleased at $69.95).
Release date: 3 October 2000 (rereleased 10 May 2005).
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 7 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.
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This DVD edition was transferred full-frame from a 1999 35mm preservation print prepared from a recently-discovered excellent (though slightly flat) 35mm print. The print was preserved by Alaska Film Archives at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
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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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This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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