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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Family Life
(1924)
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This comedy short, directed by Robert Kerr, stars Mark Jones and Otto Fries, with Ruth Hiatt, Sunshine Hart and Tommy Hicks.
The new neighbors make a mess of a duplex home and capture Gypsy Joe and his gang.
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 Film Preservation Associates
2002 DVD edition
Slapstick Encyclopedia (1909-1929), black & white and color-toned black & white, 1089 minutes total, not rated, including Family Life (1924), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Film Preservation Associates, distributed by Image Entertainment, ID0699DSDVD, UPC 0-14381-06992-1.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc (five DVDs in the set); 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, and Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; five standard DVD keepcases in cardboard slipcase; $69.99.
Release date: 7 May 2002.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD edition has been mastered from a very-good sepia-toned 35mm print.
The film is accompanied by a music score performed on synthesizer by Brian Benison.
Overall, we are less than impressed with the three bonus films included in this new DVD set — all of them have previously appeared on Shepard-produced home videos. However, we are generally overjoyed at high-quality of many of the films that are presented here.
Supplemental material includes introductions to the films (which have a number of typographical errors in them) providing brief and sometimes valuable background information to each of the films.
For the number of films and the gargantuan length of the program, this DVD set is well worth the comparatively modest cost. We highly recommend this DVD edition of the Slapstick Encyclopedia.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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 Madacy Entertainment
2012 DVD edition
Slapstick Encyclopedia (1909-1929), black & white and color-toned black & white, 1089 minutes total, not rated, including Family Life (1924), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Madacy Entertainment, distributed by Image Entertainment,
VB951290, UPC 6-28261-12909-6.
Five single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD discs, 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 and mono sound, English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; rollfold cardboard DVD videobook with cardboard disc pockets, $16.98.
Release date: 25 September 2012.
Country of origin: Canada
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This budget DVD edition of the mammoth silent comedy collection has been released by the questionable company historically responsible for some of the worst-looking silent film DVDs ever released. However, it is apparent that the video masters prepared by producer David Shepard have been licensed and utilized for this budget edition. The same files (including the menus) as prepared for the edition above have been utilized for this edition.
The film is accompanied by a music score performed on synthesizer by Brian Benison.
We caution that disc mastering makes a huge difference in the visual quality of DVDs. Since the content has been manufactured onto five double-sided discs, and if proper care has been taken to master the DVDs, the visual quality is comparable to the 2002 Image edition noted above.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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 Alpha Video
2024 DVD edition
Silent Slapstick Comedy Parade, Volume 3 (1913-1924), black & white, 64 minutes total, not rated, including Family Life (1924), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 8598D, UPC 0-89218-85989-1.
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 ? 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; $8.98 (raised to $9.99).
Release date: 26 March 2024.
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 sources.
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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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