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
Knockout
(1914)
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This collection of the Keystone Film Company short comedies that feature Charles Chaplin is the result of a multiyear cooperative restoration program between the British Film Institute, the Cineteca di Bologna, and Lobster Films, Paris, in cooperation with Association Chaplin.
Some of the restoration footage has never been seen on home video before as the source prints utilized for previously-released DVD, laserdisc and VHS videotape editions were often incomplete.
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 Flicker Alley
2010 DVD edition
Chaplin at Keystone (1914), black & white, 590 minutes total, not rated, including The Knockout (1914), black & white, 30 minutes, not rated.
Flicker Alley, FA0018,
UPC 6-17311-67579-9, ISBN 1-893967-57-3.
Four 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 sound, English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; four slimline DVD keepcases in cardboard slipcase; $79.95.
Release date: 26 October 2010.
Country of origin: USA
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This four-disc DVD collection has, for the most part, been mastered from 35mm source material to render the best-looking editions of these Keystone films on home video. The prints are often conflated from two or more 35mm prints, with missing footage duplicated from 16mm reduction prints. The results are generally very-good to excellent, with moments of fair to good footage. Many of the 35mm source prints are worn, but the picture clarity allows the identification of supporting actors and extras much easier than from earlier home video editions from substandard 16mm and 8mm reduction prints.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed by Neil Brand.
The collection’s supplemental material includes Charlie et sa Belle [Charlie’s White Elephant] (1916), Inside the Keystone Project (2010) documenting the Chaplin Project (10 minutes), Silent Traces: The Keystone Locations (2010) with John Bengtson, author of Silent Traces (12 minutes), and a stills gallery.
Overall, the improvement in quality over previous home video editions is so great that you’ll toss your other Keystone Chaplin discs when you see this collection. Highly recommended!
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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 is also available directly from . . .
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 Alpha Video
2023 DVD edition
Silent Comedy Classics Collection, Volume 9 (1914-1924), black & white, 78 minutes total, not rated, including The Knockout (1914), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 8536D, UPC 0-89218-85369-1.
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.
Release date: 5 September 2023.
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.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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Other silent era CHARLES CHAPLIN films available on home video.
Other KEYSTONE comedy films available on home video.
Other SHORT COMEDY FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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Charles Chaplin filmography in The Progressive Silent Film List
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