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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Madame Butterfly
(1915)
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This romantic drama, based on the famous opera and directed by Sidney Olcott, stars Mary Pickford and Marshall Neilan, with Olive West, Jane Hall, Lawrence Wood and William T. Carleton. See if you think, as we do, that Cesare Gravina looks remarkably like Fritz Lang in his role here.
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 Alpha Video
2015 DVD edition
Madame Butterfly (1915), black & white, 59 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 7663D, UPC 0-89218-76639-7.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at 5.8 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 30 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 8 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $7.98 (raised to $8.98).
Release date: 7 July 2015.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 3 / additional content: 0 / overall: 3.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a VHS videotape duplicated at a slightly faster than normal pace from a good 16mm reduction print. The videotape has a number of tracking glitches in it that adversely affect the picture. At 43:14 into the disc, a VHS player timecode marker appears on the picture for five seconds. The print itself has an unsurpring amount of dust, speckling, elusion chipping, mild frame jitters, and other print flaws. The resulting picture is a bit contrasty, with plugged-up shadows, and soft in image details thanks in part to VHS.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting orchestral music recordings. The music is abruptly edited in annoying loops of audio repetition throughout the film.
Our original review copy (likely manufactured circa 2016-2017, when other Alpha discs we have viewed had their playback issues) had occasional digital glitches (that were not related to the analog videotape glitches) and would not play at all beyond the middle of the film. A replacement disc did not play flawlessly. If you purchase this disc, we urge you to view it as soon as it arrives to confirm that it will play without issue. Alpha Video has a strict 30-day limit on returns and replacements that has burned us in the past.
Reluctantly recommended as this appears to be the only home video edition of the film available.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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 Loving the Classics
201? DVD edition
Madame Butterfly (1915), black & white, 61 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 silent era MARY PICKFORD films available on home video.
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Mary Pickford filmography in The Progressive Silent Film List
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