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
Matrimaniac
(1916)
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This feature comedy, directed by Paul Powell, stars Douglas Fairbanks and Constance Talmadge, with Wilbur Higby, Clyde Hopkins, Fred Warren, Winifred Westover and Monte Blue.
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 Flicker Alley
2008 DVD edition
Douglas Fairbanks: A Modern Musketeer (1916-1921), color-toned black & white, color-tinted black & white and black & white, 760 minutes total, not rated, including The Matrimaniac (1916), black & white, 46 minutes, not rated.
Flicker Alley, FA0011,
UPC 6-17311-67359-7, ISBN: 1-8939-6735-2.
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 sound, English language intertitles, no subtitles; 9 chapter stops; five slimline DVD keepcases in cardboard slipcase; $89.95.
Release date: 2 December 2008.
Country of origin: USA
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Our first look at this five-disc, eleven-film DVD collection has generally been a delight, and the release of these films on DVD home video has been a long time coming for the relatively neglected Douglas Fairbanks. At first overwhelming, this collection of films released by Triangle, Artcraft Pictures and Fairbanks’ own United Artists is a great overview of the first phase of Fairbanks’ motion picture career, predominantly comprised of his light-hearted comedies, leading to the well-known action-adventure films of the 1920s.
The films are accompanied by musical scores performed by Eric Beheim, Philip Carli, Frederick Hodges, Robert Israel, Rodney Sauer, The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, and Franklin Stover.
Included is a 32-page booklet with an essay by Jeffrey Vance and Tony Maietta. The supplemental material includes productions stills and pressbook reproductions, an audio essay for A Modern Musketeer, and a reproduction of Fairbanks’ first film contract. This boxset collection won an award at Il Cinema Ritrovato in 2009 for excellence.
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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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 Grapevine Video
2015 DVD edition
The Matrimaniac (1916), black & white, 46 minutes, not rated, with The Missing Millionaire (1917), black & white, 28 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 6-60845-44718-9.
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; Russian language intertitles, permanent? English language subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $16.95.
Release date: April 2015.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm reduction print.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed by David Knudtson.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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 Alpha Video
2019 DVD edition
The Mollycoddle (1920), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, with The Matrimaniac (1916), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 8200D, UPC 0-89218-82009-9.
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; $7.98 (raised to $8.98).
Release date: 12 March 2019.
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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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 also available directly from . . .
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Other silent era DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS films available on DVD home video.
Other silent era CONSTANCE TALMADGE films available on home video.
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Douglas Fairbanks filmography in The Progressive Silent Film List
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