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
Midnight Girl
(1925)
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The Midnight Girl (1925), from B-studio Chadwick Pictures Corporation, features Lila Lee and Gareth Hughes, with a supporting role for Bela Lugosi.
Two society families, the Harmons and the Schuylers, are anxious for the marriage of Don (Hughes) and Natalie (Ruby Blaine) to take place for their mutual benefit – that is, all except Don.
When a fight with Harmon, Don’s stepfather (Lugosi), culminates in Don’s rejection of his money, Don takes a boarding-house room and resolves to make his own way through life. Golddigging Natalie is determined to patch things back together and marshals the assistance of Mr. Harmon who is, nonetheless, preoccupied with replacing his paramour, a failing soprano previously with the opera.
Meanwhile, Russian singer Anna Meridoff (Lee) and her musical tutor (John D. Walsh) have immigrated to New York City and are financially struggling. When a street thug tries to steal a coin from the busking old tutor, Don steps in to pummel the would-be thief. Upon hearing that Anna is a singer, Don (who has taken a job as a cafe orchestra conductor) vows to do what he can to help them.
Dubbed ‘The Midnight Girl’ at the cafe, Anna is attracting the attention of officials at the opera and of Don’s predatory stepfather. Rising tensions are amplified when Don is shot in revenge by the street thug. No matter. Whether through lost footage or poor plotting, Don inexplicably recovers quickly and in the ensuing days, Harmon’s pursuit of Anna riles Don’s ire. Things are further complicated when Natalie reveals to Anna that she is engaged to Don. With Don seemingly unavailable, Anna considers Harmon’s offer of help in her career.
B-studio melodrama ensues with Harmon pursuing his conquest of Anna and Don so confused over her frosty treatment of him. Director Wilfred Noy weakly attempts to create Griffith-style suspense leading up to the denouement which may raise an incredulous laugh or two.
Lugosi does not disappoint as the smarmy predator but Hughes is somewhat ineffectual as a strong-willed independent man and we feel he has been miscast in his role. The film is an OK example of a small studio programmer: predictable plot twists with no surprises.
— Carl Bennett
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 Grapevine Video
2023 Blu-ray Disc edition
The Midnight Girl (1925), black & white, 61 minutes, not rated, with Beauty à la Mud (1926), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video,
no catalog number, unknown UPC number.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 Blu-ray Disc (BD-R BDMV); 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) 24 fps progressive scan image encoded in SDR AVC format at ? Mbps average video bit rate; LPCM 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard BD keepcase; $21.95.
Release date: December 2023.
Country of origin: USA
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This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from a 2k high-definition scan of archival print materials.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed by David Drazin.
Supplemental material includes a Jimmie Adams comedy short.
This is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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This
Region 0 Blu-ray Disc (BD-R) edition is available directly from . . .
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 Grapevine Video
2023 DVD edition
The Midnight Girl (1925), black & white, 61 minutes, not rated, with Beauty à la Mud (1926), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, 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; $19.95.
Release date: December 2023.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a 2k high-definition scan of archival print materials.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed by David Drazin.
Supplemental material includes a Jimmie Adams comedy short.
This is our recommended DVD home video edition of the film.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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 Passport Video
2006 DVD edition
The Bela Lugosi Box (1925-1959), black & white, 1034 minutes total, not rated, including The Midnight Girl (1925), black & white, 62 minutes, not rated.
Passport Video, DVD-5260, UPC 0-25493-52609-7.
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), 4.0 Mbps average video bit rate, 192 Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 8-bit 2.0 mono sound, English language intertitles, no subtitles; 8 chapter stops; five-disc DVD keepcase; $19.98.
Release date: 5 September 2006.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 5 / additional content: 4 / overall: 4.
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This budget DVD edition of The Midnight Girl (1925) has been mastered from an 8mm reduction print and is of fairly low quality. Throughout the film, coarse lines of horizontal resolution are easily detectable on large HD monitors. The picture is blurry, and there are sections of occasional beginning print decomposition and the greyscale range is a little light, with many faces appearing as featureless blobs. The print has the usual amount of schmutz and speckling and some occasional instability from (what appears to be) some print shrinkage, but the edition is marginably watchable.
Throughout the presentation a small logomark for The Bela Lugosi Box appears in the lower right-hand corner of the picture. Intended to discourage video pirates, which is never really justified since it punishes the collectors who actually paid for the thing, the source print utilized for the transfer is too poor for anyone to nick and try to make money from. Passport Video needs to learn about quality and fairness to the end consumer.
The presentation features a music score performed anonymously on digital piano.
This is not our first choice for a recommended edition, but this is currently the only home video edition of The Midnight Girl we know of.
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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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 Alpha Video
2013 DVD edition
The Midnight Girl (1925), black & white, 70 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 7164D, UPC 0-89218-71649-1.
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 stereo 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: 24 September 2013.
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 recordings.
Not recommended sight unseen.
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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 BELA LUGOSI films available on home video.
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