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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Orchids and
Ermine
(1927)
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Colleen Moore stars in this frothy romantic comedy of a young telephone operator who is smitten with the idea of a monied suitor who can give her fur coats and exotic flowers.
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 Grapevine Video
2009 DVD edition
Orchids and Ermine (1927), color-tinted black & white, 62 minutes, not rated, with Felix Gets the Can (1925), black & white, 8 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 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, PCM 2.0 mono sound, English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $16.95.
Release date: April 2005.
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 score of preexisting recordings.
If you own a copy of this disc please consider loaning it to us to review for documentation purposes. We pay postage both ways.
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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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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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 Sunrise Silents
2007 DVD edition
Orchids and Ermine (1927), color-tinted black & white, 65 minutes, not rated, with Mystery of the Double Cross (1917) {episode 12: “The Riddle of the Cross”}, color-tinted black & white, 24 minutes, not rated.
Sunrise Silents,
OECM-N (NTSC) and OECM-P (PAL), no UPC number.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC or PAL DVD-R disc, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), 3.5 Mbps average video bit rate, 192 Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 8-bit 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, no subtitles; 6 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $19.95.
Release date: 21 August 2007.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 2 / audio: 6 / additional content: 4 / overall: 3.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a bad-to-fair (what appears to be) 8mm reduction print that is very soft in image detail and flat in greytones, that itself has been poorly duped from a vintage 1930s Kodascope 16mm reduction print. The natural-speed video transfer — which may only consist of projecting the print and capturing it with a digital video camera — does nothing the help the situation, other than to keep the intertitles readable. There has to be better surviving print material of this film than this.
The film is accompanied by a serviceable compiled music score of compositions performed on MIDI synthesizer.
The supplemental material includes a trailer for Finders Keepers (1928) and an excerpt from a Mutt and Jeff cartoon.
We cannot recommend this disc for its presentation of Orchids and Ermine. All content considered, collectors will only want the disc for episode 12 of the serial Mystery of the Double Cross, the best-looking film on the disc.
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SUNRISE SILENTS has discontinued business and this edition is . . .
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Other silent era COLLEEN MOORE films available on home video.
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