Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Peter Pan (1924)

Peter Pan is such a well-known story that most English-speaking 20th-century people know it by heart. Well-known motion picture and television productions have helped keep the James Barrie story alive. But it was in December 1924 that the first big-budget Peter Pan classic was released by Paramount Pictures. All of the necessary elements were there, the flying Pan, the Darling children, Tinker Bell, the pirates and indians, Captain Hook, the crocodile, even Nana the nursemaid dog. And it all came together admirably.

Betty Bronson turns in a charming performance as Peter Pan, holding her own in cinematic history against other Pans including Mary Martin’s. One of our favorite character actors, Ernest Torrence, excels in a comparatively low-key performance as Captain Hook (that is, low-key when compared to latter-day Hooks such as Hans Conreid and Dustin Hoffman). A young Mary Brian shines as Wendy. Animal impersonator George Ali is a standout as Nana (and we suspect that it also is Ali as the crocodile that terrorizes Hook). The film’s cinematography by James Wong Howe is also very good. The film gives the viewer the impression that it is somehow a result greater than the sum of its parts. So many things could have gone stale, so many aspects could have gone wrong in the translation of a beloved stage play to a motion picture. But the film comes off well, with a glow and a spirit that extinguishes cynical expectations.

— Carl Bennett

This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from a very-good to excellent 35mm print held by the George Eastman Museum film archive, which contains some light speckling and very minor flaws. The film is presented mainly in color-toned sepia with some blue color-tinting and in a pillarboxed format with nearly all of the full-aperture image. This new edition, an update of Kino’s 1999 DVD edition (noted below) produced again by David Pierce, is a welcome improvement on an already well-produced home video edition. The previous DVD edition presented a smaller picture (see below) to allow for the maximum image to be seen on older television systems. Today’s high-definition monitors have a much smaller amount of overscan cropping, so with the larger image in this BD edition the picture is more open and detailed.

The film is accompanied by the same wonderful small orchestral music score by Philip Carli, recorded with the Flower City Society Orchestra, as Kino’s earlier DVD edition. The music is tasteful, entertaining and well-recorded, and we are happy that it has been retained for our continued enjoyment.

The supplementary material includes a new audio commentary by Kat Ellinger. Esther Ralston remembers in two audio sections: the first on meeting Mary Brian (edited to 1 minute) and the Robert McKay interview (31 minutes). An intriguing tidbit informs us that both May McAvoy and Lillian Gish were considered for the role of Peter Pan. A 16-page insert booklet includes the Frederick C. Szebin essay “Peter Pan Escapes Cinematic Neverland,” reprinted from the October 1995 issue of American Cinematographer, with stills and promotional materials.

We admire and highly recommend this updated edition of Peter Pan for its overall quality. The combination of a film that has a winning charm and an above-average home video presentation makes this BD a must-have for silent film collectors.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

The film is accompanied by the same wonderful orchestral music score by Philip Carli, recorded with the Flower City Society Orchestra, as Kino’s earlier DVD edition. The music is tasteful, entertaining and well-recorded.

The supplementary material includes a new audio commentary by Kat Ellinger. Esther Ralston remembers in two audio sections: the first on meeting Mary Brian (edited to 1 minute) and the Robert McKay interview (31 minutes). A 16-page insert booklet includes the Frederick C. Szebin essay “Peter Pan Escapes Cinematic Neverland,” reprinted from the October 1995 issue of American Cinematographer, with stills and promotional materials.

We recommend this updated edition of Peter Pan sight unseen. Kino’s previous DVD edition was of such high quality for an early DVD, this updated disc will be even better.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

This DVD edition transferred the archival 35mm print from the George Eastman Museum film archive, and it is a wonderful print that is marred with light speckling and very minor flaws. The transfer is color-tinted and toned in sepia and blue. And the transfer image is generously cropped with nearly all of the full-aperture image available to all television monitors, regardless of their overscan cropping. Some televisions will reveal that the image has been slightly windowboxed, with the print’s rounded frame corners visible in the overscan area, allowing the maximum viewable image.

This edition, produced by David Pierce of Sunrise Entertainment, is well done on nearly all counts. The DVD features a wonderful new orchestral music score by Philip Carli recorded with the Flower City Society Orchestra. The music is tasteful, entertaining and well-recorded.

A minor complaint is that the Szebin essay “Peter Pan Escapes Cinematic Neverland,” reprinted from the October 1995 issue of American Cinematographer, is set in a typeface size that can be too small to read on smaller televisions. The section of Esther Ralston reminiscences is compromised of a 2 minute informal videotape interview transferred from a low-quality VHS videotape, and two audio sections on meeting Mary Brian (10 minutes) and the Robert McKay interview (31 minutes) all in Dolby Digital 1.0 mono sound. An intriguing tidbit from the supplementary section informs us that both May McAvoy and Lillian Gish were considered for the role of Peter Pan.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

Other silent era ANNA MAY WONG films available on home video.