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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Red Signals
(1927)
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This low-budget railroad film, directed by J.P. McGowan, features Wallace MacDonald, Earle Williams and Eva Novak.
Interestingly, a character in the film references real-life animal film star Snooky the chimp.
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 Grapevine Video
2013 DVD edition
Red Signals (1927), black & white, 64 minutes, not rated, with Ladies’ Pet (1920), black & white, 20 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10542-5.
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; $14.95.
Release date: 17 January 2013.
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.
Even sight unseen, this is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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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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 Encore Home Video
2003 DVD edition
Red Signals (1927), black & white, 53 minutes, not rated.
Encore Entertainment, D 118, no 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 4.2 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 256 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 10 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $18.88.
Release date: 2003.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 5 / audio: 3 / additional content: 1 / overall: 4.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a good 16mm reduction print that is highly speckled in places, with dust, schmutz, emulsion scrapes, mild frame jitters, missing frames due to print breakage, and other print flaws. The old analog video transfer is a bit flat grey but presents a reasonably detailed picture that is viewable. The word “encore” is superimposed in small type in the lower left-hand corner of the picture from time to time throughout the film to discourage video pirates . . . and collectors.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting extremely low-fidelity music recordings that drag down the viewing experience.
With this edition now out-of-print, collectors may want to consider the Grapevine Video edition noted above.
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ENCORE ENTERTAINMENT has discontinued business
and this DVD-R edition is . . .
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 Alpha Video
2014 DVD edition
Red Signals (1927), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, with One Hundred Years of Railroad Development (1927), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 7507D, UPC 0-89218-75079-2.
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: 28 October 2014.
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 music score compiled from preexisting recordings.
This is not a recommended home video edition of the film.
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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 J.P. McGOWAN films available on home video.
Other RAILROAD FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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