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 Sea Beast
(1926)
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This adaptation of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick stars John Barrymore and Dolores Costello.
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 Alpha Video
2021 DVD edition
The Sea Beast (1926), black & white, 132 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 8393D, UPC 0-89218-83939-8.
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: 2 February 2021.
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.
Sight unseen, this is our recommended home video edition of the film. It can’t be much worse than the TeleVista edition noted below.
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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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 TeleVista
2007 DVD edition
The Sea Beast (1926), black & white, 133 minutes, not rated.
TeleVista, no catalog number, UPC 0-29502-89995-0.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD 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 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 12 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $19.95.
Release date: 11 September 2007.
Country of origin: USA •
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 5 / additional content: 1 / overall: 3.
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Just when you think that even the budget producers are getting the idea that DVD collectors want reasonable quality at a fair price, along comes TeleVista and their overpriced grabage. From the opening frames of this low-quality disc, you know it is a rip-off.
This DVD edition has been mastered from a fair quality 8mm reduction print, prepared many years ago by the George Eastman Museum film archive. Flecked with dust, debris and speckling, contrasty and blurry, this material should have stayed in its little printed cardboard box.
The film is accompanied by a hodge-podge of preexisting recordings. The supplemental section is a ridiculous set of still frames from this awful print.
Not at all recommended — avoid, avoid, avoid! — but, horrid as it is, this is currently the only DVD edition of the film available.
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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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Other silent era JOHN BARRYMORE films available on home video.
Other NAUTICAL FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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