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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Sex
(1920)
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This infamous film, directed by Fred Niblo, is not the salacious item its title implies but a rather tame vamp tale featuring Louise Glaum, Irving Cummings, William Conklin, Myrtle Stedman and Peggy Pearce.
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 Unknown Video
2004 DVD edition
Sex (1920), black & white, 80 minutes, not rated.
Unknown Video, no catalog number, 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 3.7 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 384 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 6 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $18.95.
Release date: 22 November 2004.
Country of origin: USA •
Ratings (1-10): video: 4 / audio: 4 / additional content: 4 / overall: 4.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a very-good Blackhawk Films 16mm reduction print. The source material duplicated for the print shows signs of constant wear, with dust, speckling, schmutz, significant emulsion scuffing, frame jitters, and other print flaws remaining. Being produced from a reduction print and an analog video transfer, the picture is not as sharp as would be produced on modern equipment but is, nonetheless, quite watchable — especially on upscaling HD systems.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on electric organ by Bob Vaughn.
Supplementary material includes a stills gallery (43 images).
Even though it is out-of-print, this is our current recommended home video edition of the film.
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UNKNOWN VIDEO has discontinued business and this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is . . .
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 Alpha Video
2011 DVD edition
Sex (1920), black & white, 58 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 6646D, UPC 0-89218-66469-3.
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 6.5 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 384 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 6 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $7.98 (raised to $8.98).
Release date: 27 September 2011.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 3 / additional content: 0 / overall: 3.
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This DVD edition has been mastered from a good to very-good 8mm reduction print. Picture highlights are often blasted-out to white nothingness while shadow details are a dark grey nothingness, which qualifies the transfer as a nothingness. The transfer speed is at a faster-than-natural pace which still doesn’t account for the short running time.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack abruptly compiled from preexisting recordings of different genres and varying fidelity.
Not recommended, even though the disc is still in-print.
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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 is also available directly from . . .
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