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

The White Sister (1923)

Produced by Inspiration Pictures — the company headed by actor Richard Barthelmess, director Henry King and executive Charles Duell — The White Sister was shot in Italy to capture the beauty of the story’s homeland. The film stars Lillian Gish and Ronald Colman.

This DVD-R edition has been prepared from a very-good 35mm archival print as originally presented on the Turner Classic Movies network. The source print is not close to perfect, with a noticable and sometimes distracting amount of speckling, some dust, scuffing and scrapes, scratches and other print flaws. Compared to other home video editions, this disc is an absolute delight.

The film is accompanied by a fine orchestral music score composed by Garth Neustadler.

What a welcome relief it is that we have finally have a decent home video edition of this film and, by far, it is our recommended edition of The White Sister.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD+R / DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Purchase supports Silent Era.

This DVD-R edition, touted as being the complete 10-reel version (that is, the complete general release version of the film edited from its premiere length of 13 reels), has been transferred from a good but contrasty 16mm reduction print. Image shadow details are lost in deep, choking blacks, but highlight details (if still existing in the source print) remain.

The film can be hard to watch at times as all but the brightest picture details in interior shots are lost in subterranean shadows. Small exposure fluctuations throughout the film slowly flicker the sparce middle greytones. At least, the windowboxed, natural-speed video transfer will present on all monitors all of the picture information in the closely-cropped 16mm print.

The production is presented with a serviceable compiled music score of preexisting orchestral recordings, edited to accompany the film’s action.

Not the best home video option for hopeful collectors but, still, a marginal improvement over the crappy VHS editions of the 1980s and early 1990s.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is also available directly from . . .

This DVD-R edition of The White Sister from Sunrise Silents reveals a faster-than-natural-speed windowboxed video transfer from a very-good 16mm reduction print. However, the source print is cropped more so on the left side than elsewhere. Image details are soft, the print is contrasty, with plugged-up shadows and featureless highlights, and there are small exposure fluctuations throughout. While the intertitles are readable, some facial features are hard to discern.

The disc features musical accompaniment performed on a MIDI-based synthesizer.

Also on this disc is Charles Chaplin’s second film, transferred from a good 16mm reduction print, a Krazy Kat cartoon, transferred from a very-good 16mm reduction print, a glass-slide gallery (25 images), the fifth episode of the serial Mystery of the Double Cross (1917), transferred from a good 16mm reduction print, a Lillian Gish photo gallery (32 images), and a trailer for What Price Glory (1926), transferred from a good 16mm reduction print.

We were happy to trash our old hard-to-watch VHS edition of The White Sister for this new DVD-R edition, but we look forward to an improved home video release of this film.

SUNRISE SILENTS has discontinued business and this edition is . . .

The presentation features a music score composed and performed by Stuart Oderman.

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

The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting recordings.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is also available directly from . . .

The presentation likely features a soundtrack compiled from preexisting recordings.

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

Other silent era RONALD COLMAN films available on home video.