Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2025 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
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At First Sight
(1924)
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Charley Chase makes his first appearance as reoccuring character Jimmy Jump.
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 All Day Entertainment
2009 DVD edition
Becoming Charley Chase (1915-1926), black & white, 460 minutes total, not rated, including At First Sight (1924), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated.
All Day Entertainment, distributed by VCI Entertainment,
8562, UPC 0-89859-85622-8, ISBN 1-55739-587-X.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc (four DVDs in the set); 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at 7.2 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; chapter stops; standard four-disc DVD keepcase; $39.99.
Release date: 28 July 2009.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 7 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.
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This DVD edition has been mastered from a very-good 16mm reduction print, which retains a moderate amount of dust and speckling in the picture with some minor emulsion scratches. A broad range of greytones and very-good image detail is captured in the slightly windowboxed video transfer, which will appear as full-frame on some television monitors.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on piano by Andrew Earle Simpson.
While there is plenty of room for improvement, this is our recommended home video edition of At First Sight.
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ALL DAY ENTERTAINMENT has discontinued disc sales
and this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition is . . .
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 Grapevine Video
2005 DVD edition
Charley Chase: Jimmy Jump Series (1924-1925), black & white, 96 minutes total, not rated, including At First Sight (1924), black & white, 12 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10093-1.
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; no chapter stops (within the film); standard DVD keepcase; $12.95.
Release date: 2005.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 3 / additional content: 5 / overall: 4.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a good 16mm reduction print. The older video transfer often loses picture details to contrastiness, with burnt-out highlights resulting in lost facial details to closed-up shadows. Much of the transfer renders a reasonable range of greytones.
The film is accompanied by a compiled music score from preexisting jazz recordings.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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 Grapevine Video
2005 DVD edition
Dancing Mothers (1926), black & white, 66 minutes, not rated, with At First Sight (1924), black & white, 12 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10029-1.
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 4.6 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; no chapter stops (within the film); standard DVD keepcase; $16.95 (reduced to $14.95).
Release date: 7 February 2005.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 3 / additional content: 3 / overall: 3.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a good 16mm reduction print and is identical in presentation to the Grapevine Video edition noted above.
The film is accompanied by a compiled music score from preexisting jazz recordings.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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 Alpha Video
2016 DVD edition
Hal Roach Presents Early Pathé Comedies (1920-1926), black & white, 120 minutes total, not rated, including At First Sight (1924), black & white, 12 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 7821D, UPC 0-89218-78219-9.
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 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; no chapter stops (within the film); standard DVD keepcase; $7.98 (raised again to $9.99).
Release date: 19 July 2016.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 2 / audio: 3 / additional content: 3 / overall: 3.
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This low-budget DVD-R edition has been mastered from a poor 8mm reduction print, and the results are just awful.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
We do not recommend this below-average disc, as there are any number of better home video editions of this film noted above.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
ALPHA VIDEO through . . .
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Other silent era CHARLEY CHASE films available on home video.
Other SHORT COMEDY FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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