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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An Auto Nut
(1919)
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This short comedy stars Sid Smith, Paul Parrott and Vernon Dent, with Smith as an innocent automobile fanatic who is cheated by crooked lawyer Parrott. Dent is his dim-witted assistant who poses as a doctor. A slight, silly comedy.
— Carl Bennett
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 Grapevine Video
2003 DVD edition
Hawthorne of the U.S.A. (1919), color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 52 minutes, not rated, with An Auto Nut (1919), black & white, 11 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10037-6.
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; $14.95.
Release date: 2003.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 5 / audio: 5 / additional content: 6 / overall: 5.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a good to very-good 16mm reduction print of the 1924 rerelease of the film. The slightly faster than natural speed video transfer is a bit contrasty, with lost highlight detail and deep shadows.
The film is accompanied by a small orchestra music score lifted from an LP record, crackles and all.
An OK, watchable, edition and our recommended home video edition (for now).
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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 Alpha Video
2010 DVD edition
Snub Pollard Showtime (1919-1942), black & white, 58 minutes total, not rated, including An Auto Nut (1919), black & white, 11 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 6466D, UPC 0-89218-64669-9.
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 6.8 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; no chapter stops (within the film); standard DVD keepcase; $6.98 (raised again to $9.99).
Release date: 30 November 2010.
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 fair 8mm reduction print from Blackhawk Films that is watchable but is compromised a bit by the low-resolution of the reduction print and the video transfer itself.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting vintage jazz music recordings.
Not recommended but OK.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
ALPHA VIDEO through . . .
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Other SHORT COMEDY FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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