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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Just Pals
(1920)
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John Ford’s first film for Fox Film Corporation is a simple drama of the character-redeeming friendship between a small-town ne’er-do-well and a hobo boy.
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 Fox Home Video
2007 DVD edition
The Ford at Fox Collection: John Ford’s Silent Epics (1920-1928), black & white, 607 minutes total, not rated, including Just Pals (1920), black & white, 50 minutes, not rated.
Fox Home Video, no catalog number, UPC 0-24543-48324-3.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 1 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 7.0 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 448 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, optional French and Spanish language subtitles; closed captions; 21 chapter stops; four slimline DVD keepcases in cardboard slipcase; $49.98.
Release date: 4 December 2007.
Country of origin: USA
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This first DVD edition of John Ford’s charming rural drama has been mastered from the best-surviving 35mm materials, which are a little blurred but feature a broad range of greytones and very-good image detail. The results look good on a high-definition monitor.
The film is accompanied by a new small-ensemble music score composed by Jonathan Kaplan and Alexander Kaplan.
The disc is only available in the Ford at Fox Collection: John Ford’s Silent Epics boxset, and is our recommended home video edition.
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This Region 1 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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 Grapevine Video
2016 DVD edition
Just Pals (1920), black & white, 58 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 6-60845-44757-8.
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; $16.95.
Release date: 17 March 2016.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition may have been mastered from a 16mm reduction print.
The film is accompanied by a music score by David Knudtson.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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 Alpha Video
2019 DVD edition
Just Pals (1920), black & white, ? minutes, not rated,
with Get Your Man (1920), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 8229D, UPC 0-89218-82429-5.
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 again to $9.99).
Release date: 18 June 2019.
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 may be accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting recordings.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
ALPHA VIDEO through . . .
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 Loving the Classics
201? DVD edition
Just Pals (1920), black & white, 50 minutes, not rated.
Loving the Classics,
no catalog number, unknown 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 ? 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; $14.99.
Release date: 201?
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm reduction print.
The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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Other silent era JOHN FORD films available on home video.
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