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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Sawdust
(1923)
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This circus drama, directed by Jack Conway, stars Gladys Walton and Niles Welch, with Edith Yorke, Herbert Standing, Mathew Betz, Frank Brownlee and William Robert Daly.
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 Gladys Walton
2009 DVD edition
Sawdust (1923), color-toned black & white, 52 minutes, not rated.
Gladys Walton Digital Productions,
no catalog number, UPC 8-85444-17486-5.
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 4.6 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 224 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $15.95.
Release date: 15 December 2009.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 4 / additional content: 3 / overall: 3.
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This poorly produced DVD-R edition has been mastered from a VHS videotape copy of a fair to good 8mm reduction print that is quite scuffed, with dust, speckling, and other defects including persistent frame instability. The older analog video transfer has a hard time holding image details in the highlight areas of the picture but the shadow areas remain open and reasonably well defined.
The film is accompanied by a music score compiled from preexisting music sources that are often abruptly edited together.
Not a great presentation but this is the only home video edition of the film we know of. This edition, produced by Gladys’ son John Walton, is now out-of-print and may be hard to find.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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 Loving the Classics
201? DVD edition
Sawdust (1923), black & white, 51 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; $16.99.
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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