Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
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Young Romance
(1915)
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In Young Romance (1915), Nellie Nolan (Edith Taliaferro) and Tom Clancy (Tom Forman) work in a department store, and both are dedicated fans of chapter stories in popular magazines, tales of the romantic adventures of society’s elite. Independent of each other they resolve to spend their savings to take a trip to a swanky resort in Maine, vacationing like the characters of their favorite stories. By some accident of fate they meet each other under the guises of society people and begin to spend their leisure time together. However, since Nellie is at the hotel under the name of a real society person, she soon learns that she is the ‘heir’ to a large inheritance. That’s where Count Spagnoli (Allan Garcia) steps in. Spagnoli, as genuine as a three-dollar bill, eyes Nellie for a little shake out. Things proceed in predictable fashion for the villain and the young couple in this story written by William C. de Mille.
— Carl Bennett
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 Flicker Alley
2015 DVD edition
Regeneration (1915), color-toned black & white, 72 minutes, not rated, with Young Romance (1915), color-toned black & white, 58 minutes, not rated.
Flicker Alley, distributed by MovieZyng,
FA-MD3-009, UPC 8-89290-09109-3.
One single-sided, dual-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; $19.95.
Release date: 18 March 2015.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD+R edition has been mastered from a very-good 35mm nitrate print. This edition replaces the 2001 Image edition noted below and should be of similar quality.
The film is presented with a great music score arranged and composed by Robert Israel, and performed by Israel on piano and Galena Golovnia on violin.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD+R edition is available directly from FLICKER ALLEY through . . .
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 Film Preservation Associates
2001 DVD edition
Regeneration (1915), color-toned black & white, 72 minutes, not rated, with Young Romance (1915), color-toned black & white, 58 minutes, not rated.
Film Preservation Associates, distributed by Image Entertainment, ID0510DSDVD, UPC 0-14381-05102-5.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD disc (reissued on DVD-R disc); 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at 7.0 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 224 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 11 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $24.99.
Release date: 27 November 2001.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 9 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.
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We suspect that the video transfer has been remastered for this DVD edition since the film’s earlier release on laserdisc and VHS videotape in the 1990s. The full-frame transfer holds a great deal of the source print’s fine detail and broad range of greytones. There is only a minor amount of speckling and scuffing to mar this otherwise excellent 35mm print from the private collection of Cecil B. DeMille. While this is not a major silent era film, the print is so wonderfully preserved that it is a pleasure to watch.
The disc features a great music score arranged and composed by Robert Israel, and performed by Israel on piano and Galena Golovnia on violin. One can imagine that the young lovers heard this pleasant music themselves during their amusing restaurant scene.
Overall, David Shepard has slightly improved the presentations of these two films he has packaged together for DVD home video. Excusing the decomposition in Regeneration, the excellent prints and fine musical accompaniments make watching these films an absolute pleasure. We highly recommend this disc.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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United Kingdom: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.co.uk. Support Silent Era. |
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This Region 1 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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Other silent film music scores by ROBERT ISRAEL available on home video.
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