Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2025 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
|
La Bohème
(1926)
|
This MGM drama vehicle for star Lillian Gish and leading man John Gilbert was directed by King Vidor, and features Renée Adorée, George Hassell, Roy D’Arcy, Edward Everett Horton, Karl Dane, Mathilde Comont, Gino Corrado, Eugene Pouyet, Frank Currier and David Mir.
|
 Warner Archive Collection
2010 DVD edition
La Bohème (1926), black & white, 93 minutes, not rated.
Warner Home Video,
no catalog number, UPC 8-83316-22735-0.
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 6.5 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; 9 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $19.95 (reduced to $12.99).
Release date: 12 January 2010.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 5 / audio: 6 / additional content: 0 / overall: 5.
|
This DVD-R edition is as originally prepared for release on laserdisc and for presentation on Turner Classic Movies from a 16mm reduction print (thought to be the best surviving material). The full-frame video transfer crops out the shadowy edges of the tight framing of the 16mm print, which cropped the original 35mm picture (common among vintage 16mm prints). Perhaps as much as 10 percent of the original picture is lost to cropping, but the intertitles remain readable in full.
The film is accompanied by a modern music score performed on piano and cello.
For now, this is our recommended home video edition of this film.
|
This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
WARNER ARCHIVE COLLECTION through . . .
|
|
|
 Rare Films and More
202? DVD edition
The Lady (1925), color-tinted black & white, 85 minutes, not rated, with La Boheme (1926), black & white, 93 minutes, not rated.
Rare Films and More, 3697, no 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; $17.99.
Release date: 202?
Country of origin: USA
|
|
This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a poor, flat and dark 16mm reduction print.
The film is accompanied by a custom music score.
Note that this company apparently has a history of pirating other home video editions to produce their products. Be aware that purchasing pirated home video editions does not benefit the original edition producers nor the composers whose music is often pirated as well.
|
|
This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
|
|
|
|
Other silent era KING VIDOR films available on home video.
Other silent era LILLIAN GISH films available on home video.
Other silent era JOHN GILBERT films available on home video.
|
