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Oscar Micheaux
The Complete Collection
(1920-1940)

Contents: Within Our Gates (1920), The Symbol of the Unconquered (1920), Body and Soul (1925), The Darktown Revue (1931), The Exile (1931), The Girl from Chicago (1932), Ten Minutes to Live (1932), Veiled Aristocrats (1932), Murder in Harlem (1935), Underworld (1937), God’s Step Children (1938), Swing! (1938), Birthright (1939), Lying Lips (1939) and The Notorious Elinor Lee (1940).

With a number of films encored from the 2016 collection Pioneers of African-American Cinema, this monumental collection presents the surviving films of renown filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. Several of the sound films have not been available for viewing on home video before.

Kino Classic
2025 Blu-ray Disc edition

Oscar Micheaux: The Complete Collection (1920-1940), color-tinted black & white, and black & white, 970 minutes total, not rated, including Within Our Gates (1920), black & white, 73 minutes, not rated, The Symbol of the Unconquered (1920), color-tinted black & white, and black & white, 59 minutes, not rated, Body and Soul (1925), color-tinted black & white, and black & white, 93 minutes, not rated, The Darktown Revue (1931), black & white, 18 minutes, not rated, The Exile (1931), black & white, 78 minutes, not rated, The Girl from Chicago (1932), black & white, 71 minutes, not rated, Ten Minutes to Live (1932), black & white, 58 minutes, not rated, Veiled Aristocrats (1932), black & white, 44 minutes, not rated, Murder in Harlem (1935), black & white, 95 minutes, not rated, Underworld (1937), black & white, 76 minutes, not rated, God’s Step Children (1938), black & white, 70 minutes, not rated, Swing! (1938), black & white, 68 minutes, not rated, Birthright (1939), black & white, 73 minutes, not rated, Lying Lips (1939), black & white, 73 minutes, not rated, and The Notorious Elinor Lee (1940), black & white, 72 minutes, not rated.

Kino Lorber, K26939, UPC 7-38329-26939-5.
Five single-sided, dual-layered, Regions ABC Blu-ray Discs; 1.20:1 aspect ratio and 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) 24 fps progressive scan image encoded in SDR AVC format at 30.6 Mbps average video bit rate; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 2.0 Mbps audio bit rate (silent version music and selected sound films), and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 1.6 Mbps audio bit rate (selected sound films and featurettes); English language intertitles, optional English language subtitles (sound films); chapter stops; 12-page insert booklet; standard five-disc BD keepcase in cardboard slipcase; $89.95.
Release date: 11 February 2025.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 8 / audio: 8 / additional content: 8 / overall: 8.

This Blu-ray Disc collection has been mastered from archival 35mm and 16mm reduction print materials held by the Library of Congress, George Eastman Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, UCLA Film and Television Archive, and Southern Methodist University. The silent films range in visual quality from good to very-good, with a common amount of moderate print flaws.

The silent films are accompanied by custom music scores composed and performed by Paul D. Miller (AKA DJ Spooky) and Andrew Earle Simpson.

For our comparative reviews of the silent films in this collection, see our Body and Soul on home video, The Symbol of the Unconquered on home video, and Within Our Gates on home video pages.

The sound films in the collection vary in image and audio quality from fair to excellent. It seems that the original sound prints were produced alternatively in sound-on-film and sound-on-disc systems. While some of the early sound films are problematic due to the primitive audio equipment utilized, and optional subtitles are provided, we did not think they were always necessary and chose to view some of the films with them left off.

Supplemental material includes theatrical trailers for selected films, including the missing Harlem After Midnight (1934) (3 minutes) and Temptation (1936) (3 minutes); the featurettes “Breaking Ground,” with Rhea L. Combs (9 minutes), “The Silent Years,” with Rhea L. Combs (7 minutes), “The Dawn of Sound,” with Rhea L. Combs (5 minutes), “Staying Relevant,” with Rhea L. Combs (5 minutes), and “More to Come?,” with Rhea L. Combs (1 minute); and a 12-page insert booklet with film notes.

While the silent films have been available for some time in the Pioneers collection, we enthusiastically recommend this collection as containing the best home video editions of all these films.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.