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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Flirting with Fate
(1916)
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This feature comedy, directed by W. Christy Cabanne, stars Douglas Fairbanks and Jewel Carmen, with André Beranger, W.E. Lawrence, Dorothy Haydel, J.P. McCarty, Howard Gaye, Lillian Langdon and Wilbur Higby.
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 Flicker Alley
2008 DVD edition
Douglas Fairbanks: A Modern Musketeer (1916-1921), color-toned black & white, color-tinted black & white, color-tinted and color-toned black & white and black & white, 760 minutes total, not rated, including Flirting with Fate (1916), black & white, 57 minutes, not rated.
Flicker Alley, FA0011,
UPC 6-17311-67359-7, ISBN: 1-8939-6735-2.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc (five DVDs in the set); 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 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 10 chapter stops; 32-page insert booklet; five slimline DVD keepcases in cardboard slipcase; $89.95.
Release date: 2 December 2008.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 7 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.
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This DVD edition has been mastered from a worn 35mm print struck from the original camera negative (presumably in the 1950s) held by Film Preservation Associates. The print features a broad and controlled range of greytones and is moderately speckled with significant emulsion scuffing, dust, mild frame jitters, visible splices, sprocket damage, processing blobs, and other print flaws. Some reels are slightly sharper than others. This is one of the better-looking video transfers in a collection with some other questionable examples.
The film is accompanied by a musical score composed and performed on piano by Philip Carli.
Supplemental material includes a 32-page booklet with film notes by Jeffrey Vance and Tony Maietta; production stills and pressbook reproductions; an audio essay for A Modern Musketeer by Vance and Maietta; and a reproduction of Fairbanks’ first film contract. This boxset collection won an award at Il Cinema Ritrovato in 2009 for excellence.
This is our recommended home video edition of the film. The source material would look pretty damned good in a cleaned-up high-definition scan released on Blu-ray Disc. Hint, hint.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition is availabel directly from . . .
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 Alpha Video
2024 DVD edition
Douglas Fairbanks Double Feature (1916), black & white, 81 minutes total, not rated, including Flirting with Fate (1916), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, with The Half-Breed (1916), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 8640D, UPC 0-89218-86409-3.
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 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $8.98.
Release date: 19 November 2024.
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 is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music 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
Flirting with Fate (1916), black & white, 57 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; $10.98.
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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 Alpha Video
2014 DVD edition
Flirting with Fate (1916), black & white, 59 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 7405D, UPC 0-89218-74059-5.
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 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $7.98.
Release date: 2014.
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 has been discontinued
and is . . .
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Other silent era DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS films available on home video.
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Douglas Fairbanks filmography in The Progressive Silent Film List
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