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The “Flying Ace”
(1926)

This feature drama, directed by Richard E. Norman, stars Laurence Criner and Kathryn Boyd, with Boise De Legge, Harold Platts, Lions Daniels, George Colvin, Sam Jordan, Doctor R.L. Brown and Steve Reynolds.

Produced by the Norman Film Manufacturing Company of Jacksonville, Florida, we have to wonder if several of the buildings seen in the film were actually the company’s studio offices and production buildings. Also, a novelty of the film is the sight of a one-legged man chasing an automobile on a bicycle.

Kino Classics
2016 Blu-ray Disc edition

Pioneers of African-American Cinema (1915-1946), black & white, color-tinted black & white, color-toned black & white, and color, 1266 minutes total. not rated, including The “Flying Ace” (1926), black & white, 65 minutes, not rated.

Kino Lorber, K20601, UPC 7-38329-20601-7.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region A Blu-ray Disc (five BDs in the set); 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 20.8 Mbps average video bit rate; LPCM 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 1.5 Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 6 chapter stops; 80-page insert book; one cardboard wrap with three plastic BD trays in cardboard slipcase; $99.95.
Release date: 26 July 2016.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 8 / audio: 9 / additional content: 8 / overall: 8.

This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered in 4K high-definition from an excellent 35mm print held by the Library of Congress, with dust, speckling, schmutz, jumpy edits, emulsion blooms and other nascent nitrate decomposition, mild frame jitters, and other flaws. The greyscale range of the print is reasonably balanced and, no doubt, this is due to some grading and digital clean-up on the part of the edition producer, Bret Wood. Despite any print flaws that remain, the film is a pleasure to watch.

The film is accompanied by a music score compiled by Rodney Sauer and performed by The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.

Supplemental material includes the documentaries “We Work Again” (1937) produced by the Federal Works Project (15 minutes), and “The Tyler-Texas Black Film Collection: The Missing Link in Black Cinema” (1985), with Ossie Davis (6 minutes); theatrical trailers for Veiled Aristocrats (4 minutes) and Birthright (3 minutes); an interview with historian S. Torriano Berry on the works of James and Eloyce Gist (5 minutes); and the featurettes “Pioneers of African-American Cinema: An Introduction,” with collection curators Jacqueline Najuma Stewart and Charles Musser (8 minutes), “About the Restoration,” with edition producer Bret Wood (8 minutes), “The Color Line,” with Charles Musser (5 minutes), “Ten Nights in a Bar Room: An Introduction,” with Charles Musser (4 minutes), “Eleven P.M.: An Introduction,” with Charles Musser (3 minutes), “The Films of Oscar Micheaux,” with Charles Musser (9 minutes), “The Films of Zora Neale Hurston,” with film archivist Mike Mashon (2 minutes), “The Films of Spencer Williams,” with Jacqueline Najuma Stewart (7 minutes), “Religion in Early African-American Cinema,” with Jacqueline Najuma Stewart and Charles Musser (7 minutes), and “The End of an Era,” with Jacqueline Najuma Stewart (5 minutes); and an 80-page insert book with notes on the films and essays by Charles Musser and Jacqueline Najuma Stewart, with contributions from Rhea L. Combs, Mary N. Elliott and Paul D. Miller.

This is our enthusiatically recommended home video edition of the film.

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

Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

This Region A Blu-ray Disc edition is also available directly from . . .

Kino Classics
2016 DVD edition

Pioneers of African-American Cinema (1915-1946), black & white, color-tinted black & white, color-toned black & white, and color, 952 minutes total. not rated, including The “Flying Ace” (1926), black & white, 65 minutes, not rated.

Kino Lorber, K20600, UPC 7-38329-20600-0.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 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 ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; an insert book; one cardboard wrap with three plastic DVD trays in cardboard slipcase, $79.95.
Release date: 26 July 2016.
Country of origin: USA

This DVD edition has been mastered in 4K high-definition from a 35mm print held by the Library of Congress.

The film is accompanied by a music score compiled by Rodney Sauer and performed by The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.

The collection is supplemented with an insert book that includes notes on the films and essays by collection curators Charles Musser and Jacqueline Najuma Stewart.

Sight unseen, this is our recommended DVD home video edition of the film.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.