Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2025 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
|
His Picture in
the Papers
(1916)
|
This comedy feature, directed by John Emerson, stars Douglas Fairbanks and Loretta Blake, with Clarence Handysides, Rene Boucicault, Jean Temple, Charles Butler, Homer Hunt, Helena Ruppert and Erich von Stroheim.
|
 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 His Picture in the Papers (1916), color-tinted black & white, 62 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 5.4 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; 8 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: 5 / audio: 7 / additional content: 7 / overall: 6.
|
This DVD edition has been mastered from a good but worn 35mm print, with inserts from other prints that appear to be only fair 16mm reduction prints. The conflated source material is often slightly contrasty, with dust, speckling, emulsion scuffing, exposure fluctuations, and other print flaws. Unfortunately, the standard definition video transfer makes things worse with its coarse (vertical!) pixels that are easily detected and distracting on high-definition monitors, although the picture may be acceptable on old standard CRT televisions and small computer screens. This is the roughest presentation in the collection.
The film is accompanied by a musical score compiled and performed on piano by Frederick Hodges.
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.
For now, this is our recommended home video edition of the film.
|
|
This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition is available directly from . . .
|
|
|
 Unknown Video
2004 DVD edition
His Picture in the Papers (1916), black & white, 52 minutes, not rated, with At Dawn (1914), black & white, 14 minutes, not rated.
Unknown Video, no catalog number, 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 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 4 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $18.95.
Release date: 22 November 2004.
Country of origin: USA •
|
This DVD-R edition of His Picture in the Papers has been mastered from a 16mm fine-grain print from the Blackhawk Films collection.
The film is accompanied by a musical score composed and performed on electric organ by Bob Vaughn.
|
|
UNKNOWN VIDEO has discontinued business and this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is . . .
|
|
|
 Loving the Classics
201? DVD edition
His Picture in the Papers (1916), black & white, 62 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; $14.99.
Release date: 201?
Country of origin: USA
|
|
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.
|
|
This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
|
|
|
|
Other silent era DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS films available on home video.
|
|
Douglas Fairbanks filmography in The Progressive Silent Film List
|
|
