Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
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Ben-Hur
(1925)
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This biblical epic, one of the most-famous films of the silent era, stars Ramon Novarro as Judah and Francis X. Bushman as Messala.
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 Warner Home Video
2005 DVD edition
Ben-Hur (1959), color, 222 minutes, Rated G, with Ben-Hur (1925), black & white, color-tinted black & white and color, 143 minutes, not rated.
Warner Home Video, 67535,
UPC 0-12569-67535-3, ISBN 1-4198-1079-0.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD disc (four 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 5.5 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 foreign language subtitles; closed captions; 39 chapter stops; cardboard wrap with plastic DVD trays in cardboard slipcase; $39.95.
Release date: 13 September 2005.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 8 / audio: 9 / additional content: 8 / overall: 8.
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This four-disc DVD set includes the Photoplay Productions presentation of the silent Ben-Hur (1925), with music score composed by Carl Davis. This edition of the film has not been available to collectors on home video since its 1990s appearance on MGM Home Video laserdisc. The picture is moderately flecked with dust and speckling, very mild frame jitters, and other minor flaws.
Word has reached us that there are a few examples of different intertitles and missing shots in this edition when compared to the laserdisc edition.
The bonus to silent-film collectors is the remastered Ben-Hur (1959) featuring Charlton Heston but, of course, a number of remastered editions has been released on Blu-ray Disc.
This is, beyond any doubt, the only edition of Ben-Hur worth owning on DVD home video. We wait eagerly for a remastered edition released on Blu-ray Disc.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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 Oasis Video
2009 DVD edition
Ben-Hur (1925), black & white, 143 minutes, not rated.
Oasis Video, unknown catalog number, UPC 8-809116-454996.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD 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, optional Korean language subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; unknown suggested retail price.
Release date: 2009.
Country of origin: South Korea
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This Korean DVD edition appeared for sale on eBay in 2009.
Korean DVD product has a tradition of low bit-rate disc encoding that renders coarse picture images with easily-seen video compression artifacts. That may be the case with this edition.
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United Kingdom: Click logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.co.uk. Support Silent Era.
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 Unidentified Chinese
2005 DVD edition
Ben-Hur (1925), black & white, color-tinted black & white and color?, ? minutes, not rated.
Unidentified Chinese company,
unknown catalog number, unknown UPC number.
One single-sided, dual-layered?, Region 2 NTSC DVD 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, Chinese language subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; unknown suggested retail price.
Release date: 2005.
Country of origin: China
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This Chinese DVD edition appeared for sale on eBay in late 2005 and reputedly has been mastered from the Kevin Brownlow and David Gill video edition that features music by Carl Davis.
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This Region 2 NTSC DVD edition is . . .
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 IVCF
2003 DVD edition
Ben-Hur (1925), black & white, 141 minutes, not rated.
IVCF, IVCF-2176, UPC 4-933672-227894.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 2 NTSC DVD 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, Japanese language subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; ¥3500.
Release date: 20 June 2003.
Country of origin: Japan
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This Japanese DVD edition contains “explanitory footage” by film critic by Nagaharu Yodogawa.
Probably not to be recommended.
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This Region 2 NTSC DVD edition is . . .
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Other silent era RAMON NOVARRO films available on home video.
Other TECHNICOLOR FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
Other RELIGIOUS FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
Other silent film music scores by CARL DAVIS available on home video.
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