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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The
Big Parade
(1925)
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This King Vidor production of Laurence Stallings’ World War I screen story stars John Gilbert and Renée Adorée. Some of the best-loved sequences of the silent era come from this influential film.
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 Warner Home Video
2013 Blu-ray Disc edition
The Big Parade (1925), black & white and color-tinted black & white, 151 minutes, not rated (Canadian Home Video Rating G).
Warner Home Video, 3000051949, UPC 8-83929-26508-4.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region A Blu-ray Disc; 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 25.8 Mbps average video bit rate; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 1.6 Mbps audio bit rate (music), and Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate (commentary); English language intertitles, optional English SDH, French and Spanish language subtitles; 16 chapter stops; plastic tray in BD book; $27.98.
Release date: 1 October 2013.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 9 / audio: 9 / additional content: 7 / overall: 9.
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This Blu-ray Disc edition marks the first North American home video edition of The Big Parade since the 1990s. This edition has been mastered from a new 4K high-definition video transfer from a 35mm rerelease print, as produced by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill for Thames Television in England.
The film is presented with an excellent music score composed by Carl Davis.
The supplemental material includes an optional audio commentary by Jeffrey Vance with audio comments by director King Vidor, a theatrical trailer for the film, and the short subject 1925 Studio Tour (1925), which has been transferred from a good 16mm reduction print and is presented without accompanying music.
No doubt about it, this Blu-ray Disc is the best home video edition available. Highly recommended!
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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 Warner Home Video
2013 DVD edition
The Big Parade (1925), black & white and color-tinted black & white, 151 minutes, not rated (Canadian Home Video Rating G).
Warner Home Video,
unknown catalog number, UPC 8-83929-30975-7.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 1 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 English and French language subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $14.95.
Release date: 1 October 2013.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD edition marks the first North American home video edition of The Big Parade since the 1990s. This edition has been mastered from a new 4K high-definition video transfer, based on the television presentation edition produced by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill for Thames Television in England.
The film is presented with an excellent music score composed by Carl Davis.
The supplemental material includes an optional audio commentary by Jeffrey Vance with audio comments by director King Vidor, a theatrical trailer for the film, and the short subject 1925 Studio Tour (1925), which has been transferred from a good 16mm reduction print and is presented without accompanying music.
We expect this to be the best DVD home video edition of The Big Parade available.
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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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 Nacadih Video
2012 DVD edition
The Big Parade (1925), black & white, 162 minutes, not rated.
Nacadih Video,
unknown catalog number, UPC 8-436008-81614-5.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 PAL 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 Castilian language subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; unknown suggested retail price.
Release date: 2012.
Country of origin: Spain
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This PAL DVD edition is the first known DVD home video edition of The Big Parade. It reportedly has been mastered from a commercial VHS videotape. The visual quality is likely to be only fair to good.
North American collectors will need a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 PAL DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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United Kingdom: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 PAL DVD edition from Amazon.co.uk. Support Silent Era.
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Other silent era KING VIDOR films available on home video.
Other silent era JOHN GILBERT films available on home video.
Other silent era WORLD WAR I film available on home video.
Other silent film music scores by CARL DAVIS available on home video.
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