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Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
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The Trail of
the Octopus
(1919-1920)

This Hallmark serial, starring Ben Wilson and Neva Gerber, survives (except for chapter nine) in the Library of Congress.

The Serial Squadron
2024 Blu-ray Disc edition

The Trail of the Octopus (1919-1920), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.

The Serial Squadron,
no catalog number, unknown UPC number.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 Blu-ray Disc (BD-R BDMV); 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (1280 x 720 pixels) 24 fps progressive scan image encoded in SDR AVC format at ? Mbps average video bit rate; LPCM 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard BD keepcase; $21.95.
Release date: 2024.
Country of origin: USA

This updated BD-R edition has been mastered from the surviving 35mm positive chapter prints held by the Library of Congress. New HD scans with image stabilization, digital clean-up and deflickering have been performed. Missing footage unavailable in the Serial Squadron’s previous DVD edition has been accessed from newly-discovered alternate sources. Note that this edition is of lower HD resolution than most Blu-ray Discs.

The film is accompanied by a music score.

This is our recommended home video edition of the film.

This Region 0 Blu-ray Disc (BD-R) edition is available directly from . . .

The Serial Squadron
2012 DVD edition

The Trail of the Octopus (1919-1920), color-tinted black & white, ? minutes, not rated.

The Serial Squadron, no catalog number, no UPC number.
Three single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R discs; 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 three-disc DVD keepcase; $39.95.
Release date: 1 October 2012.
Country of origin: USA

The source material for this home video edition, produced by Eric Stedman, is the original and only surviving 35mm positive print from the Library of Congress, recovered and donated by Henry Miyamoto in 2001. The picture is very sharp with occasional minor issues of focus going in and out mainly in episode one due to the age and warping of the print. One chapter of the serial, chapter nine, is not known to exist in any form anywhere but a summary of the action has been included. The set includes all 14 surviving chapters.

The presentation is accompanied by a music score by Kevin McLeod.

This first edition has been replaced by the upgraded Blu-ray Disc edition noted above.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition has been discontinued
and is . . .