Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Le meilleur de Retour de Flamme Volumes 1-8 (1896-1961)

Contents: Volume 1: Partie de cartes (1896), Sortie d’usine (1896), Arrivée d’un train (1897), L’écrin du rajah (1906), Titanic (1912), Kid’s Auto Race (1914), Shakhmataia goriachka [Chess Fever] (1925), Le pompier des Folies-Bergère (1928), Celles qui s’en font (1930), The Stolen Jools (1931), Meet Me Down at Coney Isle (1932), Un monsieur qui a mangé du taureau (1935), Tulips Shall Grow (1942), Louis Lumière vous parle (1948);
Volume 2: Pour la fête de sa mère (1906), Kiriki, acrobates japonais (1907), La Marseillaise (1907), La corsa alla scimmia [La course au singe] (1909), Those Awful Hats (1909), The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916), Les circuits de l’alcool (1918), Petites causes & grands effets (1918), Pour régister à la tuberculose (1918), [Baisers volés] (circa 1910s-1920s), Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pride (1925), Mode de Paris (1926), Black and Tan (1929), Clo-cloche (1935), Play Safe (1936), Le bon example (1938), Porky’s Preview (1941);
Volume 3: Danse serpentine dans la cage aux lions (1900), Kobelkoff, le torse humain (1900), The Great Train Robbery (1903), Les cochon danseur (1907), Madame Babylas aime les animaux (1911), Les chevaliers de la cloche de bois (1920), Comme au temps de fées (1920), Un drame à la cuisine (1920), Faites comme le nègre (1920), Le résponse de l’au-delà (1920), Le testament de Findubec (1920), Never Weaken (1921), What a Whopper (1921), Au pays des colosses et des pygmées (1924), Cartoon Factory (1924), Jazz “Hot” (1939), Hollywood Steps Out (1941), Actualités burlesques (1948);
Volume 4: La peine du talion (1906), Le crue de la Seine (1910), Les femmes députés (1912), Alice in Wonderland (1915), Les gosses de la butte (1916), Lizzies of the Field (1924), I’ll Say She Is (1931), La joie de vivre (1934), MGM Promo Reel (1936), To Spring (1936), Philips Broadcast of 1938 (1938), Male Order (1941), Playmates (1944), The Sheik of Araby (1944);
Volume 5: Cyrano de Bergerac (1900), Excursion dans la lune (1908), Arthème avale sa clarinette (1912), The Cook (1918), By Indian Post (1919), La Raid en avion (1924), La Samaritaine (1930), Amour et publicité (1932), Ain’t She Sweet (1933), All This and Rabbit Stew (1941), [Publi-Ciné] (1935-1950);
Volume 6: Confession (1905), Facheuse méprise (1905), Le pecheur de perles (1907), Chasse à la girafe en Ouganda (1910), Making of an American Citizen (1912), Suspense (1913), The Pest (1922), Post No Bills (1923), Der Flug um den Erdball [chapter 6] (1924), Grégor et ses Grégoriens (1930), Makin’ ’em Move (1931), Balloon Land (1935), Le bon boa (1935), Bip . . . bip . . . bip . . . ici Paris (1950), Brillantine Cadoricin (1950), Ma femme de menage est une sorcière (1955), Massacre de la musique (1955);
Volume 7: A Day with the Gypsies (1905), La poule aux deufs d’or (1905), La farfale (1907), Le premier prix de violoncelle (1907), L’homme mystérieux (1910), Duel au shrapnell (1913), North of 50-50 (1924), The House That Dinky Built (1925), The Fresh Lobster (1928), Battling Sisters (1929), Pierre dac vous parle (1938), Moonlight Cocktail (1942), Le rugby (1950), Dentblanche au vernissage (1952), Minute de chance no. 20 (1952), Minute de chance no. 28 (1952), [Trailer for The Bell Boy] (1960), [Trailer for The Ladies’ Man] (1961);
Volume 8: [Attack on the Railway] (1906), A Trip Down Market Street (1906), [San Francisco après la catastrophe] (1906), Le moulin maudit (1909), [Un voyage en aéroplane avec Wilbur Wright] (1909), For His Son (1912), Comment on apprend à nager avec une assiette (1925), Danger Ahead (1926), L’Afrique de Nord en Technicolor bichrome (1930), The Wizard of Oz (1933), [Louis Armstrong à Copenhague] (1934), Angels in Dirty Places (1938), Christmas at the Termite Terrace (1939).

This PAL DVD boxset collects the eight volumes of films, spanning the silent era and beyond the golden era of cinema, culls nitrate films from the holdings of FPA France (Lobster Films collection). Some films were provided by Film Preservation Associates.

The silent films are accompanied by music scores performed by Neil Brand, Éric Le Guen, Eric Beheim and Gaylord Carter.

For our comparative reviews of some of the individual films in this boxset, see our Lizzies of the Field on home video and Those Awful Hats on home video pages.

This boxset is highly recommended however please note that there are no English language intertitles except for the American films and that there are no English language subtitles to Bromberg’s verbal introductions or to the foreign language films. North American collectors will need a PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.

France: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 PAL DVD boxset from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 PAL DVD boxset from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Other silent era D.W. GRIFFITH films available on home video.

Other FRENCH FILMS of the silent era available on home video.

Other SHORT DRAMA FILMS of the silent era available on home video.

Other SHORT COMEDY FILMS of the silent era available on home video.