Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
|
A Knight of
the Trails
(1915)
|
This Western short, directed by William S. Hart, stars William S. Hart, Leona Hutton and Frank Borzage.
Most (if not all) surviving prints have been duplicated from the 1923 rerelease version, which was titled Knight of the Trail.
|
 Grapevine Video
2005 DVD edition
The Films of William S. Hart (1915), black & white, 74 minutes total, not rated, including A Knight of the Trails (1915), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, 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; $16.95 (reduced to $14.95).
Release date: April 2005.
Country of origin: USA
|
|
This DVD-R collection of William S. Hart two-reelers has been mastered from 16mm reduction prints.
The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack culled from preexisting music recordings.
|
|
USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
|
|
|
|
This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is also available directly from . . .
|
|
|
 Sunrise Silents
2006 DVD edition
She (1925), color-tinted black & white, 74 minutes, not rated, with A Knight of the Trails (1915), color-tinted black & white, 24 minutes, not rated.
Sunrise Silents,
SBBH-N (NTSC) and SBBH-P (PAL), no UPC number.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC or PAL 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 3.4 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; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $23.95.
Release date: 26 July 2006.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 4 / audio: 4 / additional content: 4 / overall: 4.
|
This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a 16mm reduction print of the 1923 rerelease version. As is to be expected, the print is soft of image details, with significant dust, speckling, and other print flaws.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from royalty-free MIDI files played through a MIDI synthesizer. Actually, a detriment to this presentation.
In his recent releases, edition producer Rich Oliver offers more in additional disc features than any other independent home video company. Lizzies of the Field (1924), A Knight of the Trails (1915), the Mystery of the Double Cross (1917) episode, and The 1918 Maxwell (1918) are presented from good 16mm reduction prints. Also included is a trailer for The Head Man (1928), and still galleries of glass advertising slides and photoplay book covers.
Not recommended but the edition is out-of-print, anyway.
|
|
SUNRISE SILENTS has discontinued business and this edition is . . .
|
|
|
 Alpha Video
2011 DVD edition
William S. Hart: Knight of the Trail (1915-1927), black & white, 80 minutes total, not rated, including A Knight of the Trails (1915), black & white, 18 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 6522D, UPC 0-89218-65229-4.
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 4.8 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 384 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; no chapter stops (within the film); standard DVD keepcase; $7.98 (raised to $8.98).
Release date: 29 March 2011.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 3 / additional content: 3 / overall: 3.
|
This DVD edition has been mastered from a good 8mm reduction print of the 1923 rerelease version.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
Not recommended.
|
|
USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
|
|
|
|
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
|
|
|
|
United Kingdom: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.co.uk. Support Silent Era.
|
|
|
|
This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is also available directly from . . .
|
|
|
|
Other WILLIAM S. HART films available on home video.
Other WESTERN FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
Other SHORT DRAMA FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
|
|
William S. Hart filmography in The Progressive Silent Film List
|
|
