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 Canary
Murder Case
(1929)
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William Powell stars as Detective Philo Vance in this early-sound murder mystery, with Jean Arthur, James Hall, Louise Brooks, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Charles Lane, Eugene Pallette, Lawrence Grant and Ned Sparks.
Brooks’ last American silent film is actually her first sound film. Produced as a silent film, Paramount decided to add a soundtrack to the film by reshooting some scenes for dialogue and post-synching with dubbed sound. The studio attempted to persuade Brooks, who was by then making films in Germany, to return to America for sound reshoots. When she refused, her dialogue was post-synched by another actress who also appeared (dressed and bobbed like Louise) in some dialog scenes.
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 KL Studio Classics
2024 Blu-ray Disc edition
Philo Vance Collection (1929-1930), black & white, 213 minutes total, not rated, including The Canary Murder Case (1929), black & white, 80 minutes, not rated, The Greene Murder Case (1929), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, and The Benson Murder Case (1930), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Kino Lorber, K26651, UPC 7-38329-26651-6.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc; 1.20:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) 24 fps progressive scan image encoded in SDR AVC format at ? Mbps average video bit rate; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono sound encoded at ? Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, optional English language subtitles; chapter stops; standard BD keepcase; $39.95.
Release date: 21 May 2024.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 8 / audio: 7 / additional content: 8 / overall: 8.
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This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from a new 4K restoration of the film which is finely detailed and relatively (but not completely) free of dust, speckling, scratches, scuffing, and other flaws. No image stabilization has been performed.
The film is accompanied by its original synchronized soundtrack of music and post-synched dialogue. The soundtrack is just as clean of excessive hissing, crackles, pops and other audio flaws common to sound films of this vintage.
Supplemental material includes a new 4K restoration of The Greene Murder Case and a 2K restoration of The Benson Murder Case; audio commentaries for The Canary Murder Case and The Greene Murder Case by film historian Kim Newman and writer Barry Forshaw; and audio commentary for The Benson Murder Case by film scholar Jason A. Ney.
Obviously, this is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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This
Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition is also available directly from . . .
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 eMoviez
200? DVD edition
The Canary Murder Case (1929), black & white, 77 minutes, not rated.
eMoviez, unknown 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 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $22.99.
Release date: 2004.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been transferred from a 16mm reduction print.
Overall, the disc is of good quality and is very watchable despite the quality of the 16mm source print.
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EMOVIEZ no longer sells home video products and this item is . . .
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 Sunrise Silents
2004 DVD edition
The Canary Murder Case (1929), color-toned black & white, 77 minutes, not rated.
Sunrise Silents,
CMCL-N (NTSC) and CMCL-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 ? 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, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $20.95.
Release date: 2004.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has been transferred from a 16mm reduction print.
Overall, the disc is of good quality and is watchable.
If you own a copy of this disc please consider loaning it to us to review for documentation purposes. We pay postage both ways.
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SUNRISE SILENTS has discontinued business and this edition is . . .
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Other silent era WILLIAM POWELL films available on home video.
Other silent era LOUISE BROOKS films available on home video.
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Louise Brooks filmography in The Progressive Silent Film List
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