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

The Eyes of Julia Deep (1918)

One of the few surviving examples of Mary Miles Minter’s film career, The Eyes of Julia Deep is a prime example of Minter’s following the path already well-trod by Mary Pickford with its story of young and self-sufficient department store clerk Julia Deep helping a spoiled and profligate heir (Allan Forrest) learn the value of a day’s work.

The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed by David Knudtson.

This is our recommended home video edition of the film.

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This DVD-R edition from Sunrise Silents has utilized what appears to be a 16mm reduction print for its natural-speed video transfer. The source print is only good-to-very-good, with soft image details, typical 16mm contrastiness characterized by plugged-up shadows and nearly featureless highlights, dust and speckling, some frame jitters, and splices that reveal gaps in the narrative. Intertitles are readable throughout.

The disc features musical accompaniment performed on a MIDI-based synthesizer.

Supplemental material includes a Mary Miles Minter photo gallery (15 images), glass slide gallery (13 images), a Keystone comedy starring Chester Conklin transferred from a good 16mm reduction print, the first episode of Mystery of the Double Cross (1917) transferred from a good 16mm reduction print, and exerpts from Old Heidelberg (1915) transferred from a good 16mm reduction print.

Don’t be misled by occasional claims by Sunrise Silents that their discs contain commentary on the film. As is commonly understood among DVD consumers, audio commentary is an alternative audio track that runs in conjunction with the film featuring historical and anecdotal information about the film and filmmakers. Sunrise Silents’ discs instead feature a video introduction by edition producer Rich Olivieri, which is referred to as “commentary,” that serves much the same purpose as the three-minute introductions to films featured on TCM and AMC cable networks.

An OK viewing experience, even on HD systems, we recommend the disc until a better edition comes along.

SUNRISE SILENTS has discontinued business and this edition is . . .

The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting recordings.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .