Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2025 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
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Thunderbolt
(1929)
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This full-sound crime drama, directed by Josef von Sternberg, stars George Bancroft and Fay Wray, with Richard Arlen, Tully Marshall, Eugenie Besserer, James Spottswood, Fred Kohler and Mike Donlin.
Bancroft’s dialogue delivery slows to a point it drags down the picture in the last reel.
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 KL Studio Classics
2021 Blu-ray Disc edition
Thunderbolt (1929), black & white, 85 minutes, not rated.
Kino Lorber, K25420, UPC 7-38329-25420-9.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region A Blu-ray Disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) 24 fps progressive scan image encoded in SDR AVC format at 39.2 Mbps average video bit rate; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono sound encoded at 1.6 Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 9 chapter stops; standard BD keepcase; $24.95.
Release date: 20 July 2021.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 7 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.
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This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from a very-good archival 35mm print. The source material appears to be a duplicate print (rather than original nitrate) as picture details are a bit soft. Dust, speckling, schmutz, mild frame jitters, emulsion chipping, long vertical scratches (in the third reel) and other flaws remain.
The film is presented with its original synchronized soundtrack, which appears to have been digitally cleaned up but still has occasional swells of hissing. Dialogue is quite clear most of the time.
Supplementary material consists solely of audio commentary by film critic Nick Pinkerton.
This is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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This
Region A Blu-ray Disc edition is available directly from . . .
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 KL Studio Classics
2021 DVD edition
Thunderbolt (1929), black & white, 85 minutes, not rated.
Kino Lorber, K25419, UPC 7-38329-25419-3.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 1 DVD; 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 BD keepcase; $14.95.
Release date: 20 July 2021.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD edition has been mastered from a very-good archival 35mm print.
The film is presented with its original synchronized soundtrack.
Supplementary material consists solely of audio commentary by film critic Nick Pinkerton.
This is our recommended DVD home video edition of the film.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD edition is available directly from . . .
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Other silent era JOSEF VON STERNBERG films available on home video.
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