Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2026 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
|
The Arizona
Express
(1924)
|
This Fox railroad melodrama, directed by Thomas Buckingham, stars David Butler and Pauline Starke, with Evelyn Brent, Anne Cornwall, Harold Goodwin and Francis MacDonald, in another villain role.
|
 Grapevine Video
2005 DVD edition
The Arizona Express (1924), color-tinted black & white and color-toned black & white, 82 minutes, not rated, with Her Torpedoed Love (1917) [1924 rerelease version], black & white, 22 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10017-8.
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 4.6 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 224 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 6 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $16.95 (reduced to $14.95).
Release date: 2005.
Country of origin: USA •
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 3 / additional content: 4 / overall: 3.
|
This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a 16mm reduction print of the British or Canadian release version. The older analog video transfer is not very detailed but is only moderately contrasty with dense shadows and some featureless highlights that the color-tinting helps to disguise. Dust, speckling, exposure fluctuations, splices, and other print flaws will be seen.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting low-fidelity recordings that are crudely edited together.
Supplemental material is limited to a Louise Fazanda and Ford Sterling short, Her Torpedoed Love (1917).
For now, this is our recommended home video edition of the film.
This review was updated in 2025.
|
|
|
This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
|
|
|
 Alpha Video
2020 DVD edition
The Arizona Express (1924), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, with Blood and Steel (1925), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 8313D, UPC 0-89218-83139-2.
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; $7.98 (raised again to $9.99).
Release date: 11 February 2020.
Country of origin: USA
|
|
This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm or 8mm reduction print.
The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
|
|
This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
ALPHA VIDEO through . . .
|
|
|
 Loving the Classics
201? DVD edition
The Arizona Express (1924), black & white, 70 minutes, not rated.
Loving the Classics, no catalog number, no 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; $19.99 (raised to $20.49).
Release date: 201?.
Country of origin: USA
|
|
This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm reduction print.
The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
Note that this company apparently has a history of pirating other home video editions or pirating television network recordings to produce their products. Be aware that purchasing pirated home video editions does not benefit the original edition producers nor the composers whose music is often pirated as well.
|
|
|
This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
|
|
|
|
Other RAILROAD FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
|
