Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2026 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Ashes of Vengeance (1923)

Norma Talmadge stars in this historical drama directed by Frank Lloyd, which features Conway Tearle, Wallace Beery, Josephine Crowell, Betty Francisco and Claire McDowell.

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.

Sight unseen, this is our recommended home video edition of the film.

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

This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 35mm or 16mm reduction print (as might be surmised from the publisher-provided still frame above). It is likely that throughout the presentation a faint “SHF-E” watermark appears in the lower right-hand corner of the picture to discourage pirating; as this edition was likely pirated from some other home video edition or from some Internet streaming source, we find this to be ludicrous.

The film is likely to be presented with a music score compiled from preexisting recordings.

The edition’s supplemental features include a preface by Alex Staykov; excerpts from the Silent Hall of Fame documentary “Breaking the Silence” (2015); and an introduction to the film.

Even if the video quality is better than the poor Alpha Video edition noted below, we think that the cost of this edition is totally bloated and indefensible. We vehemently criticize this publisher for their overpriced offerings that give the consumer as little value as possible.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available through . . .

This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a good to very-good 16mm reduction print that appears to have been sourced from a VHS videotape, as the picture details are blurry. On the plus side, shadow details remain open instead of the dark, featureless shadows that are common in most video transfers from 16mm prints.

The film is presented with a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.

This review was updated in 2025.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from ALPHA VIDEO through . . .