Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2026 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
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Bad Boy
(1925)
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This two-reel comedy, directed by Leo McCarey, stars Charley Chase and Martha Sleeper, with Evelyn Burns, Hardee Kirkland, Noah Young, Eddie Borden, Dick Gilbert and Charlie Hall.
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 All Day Entertainment
2009 DVD edition
Becoming Charley Chase (1915-1926), black & white, 460 minutes total, not rated, including Bad Boy (1925), black & white, 18 minutes, not rated.
All Day Entertainment, distributed by VCI Entertainment,
8562, UPC 0-89859-85622-8, ISBN 1-55739-587-X.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD disc (four DVDs in the set); 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in windowboxed 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 four-disc DVD keepcase; $39.99.
Release date: 28 July 2009.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD edition has been mastered from a good 16mm reduction print with a reasonable greyscale range and image details.
The film is accompanied by a music score.
For more information about other films in this collection, see our Becoming Charley Chase on home video page.
Right now, this is our recommended home video editon of the film.
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ALL DAY ENTERTAINMENT has discontinued disc sales
and this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition is . . .
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 The Milestone Cinematheque
2011 DVD edition
Cut the the Chase: The Charley Chase Collection (1924-1926), black & white, 303 minutes total, not rated, including Bad Boy (1925), black & white, 19 minutes, not rated.
Milestone Film & Video, distributed by Oscilloscope Laboratories (now distributed by Kino Lorber), Mile00118,
UPC 7-84148-01184-4, ISBN 978-1-933920-14-6.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc (two DVDs in the set); 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in windowboxed 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 two-disc DVD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 2011.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD collection of Charley Chase films is a supplement to other Chase previously-released collections.
The discs have been mastered from a combination of 35mm and 16mm source prints. The prints are generally good to very-good in quality, with a few exceptions at both extremes.
The films are accompanied by music scores composed and performed by Ben Model, David Drazin, David Knutsen, Donald Sosin, and Rodney Sauer.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition is available from
MILESTONE FILMS through . . .
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 Alpha Video
2014 DVD edition
Leo McCarey Directs (1924-1925), black & white, 57 minutes total, not rated, including Bad Boy (1925), black & white, 18 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 7386D, UPC 0-89218-73869-1.
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 7.0 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 384 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; no chapter stops (within the film); standard DVD keepcase; $7.98 (raised again to $9.99).
Release date: 27 May 2014.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 3 / additional content: 3 / overall: 3.
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This DVD-R collection has been mastered from a good 8mm reduction print, with dust, speckling, schmutz, emulsion scrapes. and other print flaws are present in the picture. Not terrible.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting jazz music recordings.
For information about other films in this collection, see our Leo McCarey Directs on home video page.
Not recommended.
This review was updated in 2026.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
ALPHA VIDEO through . . .
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 Falcon Picture Group
2002 DVD edition
Famous Comedy Legends, Volume 1 (1915-1947), black & white, 324 minutes total, not rated, including Bad Boy (1925), black & white, 19 minutes, not rated.
Falcon Picture Group, 1009,
UPC 8-22583-10099-7, ISBN 1-59171-009-X.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc (three DVDs in the set); 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; three standard DVD keepcases in cardboard slipcase; $24.99.
Release date: 1 July 2002.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 2 / audio: 3 / additional content: 3 / overall: 3.
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This DVD boxset is full of low-quality video transfers of short and feature-length films. At the time of its release, the majority of the titles were previously available from other budget disc producers of similar low-quality. At the time of its release, this boxset only premiered Bad Boy (1925) on home video and in such a horrible presentation as to not even count.
While the temptation is to get three discs for a low price, the quality of prints used for the video transfers are commensurately low.
Bad Boy is available in higher-quality home video editions elsewhere. Not recommended and it’s out-of-print now, anyway. No loss.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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Other silent era CHARLEY CHASE films available on home video.
Other KEYSTONE comedy films available on home video.
Other silent era ROSCOE ARBUCKLE films available on home video.
Other SHORT COMEDY FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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