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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Beau Geste
(1926)
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This well-known adventure drama, directed by Herbert Brenon, stars Ronald Colman and Neil Hamilton, with support from Noah Beery, Mary Brian, William Powell and Victor McLaglen.
This big-budget adaptation of the Percival Christopher Wren novel became a huge hit for Paramount Pictures in 1926-1927.
When three British brothers are suspected of the theft of a large, valuable sapphire, they end up in the French Foreign Legion among other fugitives battling vicious Arabs and Noah Beery.
The original roadshow version of the film is presumed lost. The film was digitally restored in 2025 from six different surviving prints of the 1926 general release version and a later 1927 reedited (possibly sound rerelease) version. Technicolor two-strip color process sequences have apparently not survived.
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 Film Preserve / Maltese Film Works
2025 Blu-ray Disc edition
Beau Geste (1926), black & white, color-tinted black & white, and color-toned black & white, 129 minutes, not rated.
The Film Preserve and The Maltese Film Works,
FPMFW002, UPC 8-40418-33837-7.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc (BD-R BDMV); 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 21.4 Mbps average video bit rate; LPCM 5.1 surround sound encoded at 1.9 Mbps average audio bit rate (music), Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate (commentary), and Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate (radioplay); English language intertitles, no subtitles; 18 chapter stops; 12-page insert booklet; standard BD keepcase; $34.95.
Release date: 25 November 2025.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 9 / audio: 9 / additional content: 8 / overall: 9.
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This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from 4K high-definition scans of six different very-good to excellent 35mm and 16mm archival film prints, including those held by Paramount Pictures, Library of Congress, UCLA Film and Television Archive, The Museum of Modern Art, and George Eastman Museum. Footage from cropped sound rerelease prints has been digitally composited from full-frame prints to restore the left portion of the picture once lost to analog soundtracks. The scans have been digitally stabilized and cleaned of most examples of dust, speckling, emulsion scuffing, exposure fluctuations, and other print flaws. Some slight frame jitters and faint print flaws remain but generally do not distract. We dare say that this film will never look better than it does here — excellent restoration work.
The film is accompanied by an excellent music score compiled by Rodney Sauer and performed by The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. As always, first-rate work.
Supplemental material includes audio commentary by film historian Frank Thompson; a 1939 radio play adaptation of the source novel featuring Orson Welles and Laurence Olivier (60 minutes); the featurette “Music for Beau Geste” with Rodney Sauer (12 minutes); an image gallery of promotional stills (18 images); an image gallery of the Beau Geste premiere souvenir booklet (10 images); a restoration demonstration (4 minutes); and a 12-page insert booklet with notes by Frank Thompson.
This is our highly-recommended home video edition of the film.
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This Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc (BD-R) edition is available from
FILM PRESERVE / MALTESE FILM WORKS through . . .
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 Grapevine Video
2023 Blu-ray Disc edition
Beau Geste (1926), black & white, 102? minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video,
no catalog number, unknown UPC number.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 Blu-ray Disc (BD-R BDMV); 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 ? Mbps average video bit rate; LPCM 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard BD keepcase; $21.95.
Release date: February 2023.
Country of origin: USA
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This Blu-ray Disc edition has been prepared from a 2K scan of a complete 16mm reduction print.
The film is accompanied by a piano music score by David Drazin.
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This Region 0 Blu-ray Disc (BD-R) edition is available directly from . . .
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 Grapevine Video
2023 DVD edition
Beau Geste (1926), black & white, 102? minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, unknown 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; $16.95.
Release date: February 2023.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD edition has been prepared from a 2K scan of a complete 16mm reduction print.
The film is accompanied by a piano music score by David Drazin.
Sight unseen, this is our recommnded DVD home video edition of the film.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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 Alpha Video
2022 DVD edition
Beau Geste (1926), black & white, 101 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 8475D, UPC 0-89218-84759-1.
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 ? 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; $8.98 (raised to $9.99).
Release date: 15 February 2022.
Country of origin: USA
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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.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
ALPHA VIDEO through . . .
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 Loving the Classics
201? DVD edition
Beau Geste (1926), black & white, 101 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 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $14.99 (raised to $15.49).
Release date: 201?.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm reduction print.
The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting 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.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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Nostalgia Family Video
2010 DVD edition
Beau Geste (1926), black & white, 100 minutes, not rated.
Nostalgia Family Video, 5302D, unknown 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 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $19.99.
Release date: 2010.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition was likely mastered from a 16mm reduction print.
The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting recordings.
Over the years, this company has released DVD-R editions under a number of company names, with the same catalog number and UPC number, including Nostalgia Family Video, Hollywood’s Attic, RetroFlix, and (as of 2015) Reel Vault.
If you own a copy of this disc please consider loaning it to us to review for documentation purposes. We pay postage both ways.
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NOSTALGIA FAMILY VIDEO has discontinued business
and this DVD-R edition is . . .
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Other silent era RONALD COLMAN films available on home video.
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