Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright ÂĐ 1999-2026 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
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The
Block Signal
(1926)
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This railroad drama from B studio Gotham Productions, directed by Frank OâConnor, features Ralph Lewis, Jean Arthur, Sidney Franklin, George Chesebro and Hugh Allen.
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 Alpha Video
2013 DVD edition
The Block Signal (1926), color-tinted black & white, 53 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 7257D, UPC 0-89218-72579-0.
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 6.2 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; 6 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $7.98 (raised again to $9.99).
Release date: 31 December 2013.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 2 / audio: 3 / additional content: 0 / overall: 3.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a fair 8mm reduction print with predictably low-quality results including a significant amount of dust, speckling, frame jitters, and other print flaws. The tightly-cropped picture is grainy, blurry and at times difficult to watch. How can you abuse Jean Arthur this way?
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting, low-fidelity music recordings.
While this disc is not ideal, it is the only known home video edition currently in-print.
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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 Sunrise Silents
2004 DVD edition
The Block Signal (1926), color-tinted black & white, 52 minutes, not rated, with Her First Flame (1920), color-tinted black & white, 24 minutes, not rated, and Cops (1922), color-tinted black & white, 20 minutes, not rated.
Sunrise Silents, V1N3-N, 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; $16.95.
Release date: 2004.
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 music score performed on MIDI synthesizers.
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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SUNRISE SILENTS has discontinued business and this edition is . . .
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Other silent era JEAN ARTHUR films available on home video.
Other RAILROAD FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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