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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The
Blue Bird
(1918)
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This feature drama, directed by Maurice Tourneur, stars Tula Belle and Robin Macdougall, with Edwin E. Reed, Emma Lowry, William J. Gross, Florence Anderson, Edward Elkas, Katherine Bianchi, Lillian Cook and Gertrude McCoy.
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 Kino on Video
2005 DVD edition
The Blue Bird (1918), color-toned black & white, 81 minutes, not rated.
Kino International,
unknown catalog number, unknown UPC number.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD 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; $29.95.
Release date: 6 September 2005.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD edition, transferred from a preservation print from the George Eastman Museum film archive nitrate print, features a music score compiled by Rodney Sauer and performed by The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.
Also included are exerpts from the Maeterlinck play.
This is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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This Region 1 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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 Grapevine Video
2005 DVD edition
The Blue Bird (1918), color-toned black & white, 74 minutes, not rated, with Behind the Screen (1916), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10021-5.
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 (reduced to $14.95).
Release date: August 2005.
Country of origin: USA
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Released virtually head-to-head against the Kino edition above, this Grapevine DVD-R edition is reputed been mastered from the Museum of Modern Art restored print (we thought that George Eastman Museum held the only print).
The film is likely accompanied by a music score of preexisting recordings.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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 Alpha Video
2013 DVD edition
The Blue Bird (1918), black & white, 80 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 7130D, UPC 0-89218-71309-4.
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; $6.98 (raised again to $9.99).
Release date: 27 August 2013.
Country of origin: USA
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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.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
ALPHA VIDEO through . . .
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Other silent era MAURICE TOURNEUR films available on home video.
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