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 Cardboard
Lover
(1928)
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This feature comedy, directed by Robert Z. Leonard, stars Marion Davies and Nils Asther, with Jetta Goudal, Tenen Holtz, Andres de Segurola and Pepi Lederer.
Autograph hound Sally (Davies) is a student in France pursuing European celebrities, including tennis star André Briault (Asther) and famous baritone Andres de Segurola. Golddigger Simone (Goudal) has her deceitful hooks into André who tries his best to forget her by entering into a faux romance with Sally.
Vivacious Sally wriggles her way between Simone and flustered André, eventually causing him to legitimately fall for her.
Marion Davies is a comedic marvel, as is to be expected, and Nils Asther rises to the occasion, turning in a satisfyingly entertaining comedic performance as well. Director Leonard is in top form; a sequence performed entirely by the characters’ feet is a revelation.
— Carl Bennett
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 Undercrank Productions
2026 Blu-ray Disc edition
The Cardboard Lover (1928), black & white, 79 minutes, not rated.
Undercrank Productions,
no catalog number, UPC 7-45808-09995-4.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc (BD-R BDMV); 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (3840 x 2160 pixels) 24 fps progressive scan image encoded in progressive scan image encoded in SDR AVC format at 33.6 Mbps average video bit rate; Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 12 chapter stops; standard BD keepcase; $21.98.
Release date: 4 August 2026.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 9 / additional content: 8 / overall: 8.
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This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from a 2K restoration from archival 35mm print materials held by the Library of Congress, Blackhawk Films and the British Film Institute National Archive. Some of the digital repair and clean-up work performed on the high-definition scans is well-documented in the edition’s restoration demonstration featurette. The scans have been digitally stabilized and instances of dirt, speckling and schmutz have been removed (with some still remaining). Some reels are rougher than others. Evidence of advanced nitrate decomposition in the surviving materials has been either removed or substantially lessened, and a few random frames are missing, lost to print splices. Overall, this edition makes for delightful viewing.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on virtual theatre pipe organ by Ben Model. A pleasing and appropriate accompaniment throughout.
Supplemental material includes the featurette “Marion Davies: Steward of Her Legacy” by Lara Gabrielle, with optional SDH subtitles (9 minutes); and a side-by-side restoration demonstration of the nitrate decomposition in reel 5 of the Davies print held by the Library of Congress (10 minutes).
This is our enthusiastically recommended home video edition of the film.
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This Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc (BD-R BDMV) edition is available directly from UNDERCRANK PRODUCTIONS through . . .
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 Undercrank Productions
2026 DVD edition
The Cardboard Lover (1928), black & white, 76 minutes, not rated.
Undercrank Productions,
no catalog number, UPC 7-45808-09996-1.
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 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $19.98.
Release date: 4 August 2026.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a 2K restoration from archival 35mm print materials held by the Library of Congress, Blackhawk Films and the British Film Institute National Archive. Some of the digital repair and clean-up work performed on the high-definition scans is well-documented in the edition’s restoration demonstration featurette. The scans have been digitally stabilized and instances of dirt, speckling and schmutz have been removed (with some still remaining). Some reels are rougher than others. Evidence of advanced nitrate decomposition in the surviving materials has been either removed or substantially lessened, and a few random frames are missing, lost to print splices.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on virtual theatre pipe organ by Ben Model.
Supplemental material includes the featurette “Marion Davies: Steward of Her Legacy” by Lara Gabrielle, with optional SDH subtitles (9 minutes); and a side-by-side restoration demonstration of the nitrate decomposition in reel 5 of the Davies print held by the Library of Congress (10 minutes).
This is our recommended DVD home video edition of the film.
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This Region 0 DVD-R edition is available directly from
UNDERCRANK PRODUCTIONS through . . .
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 Silent Gems Collection
2024 DVD edition
The Cardboard Lover (1928), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Silent Hall of Fame Enterprises, 264, 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; slimline CD jewelcase; $34.99 (raised again to $44.99).
Release date: 2024.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a VHS videotape copy of a 16mm reduction print (as might be surmised from the smeary 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 accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
We still vehemently criticize this publisher for their overpriced offerings that give the consumer as little value as possible.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available through . . .
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Other silent era MARION DAVIES films available on home video.
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