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
Chess Player
(1927)
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This feature drama, directed by Raymond Bernard, stars Pierre Blanchar and Charles Dullin, with Edith Jehanne, Camille Bert, Pierre Batcheff, Marcelle Charles, Jacky Monnier and Armand Bernard.
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 The Milestone Collection
2003 DVD edition
The Chess Player (1927), color-tinted black & white, 140 minutes, not rated.
Milestone Film & Video, distributed by Image Entertainment,
ID1980MLSDVD, UPC 0-14381-19802-7.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 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; 18 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $29.99.
Release date: 29 July 2003.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD edition of Raymond Bernardâs epic film has been mastered from Photoplay Productionsâ 35mm restoration print, copied from first-generation nitrate prints struck from the original 35mm nitrate negative, as prepared for broadcast on Thames Television in England. The results are very-good.
Supplemental material includes an audio interview with Tom Standage, an original French press kit gallery (11 images), a text interview with director Raymond Bernard (only available on the disc itself as a PDF), and a stills gallery (24 images).
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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 Loving the Classics
2025 DVD edition
The Chess Player (1927), black & white, 135 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 stereo 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: 4 December 2025.
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.
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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Other FRENCH FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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