 Grapevine Video
2009 DVD edition
Films of Edwin S. Porter (1898-1905), black & white, 111 minutes total, not rated, including Elopement on Horseback (1898), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Strange Adventure of New York Drummer (1899), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Uncle Josh’s Nightmare (1900), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Terrible Teddy, the Grizzly King (1901), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Love by the Light of the Moon (1901), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Circular Panorama of Electric Tower (1901), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Panorama of Esplanade by Night (1901), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Martyred Presidents (1901), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show (1902), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The Twentieth Century Tramp; or, Happy Hooligan and His Airship (1902), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Fun in a Bakery Shop (1902), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Jack and the Beanstalk (1902), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The Life of an American Fireman (1903), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Slavery Days (1903), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The Gay Shoe Clerk (1903), black & white, 1 minute, not rated, Rounding Up of the “Yeggmen” (1904), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The European Rest Cure (1904), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The Ex-Convict (1904), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The Kleptomaniac (1905), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The Seven Ages (1905), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, How Jones Lost His Roll (1905), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, and The Whole Dam Family and the Dam Dog (1905), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10367-4.
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 5.0 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; 22 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $14.95.
Release date: November 2009.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 4 / audio: 4 / additional content: 4 / overall: 4.
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This DVD-R collection has been mastered from the old Library of Congress 16mm reduction compilation prints prepared from the paper print collection that were duplicated in the 1950s and were originally released on VHS videotape home video by Kartes Video in the 1980s. The results are clearer than the old VHS copies but here most of the films can still be quite contrasty, with deep black and burnt-out highlight details, dust, speckling, frame jitters, and other print flaws.
The films are accompanied by soundtracks compiled from a variety of preexisting low-fidelity music recordings, both vintage and contemporary.
For our comparative reviews of some of the individual films in this collection, see our The Gay Shoe Clerk on home video page.
For years we have looked for an excuse to dump those old videotapes. This collection, at least partially, allows us to do that. For now, this is our recommended home video edition of some of these films, but knowing that at some time in the future the films surviving exclusively as 35mm paper prints will be revisited for restoration with digital equipment that will stabilize, correct exposure problems and provide great image resolution.
This review was updated in 2025.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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