Silent Era : Home Video Reviews

Silent Era Home Page > Home Video > Turpin Time: Ben Turpin Comedy Classics

Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2026 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved.

Turpin Time
Ben Turpin
Comedy Classics
(1917-1927)

Contents: Why Ben Bolted (1917), Yukon Jake (1924), A Harem Knight (1926) and Broke in China (1927).

Alpha Video
2011 DVD edition

Turpin Time: Ben Turpin Comedy Classics (1917-1927), black & white, 89 minutes total, not rated, including Why Ben Bolted (1917), black & white, 26 minutes, not rated, Yukon Jake (1924), black & white, 20 minutes, not rated, A Harem Knight (1926), black & white, 23 minutes, not rated, and Broke in China (1927), black & white, 21 minutes, not rated.

Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 6549D, UPC 0-89218-65499-1.
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 4.4 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; 4 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $7.98 (raised again to $9.99).
Release date: 26 April 2011.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 3 / additional content: 0 / overall: 3.

This DVD-R collection has been mastered from a range of 16mm and 8mm reduction prints. The visual quality is below average.

Why Ben Bolted (1917) has been mastered from a fair 8mm reduction print that is quite marked with emulsion scuffing and speckling.

Yukon Jake (1924) has been mastered from a fair 16mm reduction print. The image is greyed-out and tightly cropped. The film can be found in better-looking home video editions.

A Harem Knight (1926) has been mastered from a fair 16mm reduction print with a substantial amount of emusion scuffing. The resulting picture is flat and greyed-out.

Broke in China (1927) has been transferred from a fair to good 16mm reduction print that is quite greyed.

The films are accompanied by soundtracks compiled from preexisting music recordings.

We wouldn’t recommend this below-average disc but a couple of the films are available nowhere else on home video.

This review was updated in 2026.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
ALPHA VIDEO through . . .