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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Custerâs
Last Fight
(1912)
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This early Thomas H. Ince western stars Francis Ford and Grace Cunard, with Chief William Eagleshirt, J. Barney Sherry, Art Acord, Ann Little, Lillian Christy and Charles K. French.
To his credit, Ince employed native peoples to portray Indians in his films rather than white actors in ridiculous makeup. However, we canât get used to soldiers saluting Custer with their left hand.
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 Grapevine Video
2005 DVD edition
Custerâs Last Fight (1912) [1925 rerelease version], black & white, 54 minutes, not rated, with The New Fire Chief (1912), black & white, 12 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, unknown 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 6.8 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 256 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 6 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $14.95.
Release date: January 2005.
Country of origin: USA âĒ
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 3 / additional content: 5 / overall: 3.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a fair to good 16mm reduction print (that looks more like an 8mm print) of the 1925 rerelease version of the film, which may be a compilation of Thomas H. Inceâs productions Custerâs Last Stand (1911) and Custerâs Last Fight (1912). The source print is quite soft in its picture details, with quite a few blasted-out highlights. And, yes, there is the normal amount of dust and speckling, persistent vertical scratches, and schmutz in the print.
The film is accompanied by a low-fidelity musical soundtrack culled from preexisting recordings. Truly . . . tough going.
Supplemental material is an IMP comedy from a fair to good 8mm reduction positive, with canned music.
For now, this is our recommended home video edition of the film. This disappointing disc should be acquired only for the sake of completeism. This disc looks quite a bit like the budget VHS videotapes we had to endure in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Somewhere there has to be a better-looking print of the film than this. Please.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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 Loving the Classics
201? DVD edition
Custerâs Last Fight (1912) [1925 rerelease version], black & white, 50 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: 201?.
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 WESTERN FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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