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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Dancing Mothers
(1926)
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This minor Famous Players-Lasky drama, directed by Herbert Brenon, features Alice Joyce as a long-suffering wife and mother who gave up her career on the stage for a quiet family life. Meanwhile, her husband (Norman Trevor) and daughter (Clara Bow) are back from bouncing around Europe, bringing with them a couple of shipboard infatuations in the persons of a golddigging ‘Russian’ vamp and infamous playboy Gerald Naughton (Conway Tearle).
It is not long before we know who the true star of the film is. Alice Joyce’s somber, sad stares off into the lonely void that separates her from her selfish family cannot hold command of the screen in the wake of Clara Bow’s vivacious and winning performance as the spoiled society party girl.
— Carl Bennett
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 Grapevine Video
2005 DVD edition
Dancing Mothers (1926), black & white, 65 minutes, not rated, with At First Sight (1924), black & white, 12 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10029-1.
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 7.0 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 256 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 6 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $16.95 (reduced to $14.95).
Release date: 7 February 2005.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 3 / additional content: 3 / overall: 3.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a rough but good 16mm reduction print that displays a number flaws, such as dust and schmutz, speckling, emulsion scuffing, cupping, and even a print tear. The coarse video transfer does not appear to capture all of the image detail present in the substandard print, but the results are still viewable.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting low-fidelity music recordings that have been crudely processed for ersatz stereo sound. Another reason for a poor disc rating.
Our hope is that a better home video edition will be produced from a higher-quality print. Meanwhile, this appears to be the best of what is available and is, for now, our recommended home video edition of the film.
This review was updated in 2026.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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 Alpha Video
2022 DVD edition
Dancing Mothers (1926), black & white, 65 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 8488D, UPC 0-89218-84889-5.
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; standard DVD keepcase; $8.98 (raised to $9.99).
Release date: 12 April 2022.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm or 8mm reduction print.
The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
ALPHA VIDEO through . . .
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 Loving the Classics
201? DVD edition
Dancing Mothers (1926), black & white, 85 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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 Prowlin’ Productions
2006 DVD edition
A Double Dose of . . . Clara Bow, Volume 10 (1925-1926), black & white, 128 minutes total, not rated, including Dancing Mothers (1926), black & white, 66 minutes, not rated, with Parisian Love (1925), color-toned black & white, and color-tinted black & white, 62 minutes, not rated.
Prowlin’ Productions,
no catalog number, UPC 1-74135-72019-0.
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 3.2 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 1.5 Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 14 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; unknown suggested retail price.
Release date: 2006.
Country of origin: USA
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, with visible dust, speckling, schmutz, frame jitters, emulsion scrapes, and other print flaws. Highlights are often blasted-out to a featureless white throughout.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting low-fidelity LP music recordings with all audio coming out of the left speaker with a persistent hum.
This review was updated in 2026.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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Other silent era CLARA BOW films available on home video.
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