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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The Dumb-Bell
(1922)
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This comedy short, directed by Charley Chase, stars Snub Pollard and Marie Mosquini, with Sammy Brooks, George Rowe, William B. Davidson, William Gillespie, Wallace Howe, Lincoln Stedman, Charles Stevenson and Noah Young.
The film has some pretty good behind-the-scenes views of the Hal Roach studio.
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 All Day Entertainment
2009 DVD edition
Becoming Charley Chase (1915-1926), black & white and color-toned black & white, 460 minutes total, not rated, including The Dumb-Bell (1922), black & white, 9 minutes, not rated.
All Day Entertainment, distributed by VCI Entertainment,
8562, UPC 0-89859-85622-8, ISBN 1-55739-587-X.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc (four DVDs in the set); 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 7.2 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 2 chapter stops; standard four-disc DVD keepcase; $39.99.
Release date: 28 July 2009.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 4 / audio: 7 / additional content: 7 / overall: 5.
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This DVD edition has been mastered from a fair 8mm reduction print, with dust, schmutz and smeary image details that make recognizing faces a touch-and-go affair. Highlights are blasted out to white nothingness in some shots.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed by Ben Redwine and performed by the Redwine Jazz Band.
Supplemental material includes audio commentary by Steve Massa, Richard M. Roberts, Bruce Lawton, Ben Model, Robert Arkus and Yair Solan; surviving footage of Accidental Accidents (1924); an interview with Charley’s daughter, June Chase Hargis (15 minutes); featurette “The Evolution of a Gag,” with collection producer David Kalat (8 minutes); featurette “The Sounds of Silence,” with members of the Snark Ensemble (25 minutes); and the documentary The Parrott Chase (2009), including interviews with biographer Brian Anthony, archivist Ulrich Ruedel, historians Rob Farr, Bruce Lawton, Richard M. Roberts, Chris Seguin, Yair Solan and Brent Walker (45 minutes).
For information about the other films is this collection, see our Becoming Charley Chase on home video page.
This is our recommended home video edition of the film, but hard-to-find these days, even as a used item.
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ALL DAY ENTERTAINMENT has discontinued disc sales
and this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition is . . .
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 Looser Than Loose
200? DVD edition
Snub and Marie, Volume 3: Snub and Marie’s Tales of Courtship, Love and Ruin (1922-1923), black & white, ? minutes total, not rated, including The Dumb-Bell (1922), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Looser Than Loose Vintage Entertainment,
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 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $19.99.
Release date: 200?.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from an 8mm reduction print.
The film is presented with a soundtrack compiled from preexisting recordings.
For information about the other films is this collection, see our Snub and Marie, Volume 3 on home video page.
Note that some international customers have experienced long delays in the shipping of their orders and are being charged very high unannounced shipping costs.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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Other SHORT COMEDY FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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