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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Free to Love
(1925)
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Clara Bow and Donald Keith star in this tough drama, directed by Frank OâConnor, with support from Raymond McKee, Winter Hall and Hallam Cooley.
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 Grapevine Video
2007 DVD edition
Free to Love (1925), black & white, 61 minutes, not rated, with My Lady of Whims (1925), black & white, 44 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10267-7.
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; $14.95.
Release date: 2007.
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.
Sight unseen, this is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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 Alpha Video
2016 DVD edition
Free to Love (1925), color-toned black & white, 60 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 7850D, UPC 0-89218-78509-1.
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 4.6 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; 6 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $7.98 (raised again to $9.99).
Release date: 27 September 2016.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 3 / additional content: 0 / overall: 3.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a fair to good 16mm reduction print, with the requisite amount of dust, speckling, schmutz, several splices, emulsion scrapes, and other print flaws just to confirm it. Whether it is the source print or the substandard video transfer, highlights in faces and other picture elements are often blasted out to a featureless white.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting low-fidelity orchestral music recordings. Some of the music is overblown for the onscreen action.
Nothing is great about this release, but it can be tough to find a good, watchable print of this neglected film.
This review was updated in 2026.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
ALPHA VIDEO through . . .
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 Classic Video Streams
2010 DVD edition
The Actors: Rare Films of Clara Bow, Volume 2 (1925-1927), black & white, ? minutes total, not rated, with Free to Love (1925), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Classic Video Streams,
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 ? 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; slimline DVD keepcase; $16.99.
Release date: 9 March 2010.
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 to be accompanied by a compiled music score of preexisting recordings.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available through . . .
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 Prowlinâ Productions
2005 DVD edition
A Double Dose of . . . Clara Bow, Volume 5 (1925-1933), black & white, 145 minutes total, not rated, including Free to Love (1925), black & white, 60 minutes, not rated, with Hoop-la (1933), black & white, 85 minutes, not rated.
Prowlinâ Productions,
no catalog number, UPC 1-74135-72011-0.
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 2.8 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; 10 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; unknown suggeted retail price.
Release date: 2005.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 2 / audio: 3 / additional content: 3 / overall: 3.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a VHS videotape copy of an analog video transfer (possibly from a Videobrary or Video Yesteryear release) from an 8mm reduction print. Evidence of its VHS pedigree is seen in the dark, smeary ghosts to the right of image highlights (a characteristic of VHS). Highlight details are often blasted-out to a featureless white throughout the presentation. Any of the above-noted editions may look better than this horrid disc.
The film is accompanied by a music score performed (possibly by Bob Vaughn) on a vintage electric organ in authentic low-fidelity mono sound.
Supplemental material includes a presentation of Hoop-la (1933) from a 16mm reduction print of an English language version of the film with French language main titles.
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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