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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Hidden Aces
(1927)
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This crime drama, directed by Howard Mitchell, features action star Charles Hutchison with Alice Calhoun, Barbara Tennant, Paul Weigel and Harry Norcross.
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 Alpha Video
2016 DVD edition
The Prince of Pep (1925), black & white, 29 minutes, not rated, Hidden Aces (1927), black & white, 62 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 7816D, UPC 0-89218-78169-7
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 3.4 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 6 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $7.98 (raised again to $9.99).
Release date: 21 June 2016.
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 an analog video transfer of an 8mm reduction print that is dark and coarse in picture details. Dust, more than a moderate mount of speckling, frame jitters, and other print flaws are present in the picture.
The film is presented with a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings (mainly dusty, crackling LPs) that isn’t always appropriate to the film’s action.
Far from an ideal presentation but, for now, this is 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 from
ALPHA VIDEO through . . .
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 Loving the Classics
201? DVD edition
Hidden Aces (1927), black & white, 62 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; $19.99 (reduced 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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