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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Kidnapped in
New York
(1915)
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This crime drama, directed by J. Stuart Blackton, stars Barney Gilmore, Marie Osborne and Violet Stuart.
Once it gets past its meandering travelogue opening, the film spins its tale of a criminal gang that plans a child kidnapping.
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 Grapevine Video
2018 DVD edition
Tigris (1913), color-tinted black & white, 54 minutes, not rated, with Kidnapped in New York (1915), color-tinted black & white, 41 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 6-60845-44914-5.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at 6.0 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 30 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 224 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $14.95.
Release date: July 2018.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 4 / audio: 5 / additional content: 4 / overall: 4.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a very-good 8mm reduction print, which has the usual amount of dust, speckling, schmutz, emulsion scrapes, frame jitters and other flaws. The natural-speed video transfer adequately presents the picture details present in the source print.
The film is accompanied by a music score performed on digital piano and virtual theatre pipe organ. The anonymous musician may be David Knudtson although the music is credited on the packaging to edition producer Jack Hardy.
Not a great presentation but this is, for now, 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
2018 DVD edition
Kidnapped in New York (1915), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, with The Thieving Hand (1908), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Court House Crooks (1915), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, and Kidding the Kidnapper (1920), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 8085D, UPC 0-89218-80859-2.
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; $7.98 (raised again to $9.99).
Release date: 19 June 2018.
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
Kidnapped in New York (1915), black & white, 40 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 CRIME FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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