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 Lost
Express
(1926)
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This B-studio railroad feature, directed by the prolific J.P. McGowan, features Helen Holmes and Jack Mower.
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 Alpha Video
2012 DVD edition
The Lost Express (1926), black & white, 43 minutes, not rated, with The Hazards of Helen: In Danger’s Path [chapter 33] (1915), black & white, 12 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment,
ALP 6733D, UPC 0-89218-67339-8.
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 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 384 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; no chapter stops (within the film); standard DVD keepcase; $7.98 (raised again to $9.99).
Release date: 13 March 2012.
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 8mm reduction print that is quite soft of image detail, greyed-out for the most part, and with occasional blasted-out picture highlights. Dust, speckling, schmutz, splices, and other print flaws are present.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting low-fidelity music recordings that are crudely edited together.
Supplemental material includes the 33rd chapter of The Hazards of Helen (1914-1917), “In Danger’s Path,” transferred from an 8mm reduction print.
For now, this is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
ALPHA VIDEO through . . .
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 Loving the Classics
202? DVD edition
The Lost Express (1926), black & white, 48 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: 202?.
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 silent era J.P. McGOWAN films available on home video.
Other RAILROAD FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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