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 Love
Expert
(1920)
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This comedy-drama, directed by David Kirkland, stars Constance Talmadge and John Halliday, with Arnold Lucy, Natalie Talmadge, Fanny Bourke, Nellie P. Spaulding and Marion Sitgreave.
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 Alpha Video
2015 DVD edition
The Love Expert (1920), black & white, 56 minutes, not rated, with Her Bridal Night-Mare (1920), black & white, 35 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com
ALP 7717D, UPC 0-89218-77179-7.
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 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: 6 October 2015.
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 a 16mm reduction print, which has the normal amount of dust and speckling, schmutz, emulsion scrapes, splice marks, and other print flaws.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack crudely compiled from crackling preexisting low-fidelity recordings.
Given the discouraging details noted above, this is still the recommended home video edition of the film until a better one is released.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
ALPHA VIDEO through . . .
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 Loving the Classics
2026 DVD edition
The Love Expert (1920), black & white, 60 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: 13 January 2026.
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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Silent Gems Collection
2016 DVD edition
The Love Expert (1920), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Silent Hall of Fame Enterprises, 52, 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; slimline CD jewelcase; $29.99 (raised again to $37.99).
Release date: 2016.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm reduction print (as might be surmised from the publisher-provided still frame above). It is likely that throughout the presentation a faint “SHF-E” watermark appears in the lower right-hand corner of the picture to discourage pirating; as this edition was likely pirated from some other home video edition or from some Internet streaming source, we find this to be ludicrous.
The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music sources.
We vehemently criticize this publisher for their overpriced offerings that give the consumer as little value as possible.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available through . . .
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Other silent era CONSTANCE TALMADGE films available on home video.
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