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 Trap
(1929)
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Laura La Plante stars with Neil Hamilton in this Universal comedy-drama of social class distinction directed by William Wyler. We’ve seen it all before, but La Plante turns in a charming performance that lifts this part-talkie film.
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 Kino Classics
2026 Blu-ray Disc edition
The Love Trap (1929), black & white, 69 minutes, not rated.
Kino Lorber, K27382, UPC 7-38329-27382-8.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (3840 x 2160 pixels) 24 fps progressive scan image encoded in progressive scan image encoded in SDR AVC format at ? Mbps average video bit rate; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard BD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 14 July 2026.
Country of origin: USA
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This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from the 4K digital restoration conducted by Universal Pictures of a 35mm nitrate print provided by the William Wyler Estate and the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
The film is accompanied by its original synchronized music score and part-talkie soundtrack.
Supplemental material includes audio commentary by film scholar Jason A. Ney.
Sight unseen, this is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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This Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition is available directly from . . .
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 Kino on Video
2002 DVD edition
The Love Trap (1929), black & white, 74 minutes, not rated, with Directed by William Wyler (1986), color and black & white, 55 minutes, not rated.
Kino International, K176DVD, UPC 7-38329-02622-6.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD 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 5.8 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 5 November 2002.
Country of origin: USA •
Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 7 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.
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This DVD edition has been mastered from a very-good to excellent 35mm print. There is the usual amount of dust, speckling and minor print flaws to be seen as no digital clean-up or stabilization has been performed on the video transfer.
The film is accompanied by its original synchronized music score and part-talkie soundtrack.
Supplemental material includes an episode of the television series American Masters that features an interview with Wyler that was filmed only three days before he passed away.
This is our recommended DVD home video edition of the film.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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 Reel Vault
2025 DVD edition
The Love Trap (1929), black & white, 69 minutes, not rated.
Reel Vault, no catalog number, UPC 6-44827-29862-4.
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; $9.99.
Release date: 2 September 2025.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm reduction print.
The film is accompanied by its original synchronized music score and part-talkie soundtrack.
Over the years, this company has released DVD-R editions under a number of company names, with the same catalog number and UPC number, including Nostalgia Family Video, Hollywood’s Attic, RetroFlix, and (as of 2015) Reel Vault.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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 Grapevine Video
2011 DVD edition
The Love Trap (1929), black & white, 71 minutes, not rated, with KoKo’s Reward (1929), black & white, 7 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, 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 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $14.95.
Release date: May 2011.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm reduction print.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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