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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Nerven
(1919)
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This German expressionist drama, directed by Robert Reinert, stars Eduard von Winterstein and Erna Morena, with Paul Bender, Lia Borré, Lili Dominici, Rio Ellbon and Margarete Tondeur.
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 Edition Filmmuseum
2008 DVD edition
Nerven (1919), color-tinted black & white and color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 110 minutes, not rated, with München im Zeichen der Räterepublik (1919), black & white, 11 minutes, not rated, and Bilder von der Volksbewegung in München (1919), black & white, 3 minutes, not rated.
Edition Filmmuseum, 41, UPC/EAN 4-260100-330214.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 PAL DVD disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 576 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at 6.4 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 50 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 224 Kbps audio bit rate; German language intertitles, optional English and French language subtitles; insert booklet; 10 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; €19,95.
Release date: June 2008 (second edition, June 2009; third edition, October 2015).
Country of origin: Germany •
Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 8 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.
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This PAL DVD edition has been produced by Filmmuseum München from their 2008 reconstruction of the film, which utilized a number of incomplete prints (and still about one-third of the film is presumed lost). The source materials are generally very-good, with dust and speckling, emulsion chipping, mild frame jitters, and other print flaws seen.
The film is presented with an improvised piano score performed by Joachim Bärenz.
Supplemental material includes a side-by-side comparison of the different fragments: Marja’s Wedding Preparations (5 minutes), At the Nerve Specialist’s (8 minutes), Roloff’s Paranoia (6 minutes); two 1919 short films (3 minutes and 11 minutes); a section of posters, stills and lobby cards; and a booklet with essays by Jan-Christopher Horak, Stefan Drössler and David Bordwell.
This is an enthusiastically recommended home video edition of the film. North American collectors will need a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.
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This Region 0 PAL DVD edition is available directly from . . .
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 Loving the Classics
2026 DVD edition
Nerven (1919), black & white, 110 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; German language intertitles, optional? English language subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $14.99 (raised to $15.49).
Release date: 7 January 2026.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has possibly been mastered from a 16mm reduction print. There is the possibility that this edition has been pirated from the Edition Filmmuseum disc noted above.
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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Rare Films and More
202? DVD edition
The Clown (1917), black & white, 60 minutes, not rated, with Nerven (1919), black & white, 109 minutes, not rated.
Rare Films and More, 3702, 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 (The Clown), and German language intertitles, optional English and Spanish subtitles (Nerven); chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $19.99.
Release date: 202?.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from files pirated from an Internet streaming site or from another company’s home video edition.
The film is likely accompanied by a music score pirated from another company’s home video edition or a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
Note that this company apparently has a history of pirating other home video editions or pirating files from Internet streaming sites 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 GERMAN FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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