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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Playing Dead
(1915)
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This comedy-drama, directed by Sidney Drew, stars Sidney Drew and Mrs. Sidney Drew (Lucille McVey), with Donald Hall, Harry English, Isadore Marcil and Alice Lake.
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 Loving the Classics
201? DVD edition
Playing Dead (1915), black & white, 58 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.
Sight unseen, this is 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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Silent Gems Collection
2018 DVD edition
Playing Dead (1915), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Silent Hall of Fame Enterprises, 192, 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 $44.99).
Release date: 2018.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a poor VHS videotape copy of a 16mm or (more likely) 8mm 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 recordings.
We vehemently criticize this publisher for their overpriced offerings that give the consumer as little value as possible. Would you pay $45.00 for what you see above?
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available through . . .
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