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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Pretty Ladies
(1925)
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This comedy-drama, directed by Monta Bell, stars ZaSu Pitts and Tom Moore, with Ann Pennington, Lilyan Tashman, Bernard Randall, Helen D’Algy, Conrad Nagel, Norma Shearer, George K. Arthur, Joan Crawford, Paul Ellis, Roy D’Arcy, Gwen Lee and Dorothy Seastrom.
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 Rare Films and More
202? DVD edition
Pretty Ladies (1925), black & white, 53 minutes, not rated, with The Mystic (1925), black & white, 67 minutes, not rated.
Rare Films and More, 6659, 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; $9.99.
Release date: 202?.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from an old VHS videotape copy of a contrasty analog video transfer from a 16mm reduction print. Not only is the picture low-resolution, there is also a persistent video flutter.
The film is accompanied by a vintage music score performed on piano.
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.
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
2021 DVD edition
Pretty Ladies (1925), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Silent Hall of Fame Enterprises, 214, 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; $34.99 (raised again to $44.99).
Release date: 2021.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm or 8mm reduction print (as might be surmised from the publisher-provided still frame above). Any Technicolor sequences from this film are believed to be lost and will not be present in this subpar edition. 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.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available through . . .
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Other TECHNICOLOR FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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