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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Queen of Sports
(1934)
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This sports drama was directed by Sun Yu and stars Li-li Li, Yi Zhang and Langen Han.
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 Cinema Epoch
2007 DVD edition
The Big Road (1935), black & white, 103 minutes, not rated, with Queen of Sports (1934), black & white, 85 minutes, not rated.
Epoch Entertainment,
unknown catalog number, UPC 8-91514-00121-4.
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 6.6 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; Chinese language intertitles, optional English language subtitles; 9 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $24.98.
Release date: 8 May 2007.
Country of origin: USA •
Ratings (1-10): video: 4 / audio: 4 / additional content: 3 / overall: 4.
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This DVD edition of this silent Chinese drama has been transferred from a good 16mm reduction print, with dust, substantial speckling, emulsion scuffing and chipping, and other print flaws present. Passible viewing.
The film is accompanied by an original music score composed and performed on synthesizers by Toshiyuki Hiraoka. The is not a cohesive whole but a compilation of separate recordings that are often faded-out before completion of the piece with no logical accompaniment of the film’s story. The composer’s propensity for sawing back and forth between two notes (and sometimes three notes) will irritate long before the film has ended. An amateur effort, at best.
Supplemental material includes text introductions to the films by Wade Major (6 screens total).
For our notes on the other film on this disc, see our The Big Road on home video page.
For now, this is our recommended home video edition of this film.
This review was updated in 2026.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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 Loving the Classics
201? DVD edition
Queen of Sports (1934), black & white, 89 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.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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Other CHINESE FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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