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 Ruse
(1915)
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This two-reel western, directed by William S. Hart, stars William S. Hart and Clara Williams, with Jack Davidson, Fanny Midgley, Gertrude Claire, Robert Kortman and Shorty Hamilton.
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 Grapevine Video
2005 DVD edition
Films of William S. Hart, Volume One (1915), black & white, 74 minutes total, not rated, including The Ruse (1915), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10115-1.
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; $16.95 (reduced to $14.95).
Release date: April 2005.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R collection of William S. Hart two-reelers has been mastered from 16mm reduction prints.
The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
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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 Loving the Classics
202? DVD edition
The Ruse (1915), black & white, 28 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: 202?.
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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 Alpha Video
2010 DVD edition
The Ruse (1915), black & white, 21 minutes, not rated, including The Great Train Robbery (1903), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, An Arizona Wooing (1915), black & white, 12 minutes, not rated, and Out West [rerelease version of Chase Yourself] (1926), black & white, 13 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 6354D, UPC 0-89218-63549-5.
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 7.0 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 384 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 5 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $6.98 (raised again to $9.99).
Release date: 27 April 2010.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 3 / additional content: 3 / overall: 3.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from apoor to fair 8mm reduction print, with dust, speckling, schmutz, emulsion scrapes, and other print flaws present in the picture.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting low-fidelity music recordings.
For information about other films in this collection, see our An Arizona Wooing on home video, The Great Train Robbery on home video and Out West on home video pages.
Note: Our library copy of this disc was originally manufactured on a standard DVD. However, copies sold today will likely be provided on MOD DVD-R discs.
Not recommended.
This review was updated in 2026.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
ALPHA VIDEO through . . .
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Other WILLIAM S. HART films available on home video.
Other WESTERN FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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