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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School Days
(1920)
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This comedy short, directed by Larry Semon, Mort Peebles and Norman Taurog, stars Larry Semon and Lucille Carlisle, with Frank Alexander, Jack Duffy and Frank Hayes.
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 Kino Classics
2024 Blu-ray edition
Vitagraph Comedies (1907-1922), black & white, 565 minutes total, not rated, including School Days (1920), black & white, 25 minutes, not rated.
Kino Lorber, K26603, UPC 7-38329-26603-5.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc (three BDs in the set); 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) 24 fps progressive scan image encoded in SDR AVC format at 24.8 Mbps average video bit rate; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 1.6 Mbps audio bit rate (music), and Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate (commentary); English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard three-disc BD keepcase; $39.95.
Release date: 14 May 2024.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 8 / additional content: 8 / overall: 8.
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This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from a high-definition scan of one or more good to very-good archival (what appears to be) but dupey 35mm prints. The film materials might be 35mm but some of the footage looks like that from a very-good 16mm reduction print. No digital clean-up or image stabilization has been performed. Dust, speckling, fine vertical scratches, substantial nitrate decomposition in the latter half of the film, and other print flaws are present.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed by Violin Noir (Rebecca Sabine).
Supplemental material includes audio commentaries by film historian Anthony Slide; and interviews with curator Rob Stone, archivists Lynanne Schweighofer and Geo. Willeman, and film historian Rob Farr (24 minutes total).
This is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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This
Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition is available directly from . . .
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 Looser Than Loose
200? DVD edition
The Larry Semon Reference Set, Volume 1 (1917-1928), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, including School Days (1920), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Looser Than Loose Vintage Entertainment,
no catalog number, no UPC number.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R disc (two DVDs in the set); 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; standard two-disc DVD keepcase; $19.99 (raised to $24.99).
Release date: 200?.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm or 8mm reduction print.
The film is likely to be accompanied by soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
Note that some international customers have experienced long delays in the shipping of their orders and are being charged very high unannounced shipping costs.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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Other silent era LARRY SEMON films available on home video.
Other SHORT COMEDY FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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