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The Sinking of the Lusitania
(1918)

This short animated film, directed and animated by Winsor McCay (and staff), is a masterpiece of early film animation.

The Milestone Cinematheque
2013 DVD edition

Winsor McCay: The Master Edition (1911-1921), black & white and color-tinted black & white, 105 minutes total, not rated, including The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918), black & white, 12 minutes, not rated.

Milestone Film & Video, (now distributed by Kino Lorber),
Mile0095, UPC 7-84148-00954-4.
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 ? 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; $29.99.
Release date: 8 January 2013.
Country of origin: USA

This DVD edition has been remastered, with more open framing that allows more of the picture to be seen than in the Lumivision/SlingShot editions noted below. For the opportunity to own The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918) alone it is worth buying this disc. The 35mm print from which the transfer was taken is worn but still in very good to good condition.

The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on piano by Gabriel Thibaudeau.

Supplemental material includes audio commentary by animation expert and McCay biographer John Canemaker; and the Canemaker documentary, Remembering Winsor McCay, with stills from Canemaker’s personal collection.

This is our recommended home video edition of the film. If you encounter a copy of the 2004 Milestone release (noted below), feel free to purchase that edition as both Milestone discs feature the same content and the same DVD menus.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition is available from
MILESTONE FILMS through . . .

The Milestone Collection
2004 DVD edition

Milestone Film & Video,
ID1982MLSDVD, UPC 0-14381-19822-5.
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 ? 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; $29.99.
Release date: 1 June 2004.
Country of origin: USA •

This DVD edition contains all of the films included in the Lumivision-produced editions. The films have been remastered, with more open framing that allows more of the picture to be seen than in the Lumivision/SlingShot editions. For more detailed comments about this edition, see the repackaged Milestone edition noted above.

The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on piano by Gabriel Thibaudeau.

This edition was freshly mastered from the same prints, held by La Cinémathèque Québécoise film archive, that were utilized for the Lumivision edition.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .

Lumivision Corporation
1997 DVD edition

Animation Legend: Winsor McCay (1911-1921), black & white, 100 minutes total, not rated, including The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated.

Lumivision Corporation, DVD1397, UPC 7-24117-13976-6.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at 5.0 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 384 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 13 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $24.95.
Release date: 30 September 1997.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 7 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.

This DVD edition has been mastered from a 35mm print from which the transfer was taken is worn but still in very good to good condition. All films are presented in ‘windowbox’ format. We totally endorse this method of silent film presentation, since some silent films (particularly those surviving only in 16mm reduction prints) are overcropped on video transfers, cutting off the tops of heads and the sides of intertitles. This allows the total surviving image area to be seen on all televisions, regardless of the amount of your television’s overscan cropping.

The film is presented with a very good music score performed on MIDI-based synthesizers. While we are not fans of synthesizer soundtracks for silent films, the Lumivision scores are of better quality than other silent film synthesizer presentations on home video in the late 1990s.

Overall, the DVD (which is identical to Lumivision’s 1993 laserdisc release of this program) is of high-quality and is quite pleasing. This edition has been surpassed by the Milestone remastered DVD that features a larger screen image with no cropping to allow the maximum amount of screen image to be seen.

This Lumivision edition is now out-of-print, but it can occasionally be found used through eBay, and other sources. The program has been remastered for DVD and released by Milestone Films.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .

SlingShot Entertainment
1999 DVD edition

Animation Legend: Winsor McCay (1911-1921), black & white, 100 minutes total, not rated, including The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated.

SlingShot Entertainment, DVD9817, unknown UPC number.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in windowboxed 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, $19.99.
Release date: 12 January 1999.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 7 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.

This Slingshot Entertainment DVD rerelease features the same program as the Lumivision edition reviewed above.

This SlingShot edition is also out-of-print, but it can occasionally be found used through Amazon, eBay, and other sources.

This Region 1 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .

Reel Classic DVD
200? DVD edition

The Great War and the Little Tramp (1918), black & white, 122 minutes total, not rated, including The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.

Reel Classic DVD, no catalog number, UPC 7-62184-87822-5.
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 ? 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; $19.98.
Release date: 200?.
Country of origin: USA

This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm reduction print.

The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on theatre pipe organ by Bernie Anderson.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from
REEL CLASSIC DVD through . . .