Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2026 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
|
The White Rose
(1923)
|
This rarely-seen film directed by D.W. Griffith stars Mae Marsh, Carol Dempster, Ivor Novello and Neil Hamilton.
|
 Grapevine Video
2015 DVD edition
The White Rose (1923), color-tinted black & white, 104 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 6-60845-44722-6.
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 5.4 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 30 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 256 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 24 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $19.95.
Release date: May 2015.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 8 / additional content: 0 / overall: 3.
|
This DVD-R edition of the rare D.W. Griffith film has been mastered from a good 8mm reduction print that has its share of dust, speckling, emulsion scrapes, frame jitters, and other print flaws. Image details are not great as facial details in medium shots are nearly lost in blurry highlights.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on virtual theatre pipe organ by David Knudtson.
For now, this is our recommended home video edition of the film. But, we’re looking for an upgrade.
This review was updated in 2025.
|
|
|
This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
|
|
|
 Alpha Video
2014 DVD edition
The White Rose (1923), black & white, 98 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 7383D, UPC 0-89218-73839-4.
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 6.8 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; 6 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $7.98 (raised again to $9.99).
Release date: 25 May 2014.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 2 / audio: 3 / additional content: 0 / overall: 2.
|
This DVD-R edition of the rare D.W. Griffith film has been mastered from a good 16mm reduction print of a rerelease version of the film. Dust, speckling, schmutz, exposure fluctuations, frame jitters, and other print flaws are present. The video transfer (and the print materials) is blurry and insert shots of telegrams and the like are difficult to read. The above still frame may be deceiving as the results are missing highlight details like facial expressions and other details in a blur of featureless light grey.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from abrusptly-edited preexisting orchestral music recordings.
This review was updated in 2026.
|
|
This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
ALPHA VIDEO through . . .
|
|
|
|
Other silent era D.W. GRIFFITH films available on home video.
Other silent era MAE MARSH films available on home video.
|
