Silent Era : Home Video Reviews

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Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
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A.W.O.L.
or, All Wrong Old Laddiebuck
(1919)

This cartoon short is one of the few surviving examples of the animation work of comedian/director/animator Charley Bowers.

Flicker Alley
2019 Blu-ray Disc edition

The Extraordinary World of Charley Bowers (1917-1940), black & white, 288 minutes total, not rated, including A.W.O.L.; or, All Wrong Old Laddiebuck (1919), black & white, 5 minutes, not rated.

Flicker Alley, FA0064, UPC 6-17311-68649-8.
Two single-sided, dual-layered, Regions ABC Blu-ray Discs, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) progressive scan AVC (MPEG-4) format, SDR (standard dynamic range), ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 5.1 surround sound and Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 stereo sound, French language intertitles, optional English language subtitles; chapter stops; standard two-disc BD keepcase; $59.98.
Release date: 12 July 2019.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 8 / audio: 7 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.

This Blu-ray Disc edition has been remastered at 2K high-resolution from very-good to excellent 35mm prints — some that are incomplete and some that are beginning to decompose.

The films feature optional musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin, Antonio Coppola and Neil Brand.

The supplemental material includes: Looking for Charley Bowers (15 minutes); and a 24-page booklet with an introduction by Serge Bromberg, an essay by Sean Alexander and a brief Bowers filmography.

This is our recommended home video edition of Charley Bowers’ cartoon.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Lobster Films
2004 DVD edition

Charley Bowers: The Rediscovery of an American Comic Genius (1917-1940), black & white, 233 minutes total, not rated, including A.W.O.L.; or, All Wrong Old Laddiebuck (1919), black & white, 5 minutes, not rated.

Lobster Films, distributed by Image Entertainment,
ID2268LQDVD, UPC 0-14381-22682-9.
Two single-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD discs, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 5.1 surround sound and Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 stereo sound, French language intertitles, optional English language subtitles; chapter stops; double-wide two-disc DVD keepcase; $39.99.
Release date: 24 February 2004.
Country of origin: USA

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

This DVD edition has been mastered from very-good to excellent 35mm prints — some that are incomplete and some that are beginning to decompose.

The film is accompanied by an optional musical score performed on piano by Marc Perrone (5.1 surround), Bruno Letart (2.0 stereo) and Neil Brand (2.0 stereo).

This recommended edition is now out-of-print, but it can be found as a used item (or as an overpriced new item). A modified version of this collection was released on Blu-ray Disc by Flicker Alley in 2019.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

The Library of Congress /
Smithsonian Video
2001 DVD edition

The Origins of Film (1900-1927), color-tinted black & white, 560 minutes total, not rated, including A.W.O.L.; or, All Wrong Old Laddiebuck (1919), black & white, 6 minutes, not rated.

The Library of Congress/Smithsonian Video,
distributed by Image Entertainment,
ID9807UMDVD, UPC 0-14381-98072-1.
Three single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD discs, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 stereo and mono sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; chapter stops; three standard DVD keepcases in cardboard slipcase; $79.99.
Release date: 13 March 2001.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 8 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.

This DVD edition, culled largely from the film archive of the Library of Congress, is grouped into sections entitled “Origins of the Gangster Film,” “Origins of the Fantasy Feature,” “Origins of American Animation,” “America’s First Women Filmmakers” and “The African-American Cinema.” Many of the films are transferred from preservation prints copied from nitrate prints and copyright registration paper prints.

The visual quality is as a whole very-good, with the animation films generally being the rougher items in the collection. Unfortunately, this DVD boxset is out-of-print.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.