Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved. |
Houdini
The Movie Star
(1918-1923)
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Contents: The Master Mystery (1918-1919), The Grim Game (1919) {surviving footage}, Terror Island (1920), The Man from Beyond (1922) and Haldane of the Secret Service (1923), with Slippery Jim (1910).
Famous illusionist Harry Houdini is the focus of this collection of his surviving films, made before his premature 31 October 1926 death.
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Kino International
2008 DVD edition
Houdini: The Movie Star (1918-1923), black & white, color-tinted black & white, color-toned black & white, and color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 450 minutes total, not rated, including The Master Mystery (1918-1919), color-toned black & white and black & white, 238 minutes, not rated, an excerpt from The Grim Game (1919), color-tinted black & white, 5 minutes, not rated, Terror Island (1920), black & white, 55 minutes, not rated, The Man from Beyond (1922), black & white, and color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 68 minutes, not rated, Haldane of the Secret Service (1923), black & white, color-tinted black & white and color-toned black & white, 84 minutes, not rated, and Slippery Jim (1910), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated.
Kino International, K563, UPC 7-38329-05632-2.
Three single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 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), 6.0 Mbps average video bit rate, 160 and 192 Kbps audio bit rates, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 8-bit 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; three slimline DVD keepcases in cardboard slipcase; $39.95.
Release date: 8 April 2008.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD collection offers the serial The Master Mystery (1918-1919), an incomplete but reconstructed version from 35mm footage once held by Douris UK Ltd. (now held by Cohen Media Group); the surviving 35mm footage from The Grim Game (1919) held by George Eastman Museum (5 minutes); Terror Island (1920) from an excellent but incomplete 35mm print (missing reels three and four) held by the Library of Congress; the best available edition (of several) of The Man from Beyond (1922), having been mastered from the Library of Congress preservation version prepared from surviving 16mm print materials; and Haldane of the Secret Service (1923) from a very-good 35mm print held by Cinema Arts.
The films are accompanied by music scores performed by Jon C. Mirsalis, Ben Model, Stuart Oderman and Clark Wilson.
The supplemental material includes documentary footage of Houdini escapes (circa 1907 through 1923), an audio recording of Houdini introducing his “Water Torture Cell” (1914), Slippery Jim (1910) a Houdini-inspired comedy, an examination of film scenes censored by the New York State Censor Board with correspondence, Houdini’s illusion “Metamorphosis” performed by Houdini’s brother Hardeen (4 minutes), image galleries, and film notes.
For our comparative reviews of the individual films in this collection, see our Haldane of the Secret Service on home video, The Man from Beyond on home video, The Master Mystery on home video, Slippery Jim on home video and Terror Island on home video pages.
This collection is recommended.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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