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Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2025 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
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The Curtain Pole
(1909)

This short comedy, directed by D.W. Griffith, stars Mack Sennett, with Harry Solter and Florence Lawrence, and with appearances by Linda Arvidson, Jeanie Macpherson, Arthur Johnson and George Gebhardt.

The Milestone Cinematheque
2025 Blu-ray Disc edition

Made in New Jersey: Films from Fort Lee, America’s First Film Town (1909-2015), black & white, 383 minutes total, not rated, including The Curtain Pole (1909), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.

Milestone Film & Video, distributed by Kino Lorber,
K26962, UPC 7-38329-26962-3.
Two single-sided, dual-layered, Regions ABC Blu-ray Discs; 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 ? Mbps average video bit rate; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, optional English language SDH subtitles; chapter stops; 20-page insert booklet; standard two-disc BD keepcase; $44.95.
Release date: 24 June 2025.
Country of origin: USA

This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from high-definition scans of archival film elements.

The silent films are accompanied by music scores composed and performed by Philip C. Carli, Ben Model, arranged by Rodney Sauer and performed by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, and Donald Sosin.

Supplemental material includes twelve other silent era films; the vintage documentary Ghost Town: The Story of Fort Lee (1935) by Theodore Huff and Mark A. Borgatta; the documentary The Champion (2015) by Marc Perez; a 4K restoration of the Edgar G. Ulmer musical drama Cossacks in Exile (1939); and a 20-page insert booklet with an essay and film notes by Richard Koszarski.

For more information about this collection, see our Made in New Jersey on home video page.

This is our recommended home video edition of the film.

This Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition is available from
MILESTONE FILM & VIDEO through . . .

Flicker Alley
2014 Blu-ray Disc edition

The Mack Sennett Collection, Volume One (1909-1933), black & white, 1005 minutes total, not rated, including The Curtain Pole (1909), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, A Grocery Clerk’s Romance (1912), black & white, 8 minutes, not rated.

Flicker Alley, FA0035,
UPC 6-17311-67879-0, ISBN 1-893967-87-5.
Three single-sided, single-layered, Regions ABC Blu-ray Discs; 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 ? Mbps average video bit rate; Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; 28-page insert booklet; standard three-disc BD keepcase; $59.95.
Release date: 19 August 2014.
Country of origin: USA

This Blu-ray Disc edition of Mack Sennett comedies has been mastered from 35mm prints and 16mm reduction prints.

The film is accompanied by a music score.

Supplemental material includes selected audio commentary, outtakes and rushes, 1920 footage of the Sennett studio, a trailer for The Crossroads of New York (1922), newsreel footage, a complete 1939 radio appearance by Mack Sennett, television appearances including the Mack Sennett episode of This is Your Life, and a 28-page booklet featuring notes on the films.

For more information about this collection, see our The Mack Sennett Collection, Volume One on home video page.

This Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition has been discontinued
and is . . .

Grapevine Video
2003 DVD edition

D.W. Griffith, Director, Volume 1 (1908-1909), black & white, 102 minutes total, not rated, including The Curtain Pole (1909), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated.

Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-00116-1.
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 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 224 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 11 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $16.95 (reduced to $14.95).
Release date: 2003.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 4 / additional content: 0 / overall: 3.

This DVD-R edition has been mastered from 16mm reduction print materials prepared in the 1950s from the Library of Congress paper print collection, which means that the image quality is lower than would normally be expected, with some of the prints quite soft, flat and grey, and others of good contrast and soft image quality — all with some greater or lesser degree of frame movement. The older full-frame analog video master was originally prepared for VHS videotape release in the 1990s.

The films are accompanied by a music score compiled from old low-fidelity recordings.

For information on other films in this collection, see our D.W. Griffith, Director, Volume 1 on home video page.

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