Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2025 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
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The Dumb Girl
of Portici
(1916)
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Lois Weber directed this epic drama of a mute fisher-girl, living in the mid-17th century Naples during the Spanish occupation, who is seduced and abandoned by a Spanish nobleman. This assault and the oppression of their people causes Fenella’s brother to lead a revolution.
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 The Milestone Cinematheque
2018 Blu-ray Disc edition
The Dumb Girl of Portici (1916), color-toned black & white and color-tinted black & white, 112 minutes, not rated, with [Anna Pavlova Dancing at the Fairbanks Studio] (1924), black & white, 15 minutes, not rated, and The Immortal Swan (1935), black & white, 48 minutes, not rated.
Milestone Film & Video, distributed by Kino Lorber,
MileBD000151, UPC 7-84148-01515-6, ISBN 978-1-933920-87-0.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 Blu-ray Disc (two BDs in the set); 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 36.8 Mbps average video bit rate; LPCM 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 1.5 Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 12 chapter stops; standard two-disc BD keepcase; $34.95.
Release date: 6 February 2018.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 8 / additional content: 5 / overall: 6.
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This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from a 35mm restoration print prepared by the Library of Congress from the only versions of the film known to have survived: a good to very-good but incomplete 35mm nitrate rerelease print struck in the 1920s as preserved by the British Film Institute and a poor to fair 16mm reduction print held at the New York Public Library’s Performing Arts Library. Digital image work was performed to stabilize and clean-up the restoration, and to add color-toning and color-tinting based on the original guidelines. While the 16mm reduction print is distressingly worn and contrasty, the 35mm material is a welcome relief from eyesore when it could be utilized. A slightly more-than-usual amount of dust, speckling, flashing exposure variations, emulsion scuffing (in the at times a quite dark picture), and other print flaws are seen in the 35mm material while constrastiness, a blurray picture and significant print damage are the characteristics of the 16mm material.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed by John Sweeney (after “La Muette de Portici” by D.F.E. Auber) and is performed by a small ensemble.
The second disc of suplimentary material includes the documentary-drama The Immortal Swan (1935) from a good to very-good 16mm reduction print scanned (with a slightly horizontal picture stretch) at standard resolution (48 minutes); the short film Anna Pavlova Dancing at the Fairbanks Studio (1924) from a sound film print (15 minutes); Pavlova newsreel excerpts (2 minutes); and Pavlova 9.5mm home movies from the 1920s (15 minutes).
This is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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This Region A Blu-ray Disc edition is available from
MILESTONE FILMS through . . .
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 The Milestone Cinematheque
2018 DVD edition
The Dumb Girl of Portici (1916), color-toned black & white and color-tinted black & white, 112 minutes, not rated, with [Anna Pavlova Dancing at the Fairbanks Studio] (1924), black & white, 15 minutes, not rated, and The Immortal Swan (1935), black & white, 48 minutes, not rated.
Milestone Film & Video, distributed by Kino Lorber,
unknown catalog number, UPC 7-84148-01514-9, unknown ISBN number.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc (two DVDs in the set); 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 two-disc DVD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 6 February 2018.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD edition has been mastered from a 35mm restoration print prepared by the Library of Congress from the only versions of the film known to have survived: an incomplete 35mm nitrate rerelease print struck in the 1920s preserved by the British Film Institute and a 16mm reduction print held at the New York Public Library’s Performing Arts Library. Additional digital restoration was performed to stabilize and clean up the restoration, and to add color-tinting based on the original guidelines.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed by John Sweeney (after “La Muette de Portici” by D.F.E. Auber) and is performed by a small ensemble.
The second disc of suplimentary material includes the documentary-drama The Immortal Swan (1935) from a good to very-good 16mm reduction print scanned (with a slightly horizontal picture stretch) at standard resolution (48 minutes); the short film Anna Pavlova Dancing at the Fairbanks Studio (1924) from a sound film print (15 minutes); Pavlova newsreel excerpts (2 minutes); and Pavlova 9.5mm home movies from the 1920s (15 minutes).
This is our recommended DVD home video edition of the film.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition is available from
MILESTONE FILMS through . . .
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Other silent era LOIS WEBER films available on home video.
Other silent era films directed by WOMEN DIRECTORS.
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