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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Grass
A Nation’s Battle for Life
(1925)
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This documentary, directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, features Cooper and Schoedsack, with Marguerite Harrison, Haidar Khan and Lufta.
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 The Milestone Collection
2025 Blu-ray Disc edition
Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life (1925), color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 63 minutes, not rated, with Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness (1927), black & white, 68 minutes, not rated.
Milestone Film & Video, distributed by Image Entertainment, unknown catalog number, UPC 7-38329-27182-4.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (3840 x 2160 pixels) 24 fps progressive scan image encoded in HDR HEVC format at ? Mbps average video bit rate; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard BD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 18 November 2025.
Country of origin: USA
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This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from a 4K high-definition scan of the lone surviving but incomplete 35mm tinted and toned 35mm nitrate print held by the Library of Congress and Cooper’s internegative held by the Museum of Modern Art.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed by Patrick Holcomb and performed by Malcolm Dalglish and students of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. An optional score is provided composed and performed by Gholam Hossain Janati-Ataie, Kavous Shirzadian and Amir Ali Vahabzadegan.
Supplemental material includes a Rudy Behlmer audio interview with Merian C. Cooper on Grass; audio commentary on Chang by film historian Rudy Behlmer; and a Chang color test.
Sight unseen, this is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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This
Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition is available directly from . . .
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 The Milestone Collection
2000 DVD edition
Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life (1925), black & white, 71 minutes, not rated.
Milestone Film and Video, distributed by Image Entertainment, ID5924MLSDVD, UPC 0-14381-59242-9.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD 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 ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; snapper DVD case; $29.99.
Release date: 28 March 2000.
Country of origin: USA
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We have not viewed this DVD edition. We are not familiar with this respected documentary film or its presentation on DVD.
The DVD edition includes an audio interview with producer Merian C. Cooper conducted by Rudy Behlmer.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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Other DOCUMENTARY FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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