Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
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Madame Du Barry
[Passion]
(1919)
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This Ernst Lubitsch historical drama stars Pola Negri and Emil Jannings, with Harry Liedtke, Eduard von Winterstein, Reinhold Schünzel, Else Berna, Fred Immler, Gustav Czimeg and Karl Platen.
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 Kino Classics
2024 Blu-ray Disc edition
Madame Du Barry (1919), black & white, 114 minutes, not rated.
Kino Lorber, K26556, UPC 7-38329-26556-4.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region A Blu-ray Disc; 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; German and French language intertitles, optional English language subtitles; chapter stops; standard BD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 13 February 2024.
Country of origin: USA
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This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered in high-definition from archival 35mm print materials.
The film is accompanied by a custom music score.
Supplemental material includes an audio commentary by author and film historian Joseph McBride, author of How Did Lubitsch Do It?.
This is our recommended American home video edition of the film.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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This
Region A Blu-ray Disc edition is also available directly from . . .
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 Eureka Entertainment
2014 Blu-ray Disc / DVD edition
Madame Du Barry (1919), black & white, color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 114 minutes, BBFC Classification PG, with Als Ich Tot War (1916), black & white, color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 39 minutes, BBFC Classification PG.
Eureka Entertainment,
EKA70145 (MoC 93), UPC 5-060000-701456.
One single-sided, dual-layered?, Region B Blu-ray Disc, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) 24fps progressive scan AVC (MPEG-4) format, SDR (standard dynamic range), ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? Mbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 stereo sound, German language intertitles, optional English language subtitles, chapter stops; and one single-sided, dual-layered, Region 2 PAL DVD disc, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 576 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 sound, German language intertitles, optional English language subtitles, chapter stops; two-disc BD keepcase; £14.99.
Release date: 22 September 2014.
Country of origin: England
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This Blu-ray Disc / DVD edition has been transferred and encoded at 1080p from high-quality 35mm materials.
The film is presented with a custom music score.
The supplemental material includes a 36-page booklet with essays by critic and filmmaker David Cairns and archival photos. The short Lubitsch comedy Als Ich Tot War (1916) rounds out the additional material. The film has been scanned from an excellent 35mm print with some print wear, dust and speckling.
This edition is highly recommended. North American collectors will need a region-free Blu-ray Disc player and/or a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.
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United Kingdom: Click the logomark to purchase this Region B Blu-ray Disc / Region 2 DVD edition from Amazon.co.uk.
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 Grapevine Video
2006 DVD edition
Madame Du Barry [Passion] (1919), black & white, color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 99 minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10077-2.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R disc, 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, PCM 48 kHz 2.0 mono sound, German language intertitles, permanent English language subtitles, 12 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $16.95 (reduced to $14.95).
Release date: April 2006.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition from public-domain home video company Grapevine Video has been transferred from a good to very-good 16mm reduction print of the American release version, Passion. The disc has been mastered from an older full-frame video transfer on analog videotape, as evidenced by characteristic dark smears to the right of the intertitles type and other analog videotape anomalies. The source print is contrasty, with OK highlights detail but also with some closed shadows.
The film is accompanied by a music score performed on electric organ that sounds like the work of Bob Vaughn.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is also available directly from . . .
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Other silent era ERNST LUBITSCH films available on home video.
Other silent era EMIL JANNINGS films available on home video.
Other silent era POLA NEGRI films available on home video.
Other GERMAN FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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