This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from Universal’s recent 4K restoration of the film which utilized a 35mm acetate safety negative prepared by the Library of Congress from an original 1920 nitrate release print recovered from a Minnesota barn in the 1970s. The source material is very-good to excellent, with some fine vertical print scratches that are rarely distracting. Dust and speckling is virtually nonexistent and may have been digitally cleaned-up by the restoration team. Portions of the source print have been lost to print breakage and were also beginning to shrink as some print cupping is apparent in the picture, which occasionally goes out of focus in the central areas of the image. Active nitrate print decomposition begins to appear 53 minutes into the film.

The film is accompanied by an orchestral music score by Anton Sanko, which may have been performed on digital keyboards (or may be an actual orchestra — we just don’t know these days).

The supplementary material includes audio commentary by Anthony Slide which is, of course, entertaining and informative. But we must take up the opposite side of the issue with Anthony’s umbrage over use of the term “intertitles” instead of “subtitles” today. Today’s audiences understand that subtitles are presented over the lower portion of the picture to translate dialogue that is foreign to the audience, and that intertitles are interspersed among lengths of footage to present the content of dialogue in silent films. We maintain that today it is appropriate to use the term cinematography over the historically used term photography to refer to the taking of motion pictures. But, hey, this isn’t Facebook so let’s leave it at that. In addition is a side-by-side presentation of the differences of the 35mm source material and of the 16mm print (assembled almost entirely of alternate takes rather than from a second camera position) that contains footage toward the end of the film that isn’t lost to decomposition (9 minutes), and a presentation of an alternate ending to the film from the 16mm reduction print.

We recommend this Blu-ray Disc edition as the best home video edition currently available.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

The film is accompanied by an orchestral music score by Anton Sanko, which may have been performed on digital keyboards.

The audio commentary by Anthony Slide is, of course, entertaining and informative.

We recommend this Kino edition as the best currently available on DVD home video.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

This DVD edition apparently utilizes the same slightly-windowboxed video transfer produced by David Shepard that was released on laserdisc and VHS videotape in the 1990s. The 35mm source print appears to be shrunken in places, with characteristic picture geometry movement within the frame, and there is some persistent frame jitters, but much of the material is of often very-good to sometimes excellent quality, with reasonably sharp image detail and a broad range of greytones that often favor the darker tones. There are also signs of beginning decomposition, splices, light speckling, very little dust, and slight exposure fluctuations.

The older video transfer is of reasonable quality, with the technicians doing a good job of keeping the sometimes-less-than-perfect source print in focus throughout. However, the transfer has been made at sound speed to accommodate synchronization of the preexisting soundtrack, resulting in human movement that is distractingly fast. The disc still looks pretty good on high-definition systems, but emphasizes some unnecessary video edge sharpening.

The film is accompanied by an older orchestral music score, with synchronized sound effects, that is serviceable but not up to modern standards.

We recommend the film as a required excursion into the dark world of director Browning, the versatility of Lon Chaney, and the gritty toughness of Priscilla Dean. The quality of this out-of-print DVD edition has been surpassed by those Kino editions noted above.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

This budget DVD edition has been mastered from a full-frame video transfer utilizing a 35mm source print. Whether the source print is the same as that utilized for the Image edition noted above, or the same transfer has been digitally enlarged to full-frame (this edition runs suspiciously at the same frame rate — too fast), the quality of the print is much the same as the Image edition. The difference between the two editions is that the Alpha disc has been encoded at a low bit rate and low picture resolution such that digital defects such as compression artifacts and horizontal picture details that jump between coarse resolution lines are easy to spot, especially on high-resolution systems. Whether intentional of not, we don’t know, the picture has a pale violet tint to the highlights.

All of the film’s intertitles have been reset as video-based still frames either to discourage video piracy among the cheap video producers or to disguise where the video transfer came from — either way, as collectors, the preference will still be for the original intertitles.

The film is accompanied by an original music score performed on MIDI keyboards by Kevin Slick. Annoying amateurish, at best.

We recommend the above-noted Kino Blu-ray Disc as the best available edition of Outside the Law, clearly not this one.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Other silent era TOD BROWNING films available on home video.