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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Stella Maris
(1918)
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Mary Pickford plays a dual-role as Stella Maris and Unity Blake in this feature drama directed by Marshall Neilan. Conway Tearle, Marcia Manon, Ida Waterman, Herbert Standing, Josephine Crowell and Teddy the dog support.
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 VCI Entertainment
2023 Blu-ray Disc / DVD edition
Stella Maris (1918), black & white and color-tinted black & white, 83 minutes, not rated, with The Mountaineer’s Honor (1909), color-toned black & white, 15 minutes, not rated.
VCI Entertainment, distributed by MVDVisual,
VCI9109, UPC 0-89859-91092-0.
One single-sided, single-layered, Regions ABC 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 32.4 Mbps average video bit rate; Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 320 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 12 chapter stops; and one single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at 6.4 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 320 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 12 chapter stops; 12-page insert booklet; standard two-disc BD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 12 December 2023.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 9 / audio: 7 / additional content: 8 / overall: 8.
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This Blu-ray Disc / DVD edition has been mastered from archival 35mm print materials, including a 1967 35mm duplicate negative and an incomplete color-tinted 1925 35mm rerelease print. A high-definition scan from the duplicate negative was utilized for the majority of the reconstruction, with all unique surviving footage from the second print included to present the most-complete version of the film possible. The majority of print damage was digitally repaired, image stabilization performed, and the frame rate digitally varisped to 19 frames-per-second to emulate the original camera speed. The results are excellent and represent an improvement over the stalwart Milestone DVD edition noted below.
The DVD picture looks good but (of course) is not as clear as the BD. Still, this disc looks better than all of the other home video editions of this film.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on synthesizers by the Graves Brothers.
Supplemental material includes audio commentary by film historian Marc Wanamaker; a 1909 D.W. Griffith short film featuring Pickford; a stills gallery (42 images); and a 12-page insert booklet with notes on the film by the Mary Pickford Foundation.
This is our recommended home video edition (both Blu-ray Disc and DVD) of the film.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc / Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc / Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca.
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This
Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc / Region 0 NTSC DVD edition is also available directly from . . .
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 The Milestone Collection
2000 DVD edition
Stella Maris (1918), black & white, 84 minutes, not rated.
Milestone Film & Video, distributed by Image Entertainment,
ID5930MLSDVD, UPC 0-14381-59302-0.
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: 18 April 2000.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD edition has likely been mastered from an archival 35mm print. We have reviewed other discs in the Milestone Mary Pickford series and are impressed with the quality of those DVDs.
This disc also includes bonus footage of Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and Charles Chaplin.
We are confident that this DVD is a quality production, however, since we have not has a chance to preview it, we cannot recommend the disc at this time.
This DVD edition is now out-of-print.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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United Kingdom: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.co.uk. Support Silent Era.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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 Alpha Video
2018 DVD edition
Stella Maris (1918), black & white, 83 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 8167D, UPC 0-89218-81679-5.
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 ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $7.98 (raised to $8.98).
Release date: 27 November 2018.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm or 8mm reduction print.
The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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Other silent era MARY PICKFORD films available on home video.
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Mary Pickford filmography in The Progressive Silent Film List
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