Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved. |
Flunky,
Work Hard
(1931)
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This comedy-drama short film, the earliest surviving film directed by Mikio Naruse, presents a brief tale of a timid and put-upon insurance agent who is hounded by financial circumstance and a frustrated wife.
In this short film, Naruse employs some camera movement (uncommon for the time) and unusual editing devices to propel his narrative.
Due to the entrenchment of the Benshi narrator tradition in Japanese film exhibition, the production of Japanese silent films extended well into the 1930s.
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The Criterion Collection
2011 DVD edition
Silent Naruse (1931-1934), black & white, 370 minutes total, not rated, including Flunky, Work Hard (1931), black & white, 28 minutes, not rated.
The Criterion Collection, ECL120 (Eclipse Series 26),
UPC 7-15515-06931-1, ISBN 978-1-60465-400-4.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD disc (three 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 8.4 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 384 Kbps audio bit rate; Japanese language intertitles, optional English language subtitles; no chapter stops (within the film); 4-page insert booklet; three slimline DVD keepcases in cardboard slipcase; $44.95.
Release date: 5 April 2011.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 8 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.
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