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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The Road to
Ruin
(1928)
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This exploitation quickie, directed by Norton S. Parker, stars Helen Foster and Grant Withers, with Florence Turner, Charles Miller, Virginia Roye, Tom Carr and Don Rader.
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 Kino Classics
2024 DVD edition
The Road to Ruin (1934), black & white, 74 minutes, not rated, with The Road to Ruin (1928), black & white, 55 minutes, not rated.
Kino Lorber, K26597, UPC 7-38329-26597-7.
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; LPCM 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; chapter stops; standard BD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 16 April 2024.
Country of origin: USA
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This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from archival 35mm print elements provided by Something Weird Video. the Sonney Amusement Enterprises Film Collection and UCLA Film and Television Archive.
The film is accompanied by a music score.
Supplemental material includes the 1934 sound remake of the film; audio commentary for the 1934 film by Eric Schaefer, author of Bold! Daring! Shocking! True!: A History of Exploitation Films; audio commentary for the 1928 film by film historian Anthony Slide; and a gallery of exploitation film trailers.
This is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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This
Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition is also available directly from . . .
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 Alpha Video
2017 DVD edition
The Street of Forgotten Women (1927), black & white, 53 minutes, not rated, with The Road to Ruin (1928), color-toned black & white, 41 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 7965D, UPC 0-89218-79659-2.
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 3.8 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; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; 6 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $7.98 (raised to $8.98).
Release date: 20 June 2017.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 3 / additional content: 3 / overall: 3.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a good Thunderbird Films 16mm reduction print. The transfer or the print itself is dark, with some introductory titles nearly fading off into darkness — which may account for the new video-based intertitles to replace unreadable ones. Highlights are bright, nearly white and featureless.
The film is accompanied by a music score possibly performed on MIDI synthesizers from public-domain files (with an insert from a preexisting jazzy recording).
Reluctantly, this is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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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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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.ca. 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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 Silent Hall of Fame Enterprises
2016 DVD edition
The Road to Ruin (1928), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Silent Hall of Fame Enterprises, 8, unknown UPC number.
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 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; chapter stops; slimline CD jewelcase; $29.99 (raised to $36.99).
Release date: 2016.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a 16mm reduction print (as is evident from the publisher-provided still frame.
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting recordings.
Not recommended for the high cost to low value ratio.
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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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