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 Wonderful
Wizard of Oz
(1910)
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This first motion picture based on Oz books by L. Frank Baum was produced in Chicago by Selig Polyscope Company in 1910 and features a very young Bebe Daniels as Dorothy.
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 Warner Home Video
2009 Blu-ray Disc edition
The Wizard of Oz (1939), color and color-toned black & white, 102 minutes, Rated G, including The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910), color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 59 minutes, not rated.
Warner Home Video, 3000024968,
UPC 8-83929-05736-8, ISBN 1-4198-7873-5.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region A Blu-ray Disc (two BDs in the set); 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; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; and one dual-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 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; standard three-disc BD keepcase; $49.99.
Release date: 1 December 2009.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 6 / additional content: 8 / overall: 6.
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This Blu-ray Disc edition of The Wizard of Oz (1939) contains in its supplemental materials five surviving silent era adaptations of L. Frank Baum Oz stories, including the first known Oz film The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910). This edition has been mastered from a very-good 35mm preservation print from the George Eastman Museum, which is a bit flat in its greyscale range.
The film is accompanied by a music score performed on piano by John Thomas and Michael Sushel.
We recommend this home video edition of the film as the best-available on Blu-ray Disc.
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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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 National Film Preservation Foundation
2004 DVD edition
More Treasures from American Film Archives (1894-1931), black & white and color, 573 minutes total, not rated, including The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910), black & white, 13 minutes, not rated.
National Film Preservation Foundation, distributed by Image Entertainment, NATD2271DVD, UPC 0-14381-22712-3.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 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 ? 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; three cardboard wrapped plastic trays in cardboard slipcase; $79.95.
Release date: 7 September 2004.
Country of origin: USA
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This 50 film DVD collection includes the earliest known Oz motion picture, here mastered from a 35mm print held by George Eastman Museum. The image was windowboxed to allow the full image to be viewed on older monitors that cropped a portion of the picture on all sides, which is not a concern on today’s HD monitors. The image still looks pretty good on HD systems capable of converting interlaced images to smoother progressive scan images that are also upscaled to a higher picture resolution.
A number of the films have been available on home video for years, but this put-of-print collection presents the best available edition of this film on DVD home video.
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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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Other OZ FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
Other silent era BEBE DANIELS films on home video.
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