Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2025 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
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April Fool
(1924)
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This Jimmy Jump comedy, directed by Ralph Ceder, stars Charley Chase and Blanche Mehaffey, with Noah Young, Jack Gavin, Elmo Billings and Helen Gilmore.
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 Kino on Video
2004 DVD edition
The Charley Chase Collection (1924-1926), black & white, 121 minutes total, not rated, including April Fool (1924), black & white, 12 minutes, not rated.
Kino International, K368, UPC 0-38329-03682-9.
One single-sided, dual-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 6.6 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 4 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $29.95 (reduced to $24.95).
Release date: 3 August 2004.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 9 / additional content: 8 / overall: 8.
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This DVD edition, produced with the assistance of Lobster Films, Paris, has been mastered from a 16mm reduction print (likely an export print) that is a little dark in its shadows. with dust, speckling, and other flaws. The video transfer itself is a little smeary soft and runs a bit faster than natural speed.
The film is presented by a music score composed and performed on piano by Neil Brand.
Perhaps better source material of this film exists but, for now, this is the best available home video edition of the film we have viewed.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition is available directly from . . .
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 Reel Classic DVD
2004 DVD edition
A Festival of Silent Comedy, Volume 1 (1914-1929), black & white, 109 minutes total, not rated, including April Fool (1924), black & white, 14 minutes, not rated.
Reelclassicdvd.com, no catalog number, UPC 7-62184-87612-2.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at 7.2 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 stereo sound; English language intertitles, no subtitles; no chapter stops (within the film); standard DVD keepcase; $20.00.
Release date: 2004.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 4 / audio: 7 / additional content: 6 / overall: 6.
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This DVD-R edition has been transferred from a good to very-good 16mm reduction print. The slightly windowboxed, natural-speed video transfer is a bit on the dark side, with some closed-up shadows and a few featureless highlights.
The film is presented with a music score performed on piano by Ben Model. One of the highlights of the presentation is the music score.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
REEL CLASSIC DVD through . . .
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 The Milestone Cinematheque
2011 DVD edition
Cut the the Chase: The Charley Chase Collection (1924-1926), black & white, 303 minutes total, not rated, including April Fool (1924), black & white, 11 minutes, not rated.
Milestone Film & Video, distributed by Oscilloscope Laboratories (now distributed by Kino Lorber), Mile00118,
UPC 7-84148-01184-4, ISBN 978-1-933920-14-6.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc (two DVDs in the set); 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at 7.8 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 5.1 surround sound encoded at 448 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 4 chapter stops; two-page insert card; standard two-disc DVD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 2011.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 7 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.
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This DVD edition has been mastered from a good 8mm reduction print. that shows a significant amount of dust, speckling, emulsion scuffing and other flaws. The picture itself is quite soft in image detail. Better prints exist, too bad one couldn’t have been sourced here.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on piano by David Knudtson.
Not really a great presentation due to the subpar source material but, what the hey, it’s still fun.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD edition is available from
MILESTONE FILMS through . . .
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Other silent era CHARLEY CHASE films available on home video.
Other SHORT COMEDY FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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