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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Beatrice Fairfax
(1916)
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This Wharton serial, starring Grace Darling, survived (except for chapter one) in the collection of actress Marion Davies.
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 The Serial Squadron
2025 Blu-ray Disc edition
Beatrice Fairfax (1916), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
The Serial Squadron,
no catalog number, unknown UPC number.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 Hybrid Blu-ray Disc (H-BD); 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 subtitles; chapter stops; standard BD keepcase; $18.95.
Release date: May 2025.
Country of origin: USA
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This Hybrid Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from archival 35mm and 16mm reduction print elements. Note that the serial is presented in standard-definition rather than a high-definition from surviving elements recovered by The Serial Squadron and now held by the Library of Congress.
The presentation features musical accompaniment performed on MIDI-based digital piano.
Supplemental material includes a short documentary on the real-life Beatrice Fairfax; and an image slideshow.
This is our recommended home video edition of the serial. Note: Hybrid Blu-ray Discs plsy correctly on only a limited number of BD players; check the publisher’s product page for additional information.
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This
Region 0 Hybrid Blu-ray Disc (H-BD) edition is available directly from . . .
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 The Serial Squadron
2018 DVD edition
Beatrice Fairfax (1916), black & white and color-tinted black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
The Serial Squadron,
no catalog number, unknown UPC number.
Two single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R discs; 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 DVD keepcase; $16.95.
Release date: December 2018.
Country of origin: USA
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This revised DVD-R edition has been mastered from surviving 35mm prints recovered by The Serial Squadron and now held by the Library of Congress, and features very-good to excellent full-frame video transfers at a natural-speed pace.
The presentation features new musical accompaniment performed on MIDI-based digital piano.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition has been discontinuted
and is . . .
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 The Serial Squadron
2004 DVD edition
Beatrice Fairfax, Volume 1 (1916), black & white and color-tinted black & white, 128 minutes, not rated.
The Serial Squadron, no catalog number, no 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 subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $16.95.
Release date: 2004.
Country of origin: USA
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This well-produced DVD-R edition, which has been mastered from surviving 35mm prints recovered by The Serial Squadron and now held by the Library of Congress, features a very-good to excellent full-frame video transfer at a natural-speed pace.
The collection features an introduction to the Beatrice Fairfax phenomenon (8 minutes), a recreation of the first (missing) chapter (4 minutes), and complete presentations of chapters two through five.
The presentation also features a new musical accompaniment performed on MIDI-based digital piano.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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Other SERIAL FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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