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 Miracle Man
(1919)
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One of Lon Chaney’s sought-after film roles featured him as a contortionist working with a team of confidence men to take advantage of gullible yokels. The film is now presumed lost, with the exception of approximately 3 minutes of footage that has survived as part of compilation film documentary.
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 Kino Classics
2012 BLu-ray Disc edition
The Penalty (1920), color-tinted black & white, 93 minutes, not rated, with The Miracle Man (1919) [fragment], black & white, 3 minutes, not rated.
Kino Lorber, K1059, UPC 7-38329-10592-1.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 Blu-ray Disc, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) progressive scan AVC (MPEG-4) format, SDR (standard dynamic range), ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? Kbps audio bit rate, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound and LPCM 48 kHz 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, no subtitles; no chapter stops; standard BD keepcase in cardboard slipcover; $34.95.
Release date: 23 October 2012.
Country of origin: USA
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This Blu-ray Disc edition of surviving exerpts from The Miracle Man (1919) has been mastered from a very-good 35mm print of a sound compilation film.
This edition may be enough of an improvement over Kino’s DVD edition noted below that it may be worth updating one’s copy of the footage.
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USA: Click to purchase this Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports the Silent Era website.
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Canada: Click to purchase this Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports the Silent Era website.
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 Kino on Video
2001 DVD edition
The Penalty (1920), color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 93 minutes, not rated, with The Miracle Man (1919) [fragment], black & white, 3 minutes, not rated.
Kino International, K216, UPC 7-38329-02162-7.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), ? Mbps average video bit rate, 192 Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, no subtitles; no chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 9 October 2001.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 8 / audio: 7 / additional content: 9 / overall: 8.
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This DVD edition presents surviving exerpts from The Miracle Man (1919) from a very-good 35mm print of a sound compilation film, the only know surviving footage of the film.
Chaney’s physical control alone in his ‘miracle’ transformation is incredible. The audio commentary from the compilation film includes the statement, “This was the big scene that helped make The Miracle Man a picture that will never be forgotten.” If only the film had survived to help keep the film from being forgotten! The film had survived long enough to be exerpted in this film but has disintegrated by today — another reason to preserve films now!
This disc is still a serviceable edition of the film.
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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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 Grapevine Video
2014 DVD edition
Lon Chaney: Films & Fragments (1914-1922), black & white, 98 minutes total, not rated, including The Miracle Man (1919) [fragment], black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10669-9.
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: July 2014.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm reduction print.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed by David Knudtson.
Supplemental material includes footage from the set of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923); and trailers for The Shock (1923) and lost film The Big City (1928).
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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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United Kingdom: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 2 PAL DVD edition from Amazon.co.uk. Support Silent Era.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is also available directly from . . .
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Other silent era LON CHANEY films available on home video.
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