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Highly recommended: American silent movie DVDs & DVD collections

Posted by Audiophilander (A) on March 18, 2004 at 15:04:00

I know that I've mentioned The 5 DVD "Douglas Fairbanks Collection" at least once recently, but I just can't recommend this boxed-set enough! KINO has done a marvelous job here with quality restorations and reissues of his best output in the 1920's. Locate my other post for a more detailed analysis. BTW, separately I would also like to heartily recommend KINO's release of Fairbank's Gaucho and The Iron Mask; both are excellent.

"The Buster Keaton Collection" is also a KINO release and while the quality of the source material and music scoring is decidedly inconsistent it's a highly successful release overall; it represents almost all of his existing silent film output released under his own name in the 1920's.

My Best Girl, Image release of Mary Pickford's last silent film; the picture restoration quality is very nice although it could've been better given the apparent condition of the source material. Still, the story and charm recommend it strongly.

Blind Husbands, Foolsh Wives and Queen Kelly, three of Eric Von Stroheim's directorial efforts; KINO has done a good job of restoring existing elements although with the possible exception of Blind Husbands none of Von Stroheim's works has ever been released complete, as the Director originally envisioned them. BTW, lots of extras are included on each of these releases; all are highly recommended.

The Lost World, Image release, David Shepherd restoration, at 93 minutes the most complete version of this 1925 classic ever released on home video; lots of extras, including rare Willis O'Brien out-take effects footage and two alternate orchestral scores and a minaturized version of the original souvenir program. Excellent release all around; also, highly recommended.

Animation Legend Winsor McCay (Lumivision/Slingshot) contains almost all the existing footage created by this animation pioneer, cartoonist and illustrator extraordinaire. Beautifully compiled and visually stunning footage live-action and animated that captures an era so long past that it may seem almost alien in it's quaintness, politeness and dignity; it's a curiosity for sure, but recommended.

Whew, that's enough for right now, but there's a lot more worthy of recommendation, including European silents! For those who haven't been able to get into silent films I may narrow the list of recommended features to one or two "must haves" to try before giving up. BTW, any red-blooded American movie maven, or blue-blooded European movie maven for that matter, who appreciates subtitled films in a different language should not ignore classic silent films! ;^)

Cheers,
AuPh

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