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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Ask Father
(1919)
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This one-reel comedy, directed by Hal Roach, stars Harold Lloyd and Bebe Daniels, with Snub Pollard, Wallace Howe, Marie Mosquini, Charley Chase), Bud Jamison, William Gillespie and Noah Young.
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 New Line Home Entertainment
2005 DVD edition
The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection, Volume 1 (1919-1936), black & white, color-toned black & white and color-tinted black & white, 420 minutes total, not rated, including Ask Father (1919), black & white, 13 minutes, not rated.
New Line Home Entertainment, N8446,
UPC 7-94043-84462-1, ISBN 0-7806-5289-4.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD 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 ? Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 1.0 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, optional English and Spanish language subtitles; closed captions; chapter stops; and one dual-sided, dual-layered (side A)/single-layered (side B) Region 1 NTSC DVD 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 ? Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 1.0 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, optional English and Spanish language subtitles; closed captions; chapter stops; standard two-disc DVD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 15 November 2005.
Country of origin: USA
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This two-disc DVD collection is mastered from 35mm restoration prints overseen by The Harold Lloyd Trust, which should represent the best-surviving prints of these seven Harold Lloyd shorts and feature films.
The film is presented with a music score arranged and conducted by Robert Israel.
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This Region 1 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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 Passport Video
2007 DVD edition
Smiles and Spectacles: A Harold Lloyd Treasury (1917-1947), black & white, 600 minutes total, not rated, including Ask Father (1919), black & white, 13 minutes, not rated.
Passport Video, DVD-5160, UPC 0-25493-51609-8.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc (five 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 ? Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; no chapter stops (within the film); double-wide five-disc DVD keepcase; $19.98.
Release date: 13 February 2007.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD edition has mainly been mastered from 16mm print materials.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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 Alpha Video
2013 DVD edition
Lost Comedy Classics, Volume 2 (1917-1919), black & white, 82 minutes total, not rated, including Ask Father (1919), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 7236D, UPC 0-89218-72369-7.
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 5.4 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 384 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; no chapter stops (within the film); standard DVD keepcase; $6.98 (raised again to $9.99).
Release date: 10 December 2013.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 3 / additional content: 3 / overall: 3.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a good 16mm reduction print that is plugged-up darkness in its shadows. The image quality is so bad that the coarse video transfer may have been duplicated from an old VHS videotape.
The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music sources.
Not at all recommended. Search out the New Line edition noted above instead.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
ALPHA VIDEO through . . .
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Other silent era HAROLD LLOYD films available on home video.
Other silent era BEBE DANIELS films on home video.
Other SHORT COMEDY FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
Other silent film music scores by ROBERT ISRAEL available on home video.
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