Silent Era : Home Video Reviews

Silent Era Home Page > Home Video > Avant-Garde: Experimental Cinema of the 1920s and ’30s

Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved.

Avant-Garde
Experimental Cinema of
the 1920s and ’30s
(1921-1947)

Contents: Manhatta (1921), Rhythmus 21 (1921), Le Retour à la raison (1923), Le Ballet mécanique (1924), Symphonie diagonale (1924), Anémic cinéma (1926), Emak-Bakia (1926), Ménilmontant (1926), La Glace à trois faces (1927), Brumes d’automne (1928), La Coquille et le clergyman (1928), L’Étoile de mer (1928), The Life and Death of 9413, a Hollywood Extra (1928), Überfall (1928), Vormittagsspuk (1928), Les Mystères du Château du Dé (1929), H2O (1929), Regen (1929), Romance sentimentale (1930), Autumn Fire (1931), Lot in Sodom (1933), The Hearts of Age (1934), Even As You and I (1937), Le vampire (1939) and Le tempestaire (1947).

Kino on Video
2005 DVD edition

Avant-Garde: Experimental Cinema of the 1920s and ’30s (1921-1947), black & white, 360 minutes total, not rated, including Manhatta (1921), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, Rhythmus 21 (1921), black & white, 3 minutes, not rated, Le Retour à la raison (1923), black & white, 2 minutes, not rated, Le Ballet mécanique (1924), black & white, 11 minutes, not rated, Symphonie diagonale (1924), black & white, 7 minutes, not rated, Anémic cinéma (1926), black & white, 6 minutes, not rated, Emak-Bakia (1926), black & white, 16 minutes, not rated, Ménilmontant (1926), black & white, 37 minutes, not rated, La Glace à trois faces (1927), black & white, 33 minutes, not rated, Brumes d’automne (1928), black & white, 12 minutes, not rated, La Coquille et le clergyman (1928), black & white, 31 minutes, not rated, L’Étoile de mer (1928), black & white, 15 minutes, not rated, The Life and Death of 9413, a Hollywood Extra (1928), black & white, 13 minutes, not rated, Überfall (1928), black & white, 22 minutes, not rated, Vormittagsspuk (1928), black & white, 9 minutes, not rated, Les Mystères du Château du Dé (1929), black & white, 20 minutes, not rated, H2O (1929), black & white, 12 minutes, not rated, Regen (1929), black & white, 14 minutes, not rated, Romance sentimentale (1930), black & white, 20 minutes, not rated, Autumn Fire (1931), black & white, 15 minutes, not rated, Lot in Sodom (1933), black & white, 27 minutes, not rated, The Hearts of Age (1934), black & white, 8 minutes, not rated, Even: As You and I (1937), black & white, 12 minutes, not rated, Le vampire (1939), black & white, 8 minutes, not rated, and Le tempestaire (1947), black & white, 22 minutes, not rated.

Kino International, K402, UPC 7-38329-04022-2.
Two single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD discs, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, English language subtitles (selected films); chapter stops; two-disc DVD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 2 August 2005.
Country of origin: USA

Kino International filled in a previously-neglected gap in world cinema available on quality home video with this collection of experimental films. Several of the most-famous avant-garde films of the silent era are presented in this DVD.

The presentation of silent films is accompanied by newly-composed music scores by Donald Sosin, Larry Marotta, Sue Harshe and Paul Mercer. The disc also features film notes by film critic/historian Elliott Stein, and optional English language subtitles (on selected films).