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Before the Nickelodeon
The Early Cinema of
Edwin S. Porter
(1982)

This documentary by primitive cinema authority Charles Musser covers the career of Edison cameraman/director Edwin S. Porter.

Kino International
2008 DVD edition

Before the Nickelodeon: The Early Cinema of Edwin S. Porter (1982), black & white and color-tinted black & white, 58 minutes, not rated, with Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show (1902), black & white, 3 minutes, not rated, Waiting at the Church (1906), black & white, 9 minutes, not rated, and Life of a Cowboy (1906), black & white, 17 minutes, not rated.

Kino International,
unknown catalog number, UPC 7-38329-05892-0.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD 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 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles, chapter stops, 5.5 Mbps average video bit rate, 192 Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 mono sound, English language intertitles, no subtitles; 10 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $24.99.
Release date: 22 April 2008.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 5 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.

This DVD edition of Thomas Hanlon’s documentary shows a very-good source print, with modern view inserts of some of the sample film clips. Documentary narration by Blanche Sweet.

Surprisingly, with such a short documentary, we feel that the films should be the focus of this disc and the documentary should be its supplementary material. Overall, the image quality is very-good and the experience a little like sitting in a classroom and watching a 16mm print.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .

BFI Video Publishing
2006 DVD edition

Before the Nickelodeon: The Early Cinema of Edwin S. Porter (1982), black & white and color-tinted black & white, 40 minutes, BBFC Classification E.

BFI Video Publishing, BFIVD 577,
UPC 5-03567-30057-7, ISBN 503567300577, EAN 5.03567E+11.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 2 PAL DVD disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 576 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; chapter stops; 12-page insert booklet; standard DVD keepcase; £15.65.
Release date: 28 August 2006.
Country of origin: England

We have not viewed this PAL DVD edition, which should be nearly identical to the Kino edition noted above.

Supplemental material includes a 12-page booklet with notations by Luke McKernan.

North American collectors will need a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.

This Region 2 PAL DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .

Other silent era-related DOCUMENTARIES available on home video.

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