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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The Whispering
Chorus
(1918)
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Raymond Hatton and Kathlyn Williams star in this Cecil B. DeMille production.
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 Film Preservation Associates
2005 DVD edition
Old Wives for New (1918), color-tinted black & white, 71 minutes, not rated, with The Whispering Chorus (1918), color-toned black & white and black & white, 81 minutes, not rated.
Film Preservation Associates, distributed by Image Entertainment, ID5896DSDVD, UPC 0-14381-58962-7.
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 5.6 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 224 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 10 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $24.99.
Release date: 27 December 2005.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD edition, originally produced for laserdisc in 1997, has been mastered from 35mm print materials from the Blackhawk Films collection. This is a far better-looking video transfer than that of the companion film on this disc.
The film is presented with a modern music score compiled by Rodney Sauer and performed by The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. Great stuff.
No doubt about it, this is the best-looking home video edition of the film that we have seen.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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 Alpha Video
2014 DVD edition
The Whispering Chorus (1918), black & white, 81 minutes, not rated.
Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 7322D, UPC 0-89218-73229-3.
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 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $7.98 (raised again to $9.99).
Release date: 25 February 2014.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from 35mm print materials.
The film is likely presented with a music score compiled from preexisting recordings.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from
ALPHA VIDEO through . . .
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 Passport Video
2007 DVD edition
The Cecil B. DeMille Classics Collection (1914-1926), black & white, 1622 minutes total, not rated, including The Whispering Chorus (1918), black & white, 81 minutes, not rated.
Passport Video, DVD-5090, UPC 0-25493-50900-0.
One single-sided, dual-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 3.0 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 9 chapter stops; five-disc DVD keepcase; $19.98.
Release date: 12 June 2007.
Country of origin: USA
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This budget DVD edition has been mastered from a very-good 16mm reduction print, although the video transfer itself is pretty greyed-out.
The films are accompanied by canned music from a variety of audio sources.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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Other silent era CECIL B. DeMILLE films available on home video.
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