Silent Era : Home Video Reviews

Silent Era Home Page > Home Video > The Origins of Film

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

The
Origins of Film
(1900-1927)

Contents: The Enchanted Drawing (1900), Fun in a Bakery Shop (1902), Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906), The Narrow Road (1912), A House Divided (1913), How Men Propose (1913), Matrimony’s Speed Limit (1913), A Florida Enchantment (1914), The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914), Alias Jimmy Valentine (1915), Dreamy Dud: He Resolves Not to Smoke (1915), Keeping Up with the Joneses: Women’s Styles (1915), Keeping Up with the Joneses: Men’s Styles (1915), The Phable of a Busted Romance (1916), Bobby Bumps Starts a Lodge (1916), Krazy Kat Goes A-Wooing (1916), Krazy Kat — Bugologist (1916), Krazy Kat and Ignatz Mouse at the Circus (1916), Mr. Nobody Holme: He Buys a Jitney (1916), Never Again! (1916), The Phable of the Phat Woman (1916), The Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy (1917), Mary and Gretel (1917), The Katzenjammer Kids: Police and Pie (1918), W.S.S. Thriftettes (1918), A.W.O.L.; or, All Wrong Old Laddiebuck (1919), Us Fellers: Dud Leaves Home (1919), Within Our Gates (1920), The Centaurs (1921), The First Circus (1921), Gertie on Tour (1921), Too Wise Wives (1921), Sissle and Blake (1923) and The Scar of Shame (1927).

The Library of Congress /
Smithsonian Video
2001 DVD edition

The Origins of Film (1900-1927), black & white, color-tinted black & white and color-toned black & white, 560 minutes total, not rated, including The Enchanted Drawing (1900), black & white, 1 minute, not rated, Fun in a Bakery Shop (1902), black & white, 1 minute, not rated, Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906), black & white, 3 minutes, not rated, The Narrow Road (1912), black & white, 17 minutes, not rated, A House Divided (1913), black & white, 14 minutes, not rated, How Men Propose (1913), black & white, 6 minutes, not rated, Matrimony’s Speed Limit (1913), black & white, 14 minutes, not rated, A Florida Enchantment (1914), black & white, 63 minutes, not rated, The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914), black & white, 67 minutes, not rated, Alias Jimmy Valentine (1915), black & white, color-toned black & white and color-tinted black & white, 65 minutes, not rated, Dreamy Dud: He Resolves Not to Smoke (1915), black & white, 5 minutes, not rated, Keeping Up with the Joneses: Women’s Styles (1915), black & white, 3 minutes, not rated, Keeping Up with the Joneses: Men’s Styles (1915), black & white, 3 minutes, not rated, The Phable of a Busted Romance (1916), black & white, 2 minutes, not rated, Bobby Bumps Starts a Lodge (1916), black & white, 5 minutes, not rated, Krazy Kat Goes A-Wooing (1916), black & white, 2 minutes, not rated, Krazy Kat — Bugologist (1916), black & white, 3 minutes, not rated, Krazy Kat and Ignatz Mouse at the Circus (1916), black & white, 3 minutes, not rated, Mr. Nobody Holme: He Buys a Jitney (1916), black & white, 1 minute, not rated, Never Again! (1916), black & white, 2 minutes, not rated, The Phable of the Phat Woman (1916), black & white, 2 minutes, not rated, The Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy (1917), black & white, 6 minutes, not rated, Mary and Gretel (1917), black & white, 7 minutes, not rated, The Katzenjammer Kids: Police and Pie (1918), black & white, 7 minutes, not rated, W.S.S. Thriftettes (1918), black & white, 1 minute, not rated, A.W.O.L.; or, All Wrong Old Laddiebuck (1919), color-tinted black & white, 6 minutes, not rated, Us Fellers: Dud Leaves Home (1919), black & white, 5 minutes, not rated, Within Our Gates (1920), black & white, 78 minutes, not rated, The Centaurs (1921), black & white, 2 minutes, not rated, The First Circus (1921), black & white, 6 minutes, not rated, Gertie on Tour (1921), black & white, 1 minute, not rated, Too Wise Wives (1921), black & white, 78 minutes, not rated, Sissle and Blake (1923), black & white, 4 minutes, not rated, and The Scar of Shame (1927), black & white, 76 minutes, not rated.

The Library of Congress/Smithsonian Video, distributed by Image Entertainment,
ID9807UMDVD, UPC 0-14381-98072-1.
Three 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 and mono sound, English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; three standard DVD keepcases in cardboard slipcase; $79.99.
Release date: 13 March 2001.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 8 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.

This 34-film DVD collection, culled largely from the film archive of the Library of Congress, is grouped into sections entitled “Origins of the Gangster Film,” “Origins of the Fantasy Feature,” “Origins of American Animation,” “America’s First Women Filmmakers” and “The African-American Cinema.” Many of the films are transferred from preservation prints copied from nitrate prints and copyright registration paper prints.

For our comparative reviews of the individual films in this collection, see our Alias Jimmy Valentine on home video, A.W.O.L. on home video, A Florida Enchantment on home video, The Patchwork Girl of Oz on home video, The Scar of Shame on home video, Too Wise Wives on home video and Within Our Gates on home video pages.

The visual quality is as a whole very-good, with the animation films generally being the rougher items in the collection. Unfortunately, this DVD collection is out-of-print.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.