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The Merry Jail
[Das fidele Gefängnis]
(1917)

Ernst Lubitsch directed this short feature comedy with Harry Liedtke, Kitty Dewall, Ossi Oswalda, Agda Nielson, Paul Biensfeldt, Erich Schönfelder, Käthe Dorsch, Emil Jannings and Ernst Lubitsch.

The Criterion Collection
2003 DVD edition

Trouble in Paradise (1932), black & white, 83 minutes, not rated, with The Merry Jail (1917), black & white, 48 minutes, not rated.

The Criterion Collection, unknown catalog number, collection number unknown, UPC 7-15515-01312-3, ISBN number.
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 5.0 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; German language intertitles, optional English language subtitles; no chapter stops (within the film); standard DVD keepcase; $39.95.
Release date: 7 January 2003.
Country of origin: USA •

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

This DVD edition has been mastered from an archival 35mm print held by Filmmuseum München. The good to very-good source material shows dust, speckling, exposure fluctuations, emulsion scuffing, and other print flaws. The picture is pleasant enough viewing.

The film is presented with a music score composed and performed on piano by Aljoscha Zimmermann.

Supplementary material includes an introduction to Trouble in Paradise by Peter Bogdanovich; audio commentary on Trouble in Paradise by author Scott Eyman; and a radio adaptation of Trouble in Paradise starring Lubitsch, Jack Benny, Claudette Colbert and Basil Rathbone.

This is the only home video edition of the film that we are aware of.

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