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Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
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Kidnapped
(1917)

This Edison adaptation of the famous Robert Louis Stevenson novel, directed by Alan Crosland, stars Raymond McKee, Joseph Burke, Ray Hallor and William Wadworth.

Movies Silently
2018 DVD edition

Kidnapped (1917), color-tinted black & white and color-toned black & white, 64 minutes, not rated, with Friends, Romans and Leo (1917), black & white and color-tinted black & white, 12 minutes, not rated, Little Red Riding Hood (1917), color-tinted black & white, 7 minutes, not rated, Quaint Provincetown (1917), color-tinted black & white, 6 minutes, not rated, and Microscopic Pond Life (1917), color-tinted black & white, 4 minutes, not rated.

Movies Silently, no catalog number, UPC 1-91091-69785-6.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R disc, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in pillarboxed 16:9 (720 x 480 pixels) anamorphic interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), 5.7 Mbps average video bit rate, ? Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $19.95.
Release date: 27 July 2018.
Country of origin: USA

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

This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a very-good to sometimes excellent 16mm reduction print held by The Library of Congress, the only known print of the film. No digital clean-up or stabilization has been performed so there is a moderate amount dust, speckling, schmutz and other print flaws that remain. A substantial vertical scratch appears in the middle of the film, which is very distracting but the action can still be followed.

The films are well accompanied by piano music scores performed by Ben Model.

Supplementary material includes four short films were part of the full Edison Conquest Pictures program from 1917, a short comedy, an interesting fairy tale told by actors in silhouette, a travelogue and an educational short. The original Kickstarter supporters also received an insert booklet that is not included with the retail discs.

Prepared from the only known print, this is the only home video edition of the film we know of. Recommended!

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