Most companies that release silents on BD insist on encoding them at 1080p, which supports only 24fps. This introduces judder on all movies that run at slower frame rates, as they are stretched to fit into 24fps. Sometimes, such as with 18fps, it's almost tolerable, while with 22fps, it's whiplash-inducing (every 11th frame repeats). In every case, the motion is no longer smooth and really gets on my nerves! Silents never have jerky motion when presented from a proper film print.
Before BD, silents were transferred to home video interlaced (60 fields per second), and the motion was pretty good, with 60fps working for all frame rates, and every frame held for roughly the same amount of time.
However, since these BDs are pretty much the only way to see these movies, it's become a hobby of mine to fix the frame rates. I demux the video from the BD and delete all the duplicated frames. I then take the decimated file and re-sync it to the audio. While doing this, I take the opportunity to fix mastering errors and delete frames whose repairs are egregiously bad. When there are subtitles, I retime and occasionally retranslate them, with the goal to minimize the amount of subs that flash onscreen (one intertitle equals one subtitle). I also remove all modern logos and credits, making them separate files, since you usually won't see any if you go to a screening of an archival print.
All movies are available as a 1080i BD. Many are also available as a 60fps MKV. You must provide blanks, postage, and proof of purchase. PM me for details.
I will add to this list as I complete more.
TITLES:
Alice Guy Blaché, Vol. 1 (1897-1907)
Anna Boleyn
Battleship Potemkin (Kino)
Birth of a Nation, The (Kino)
Birth of a Nation, The (Twilight Time)
- Supplemental shorts only for now
Black Pirate, The
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The (Eureka)
Chaplin's Essanay Comedies 1915
Charlie Chaplin: The Mutual Comedies (1916-17)
Devil's Needle, The (1916) and Other Tales of Vice and Redemption
Doll, The
Downhill (Criterion)
Extraordinary World of Charlie Bowers, The
Fall of Babylon, The
Fantomas
- Improved PAL-NTSC conversion using the French release
Faust (Eureka)
Fragment of an Empire (1929)
Frankenstein (1910, Library of Congress)
- Public domain. Proof of purchase not necessary.
Golem, The (1920)
Grand Duke's Finances, The
Holy Mountain, The (1926)
Ich mochte kein Mann sein
Inhumaine, L'
Intolerance
J'accuse (1919, Flicker Alley)
Last Laugh, The
Late Mathias Pascal, The
- DVD replaces brief portions damaged in the master
- Defective BD audio replaced by DVD audio (Bonus: now seven minutes shorter!)
Lodger, The (Criterion)
Lost World, The (1925)
Loves of Pharaoh, The
- English intertitles
Michael (1924)
Money (1928)
Mother and the Law, The
Mountain-Cat, The
Mude Tod, Der (Eureka)
Napoleon
- Finale also available as 4K UHD MKV
Nibelungen, Die (Kino)
Nosferatu (1922)
- FWMS version with original German intertitles
- FWMS version with Kino's English intertitles
- Photoplay version
Old Ironsides
Oyster Princess, The
Page of Madness, A
Phantom
Portrait of a Young Man
Schloss Vogelod
Sheik, The (Eureka)
Stage Struck
Sumurun
Tartuffe
Ten Commandments, The (1923)
- Color segments reinserted
- Available as a 24fps BD and a 60fps MKV
Trip to the Moon, A (2018 edition)
Vampires, Les (Kino)
(This post was last modified: 2022-01-04, 07:42 AM by Nick_M.
Edit Reason: Added title
)
Before BD, silents were transferred to home video interlaced (60 fields per second), and the motion was pretty good, with 60fps working for all frame rates, and every frame held for roughly the same amount of time.
However, since these BDs are pretty much the only way to see these movies, it's become a hobby of mine to fix the frame rates. I demux the video from the BD and delete all the duplicated frames. I then take the decimated file and re-sync it to the audio. While doing this, I take the opportunity to fix mastering errors and delete frames whose repairs are egregiously bad. When there are subtitles, I retime and occasionally retranslate them, with the goal to minimize the amount of subs that flash onscreen (one intertitle equals one subtitle). I also remove all modern logos and credits, making them separate files, since you usually won't see any if you go to a screening of an archival print.
All movies are available as a 1080i BD. Many are also available as a 60fps MKV. You must provide blanks, postage, and proof of purchase. PM me for details.
I will add to this list as I complete more.
TITLES:
Alice Guy Blaché, Vol. 1 (1897-1907)
Anna Boleyn
Battleship Potemkin (Kino)
Birth of a Nation, The (Kino)
Birth of a Nation, The (Twilight Time)
- Supplemental shorts only for now
Black Pirate, The
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The (Eureka)
Chaplin's Essanay Comedies 1915
Charlie Chaplin: The Mutual Comedies (1916-17)
Devil's Needle, The (1916) and Other Tales of Vice and Redemption
Doll, The
Downhill (Criterion)
Extraordinary World of Charlie Bowers, The
Fall of Babylon, The
Fantomas
- Improved PAL-NTSC conversion using the French release
Faust (Eureka)
Fragment of an Empire (1929)
Frankenstein (1910, Library of Congress)
- Public domain. Proof of purchase not necessary.
Golem, The (1920)
Grand Duke's Finances, The
Holy Mountain, The (1926)
Ich mochte kein Mann sein
Inhumaine, L'
Intolerance
J'accuse (1919, Flicker Alley)
Last Laugh, The
Late Mathias Pascal, The
- DVD replaces brief portions damaged in the master
- Defective BD audio replaced by DVD audio (Bonus: now seven minutes shorter!)
Lodger, The (Criterion)
Lost World, The (1925)
Loves of Pharaoh, The
- English intertitles
Michael (1924)
Money (1928)
Mother and the Law, The
Mountain-Cat, The
Mude Tod, Der (Eureka)
Napoleon
- Finale also available as 4K UHD MKV
Nibelungen, Die (Kino)
Nosferatu (1922)
- FWMS version with original German intertitles
- FWMS version with Kino's English intertitles
- Photoplay version
Old Ironsides
Oyster Princess, The
Page of Madness, A
Phantom
Portrait of a Young Man
Schloss Vogelod
Sheik, The (Eureka)
Stage Struck
Sumurun
Tartuffe
Ten Commandments, The (1923)
- Color segments reinserted
- Available as a 24fps BD and a 60fps MKV
Trip to the Moon, A (2018 edition)
Vampires, Les (Kino)