Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
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A Spray of
Plum Blossoms
(1931)
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This romantic drama, directed by Wancang Bu, stars Ling-yu Ruan and Chu-chu Lam, with Cilong Wang, Yan Jin, Zhanfei Gao and Yanyan Chen.
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 Cinema Epoch
2007 DVD edition
A Spray of Plum Blossoms (1931), black & white, 112 minutes, not rated, with Two Stars in the Milky Way (1931), black & white, 86 minutes, not rated.
Epoch Entertainment,
no catalog number, UPC 8-91514-00129-0.
One single-sided, dual-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 4.2 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; Chinese and English language intertitles, no subtitles; 9 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $19.98.
Release date: 11 September 2007.
Country of origin: USA •
Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 6 / additional content: 5 / overall: 5.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from 16mm reduction print materials. There is some visual evidence that more than one print was conflated into the 16mm print copy utilized for the video transfer. From the opening moments of the film, this edition is a disappointment. Even with the questionable survival state of many Chinese films from the silent era, copied to 16mm reduction prints from worn materials, this edition presents a picture that is often contrasy, often dark, and often blurry. The picture contains the usual amount of dust, speckling, schmutz, exposure fluctuations, signs of beginning nitrate decomposition, emulsion scrapes and other print flaws.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on synthesizers by Toshiyuki Hiraoka. Roughly edited at times, the score is passable.
Supplemental material includes Two Stars in the Milky Way (1931) that fares much better than this film.
This is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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United Kingdom: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.co.uk. Support Silent Era.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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 BoYing
1999 DVD edition
A Spray of Plum Blossoms (1931), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
BoYing, no catalog number,
UPC 9-787885-729240, ISBN 7-88572-924-9.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 6 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 ? Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; Chinese language intertitles, optional Chinese and English language subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; unknown suggested retail price.
Release date: 1999?
Country of origin: China
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This DVD edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm reduction print that may be identical to that utilized for the Cinema Epoch edition noted above.
The film may not be accompanied by a music score, which would be consistent with other BoYing silent film releases of this vintage.
North American collectors will need a region-free NTSC DVD player to view this edition.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 6 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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This Region 6 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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Other CHINESE FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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