Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2025 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
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Opium
(1919)
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This cautionary drug drama, directed by Robert Reinert, stars Eduard von Winterstein and Hanna Ralph, with Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Sybil Morel, Friedrich Kühne, Alexander Delbosq and Sigrid Hohenfels.
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 Edition Filmmuseum
2021 DVD edition
Opium (1919), black & white, 92 minutes, not rated, with Sterbende Völker (1922) [fragments], black & white, 9 minutes, not rated.
Edition Filmmuseum, 116, UPC/EAN 9-783958-601161.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 PAL DVD disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 576 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 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; German language intertitles, optional English language subtitles; chapter stops; 20-page insert booklet; standard DVD keepcase; €19,95.
Release date: January 2021.
Country of origin: Germany
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This PAL DVD edition has been mastered from the 2018 reconstruction of the film conducted by Filmmuseum München and Filmmuseum Düsseldorf.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed by Richard Siedhoff and Mykyta Sierov and recorded during a live performance at the Bonn International Silent Festival on 17 August 2018.
Supplemental material includes a featurette with documents and a side-by-side comparison of Opium (4 minutes); surviving fragments of Robert Reinert’s Sterbende Völker (1922) (9 minutes); and a 20-page bilingual (German and English) insert booklet with writings by Stefan Drössler and Robert Reinert.
This is our recommended home video edition of the film.
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This
Region 0 PAL DVD edition is available directly from . . .
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 Loving the Classics
201? DVD edition
Opium (1919), black & white, 112 minutes, not rated.
Loving the Classics,
no catalog number, unknown UPC number.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R 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; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $14.99.
Release date: 201?
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm reduction print.
The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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Rare Films and More
202? DVD edition
Opium (1919), black & white, 96 minutes, not rated.
Rare Films and More, 2227, no UPC number.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R 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; German language intertitles, optional English language subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $13.99.
Release date: 202?
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from files lifted from an Internet streaming site or from another company’s home video edition. The publisher notes that this edition is “Unsharp and unclear picture; washed out and indistinct . . .”
The film is likely accompanied by a music score pirated from another company’s home video edition or a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
Note that this company apparently has a history of pirating other home video editions to produce their products. Be aware that purchasing pirated home video editions does not benefit the original edition producers nor the composers whose music is often pirated as well.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .
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Other GERMAN FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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