Product Details

• Actors: Beaudine Anderson, Mary Astor, John Barrymore, Andr Beranger, Michael Dark
• Format: Black & White, DVD, Silent, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Televista
• DVD Release Date: September 25, 2007
• Run Time: 81 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000UNYJCM
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #240,785 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Bummed Brummell, October 25, 2007

By 

E. D. Deuss "FilmFan" (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Beau Brummel (DVD)

This version of "Beau Brummel" is not from Warner Home Video (WHV) -- and it shows! It's from some outfit called Televista, whom I have not heard of. The keepcase design on the back is poor, with type very hard to read (colored type on a black background -- bad type color!, and a poor choice of typeface.)

The print itself is lousy+. What is infuriating above all is that this silent film was projected through a sound aperature, which cuts off part of the top and lefthand sides of the frame (all of the inter-titles are off center, and the tops of most of the heads are partly cut off).

I feel I spent way too much for this version, and I hope that WHV will come out with their own version. I suspect, considering the quality of this film, that it is a 16mm copy of a much-used 35mm print. It is hard to watch, with such low quality, and certainly no care was taken to put it on this DVD. Do not waste your money on this one!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 stars for the movie, not this print, January 30, 2008

By 

calvinnme - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Beau Brummel (DVD)

Like another reviewer, I just saw the restored TCM version of 1924's "Beau Brummel" with its new score by a recent winner of the TCM Young Composer's competition. It certainly does this great silent justice in both the score and the video restoration. The particular DVD version for sale here is not restored - it appears to me to just be the VHS version transferred to DVD, and I wouldn't recommend it at all. The film itself is a great showcase for John Barrymore's talents. He gets to play the spurned romantic, the comic rogue who is always laughing at everyone else, the beaten man in decline still hanging on to his dignity, and finally an insane aged man completely unaware of reality.

Brummel starts out as a young man in love with Lady Margery (Mary Astor). The feeling is mutual, but Margery's mother is ambitious and insists that Margery marry the wealthy Lord Alvanley. She considers Brummel not good enough for her daughter. To soothe his grief, Brummel plunges down the path of a self-destructive and hedonistic lifestyle, indulging in the finest food, drink, clothing, and women, but nothing can kill the sting of his losing Lady Margery. Alec B. Francis, as Brummel's gentleman's gentleman Mortimer, actually has a role equal in importance to Mary Astor's role, and he shines in it. Early in the film Mortimer corrects a visitor when he refers to Brummel as his master. Instead, Brummel is his life. He stays with Brummel when he can no longer pay him, and even after he is wrongfully discharged and he returns to England, he continues to send money for Brummel's upkeep. This is a long film for a silent at over two hours in length, but it doesn't drag at all.

This year is Warner Bros. 85th anniversary. Let's hope this film was restored with an eye to putting an official version on DVD. You'd think that since this is one of the few early silent films still in existence that was made by Warner Bros. that is not a Rin-Tin-Tin film, that this would be the plan.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars HIS LEFT PROFILE, October 10, 2007

By 

Brad Baker (Atherton, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beau Brummel (DVD)

Beau Brummel is a dandified gentleman who enjoys the respect of the English royalty and the attention of the local ladies. He pinches his snuff,and poses in his tights. Things go rather well until a tussle with a girl causes him to insult the regal(and portly) Prince of Wales. Now dear Beau becomes a cast-off, enjoyed only by his sweet Lady Alvaney. The years pass, and Beau transforms into a doddering old man. How could he know that his beloved Lady still loves him? A perfect suit for the elegant Shakespearean John Barrymore, 1924's "Beau Brummel" signaled the actor's first Warner Bros. effort. More would follow. Barrymore carried on an active affair with his co-star, Mary Astor(just 17), throughout the production. A marriage was fortold(It would not happen). "Beau Brummel" offers an unending array of "left profile" shots of the famous Barrymore; but his rich clothing and constricting pants would be a source of discomfort and embarassment in years to come. He would soon avoid the "prissy" roles of this early career. Barrymore much enjoyed his "transformation" scene at the end( he always did), as he steps out of his "ageing self"; observing what's left of his time-battered body; loved only by his faithful servant. Televista provides a first DVD release of "Beau Brummel(a spotty video tape has been available for a few years)". This disc continues the murky problems of the tape, and is clearly un-restored. Historically Barrymore's first major Hollywood production, the film is sadly slow-moving, and almost without any drama. The sentimental ending is surely enjoyable, but it cannot compete with the dreay soap-opera that comes before.