Customer Reviews

The Cecil B. Demille Classics Collection

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The versions of deMille's silent films that appear on this product are those preserved and prepared for video by Film Preservation Associates and they are used here WITHOUT permission or blessing of Film Preservation Associates. Please don't reward those who steal the work of others.

There's nothing illegal about this offering, since all of the films are in the public domain, but it is VERY sleazy. The publishers have effectively stolen the hard work and expenses of the man who brought these films to video -- David Shepherd, who releases his films through Image Entertainment. Supporting this kind of PD "bootleg" will severely diminish the chances of other rare films being restored for DVD.

Waldo

This type of bargin bin video is the kind that has given Silent Film a bad name.

This DVD set poorly presents another video company's video releases, too.

Some of the movies are even sourced from old VHS tapes.

Absolute junk.

This boxed set will turn off any first time viewer of silent films.

I recommend to just stay away from this.

The good news is that sixteen early Cecil B. DeMille features have been made available in a DVD boxed set, many of them for the first and only time, at a reasonable price, and at least one of them (The Volga Boatman) is worth the price of the entire package. But there's plenty of bad news. Image quality varies tremendously, from unacceptable (The Road to Yesterday) to excellent (The Volga Boatman), most of them falling in the middle ground a lot of viewers have long been trained to describe as "acceptable" or "better than nothing". The canned musical scores run the gamut from inappropriate (Rimsky-Korsakov for Joan the Woman!) to miscued (Romance of the Redwoods). Color tinting and toning, which enhanced the films at the time of their original release, and which still adds to their visual impact today, if properly utilized, is totally absent. Bottom line: serious film enthusiasts should seek better copies elsewhere; Image Entertainment has already released several of them in far superior, but more expensive, versions. But since most of them have not yet made available by more reputable sources, these will have to do until something better hopefully comes along. On the other hand, if you want to save money, and only plan to give the films a single viewing, this provides a fast and cheap fix, an easy way to get them under your belt. However, it is not, repeat NOT, a good way to introduce silent filmmaking to an uneducated viewer, and most certainly an inadequate and unworthy representation of a legendary filmmaker.

The Passport Video collection of Cecil B. Demille classics is certainly unique... this is a good way to get a pile of Demille movies that aren't currently, and may never again be, available. I am a huge fan of the old old stuff, and this is in that genre... silent films from the infancy of the career of one of classic film's greatest minds.

That being said, folks who are buying big TVs and watching Blu-Ray may end up with a bad taste in their mouth. I have a 43" plasma TV, and some of the action scenes on these discs... well, they're just plain muddy. Like a bunch of squares chasing one another around on the screen. It almost seems as if the transfers were done at a small resolution and then blown up to DVD size. The cleanup is pretty fair (I've read the other reviews about stealing the cleanup work of other companies now, and I digress on that point) and really, you're getting what you pay for. Buster Keaton and Chaplin collections with an equal amount of movies, done correctly, cost 10x this much. I pretty much knew what I was getting coming in, but the possibility of letting some of these films slip away without getting them at all was something I just couldn't do.

This collection is one of my prides. I bought it a few months ago and I am slowly going through the films. These are remarkable films. I had no idea that CB's career went back so far. I prefer his silents now to almost all of his sound films. Each film at least worth a look; there are more than just a few masterpiece. Stands include Volga Boatman starring William Boyd, The Whispering Chorus with Raymond Hatton, Carmen and Joan the Woman with opera diva Geraldine Farrar. As much as I love Mary Pickford her two films with CB are arguably the weakest of the lot, and they are pretty good, especially the Little American; as are Gloria Swanson's CB films, but it is interesting to see her in comedies.

Even if you are not into silent films, I believe this is a great collection to start with.

For a budget DVD collection, I really couldn't be happier. The film prints are really clean. I appreciate the work that passport dvd did with the music. Yes, it probably would have been better for them to hire a piano or organ player to accompany the films, but the option they took was to use some really interesting instrumental music. I'm sure a lot of people will be annoyed that the music gets used in pretty much every film. Sometimes it works quite brilliantly and sometimes it doesn't really match up. I know that's going to sour a lot people on this collection. But for me, I actually enjoyed hearing the same music in all the films, kind of like hearing your favorite tv theme from your favorite show every week. So personally, I really like the music they have chosen to use in the films although an original piano or organ score would have been preferable.

All in all, Passport DVD's production of this set is a wonderful addition to my collection!! Grab it whilst you can. And if you really like one of the films, you can "upgrade" to one of the other major video companies. I'd like to do that with Volga Boatman one day.

For those who are interested, here are the contents of this set:

Disc One

The Squaw Man (1914) - A British captain (Dustin Farnum, recreating his stage role) comes to America and settles out West with an Indian girl (played by a Winnebago Indian woman named Princess Red Wing). DeMille's first film and one of the first features ever produced. Cecil himself appears as the Faro dealer. 74 mins.

The Virginian (1914) - A cowboy (Dustin Farnum of The Squaw Man) must save his friend from the hangman's noose by exposing the real bad guy (Billy Elmer of Kitty Foyle) before he can get the girl (Farnum's future wife, Winifred Kingston). 50 mins.

Carmen (1915) - Based on the same novel that inspired Bizet's opera, the story concerns a poor cigarette girl (Metropolitan opera star Geraldine Farrar) who falls for a bullfighter (Pedro de Cordoba of The Ghost Breakers), driving her jealous guardian (the doomed Wallace Reid) to murder. 56:30 mins.

The Cheat (1915) - Powerful melodrama about a two-timing wife (Broadway star Fanny Ward in her screen debut) who hooks up with a wealthy - and sadistic - Japanese ivory baron (Sessue Hayakawa of The Bridge on the River Kwai). 59 mins.


Disc Two

Joan the Woman (1916) - A soldier in World War I (Wallace Reid of The Affairs of Anatol) uncovers Joan of Arc's sword, leading to her appearance (Geraldine Farrar of Carmen) in a vision and the telling of her life story. 133 mins.

The Romance of the Redwoods (1917) - A naive New England girl (the legendary Mary Pickford) moves out West and winds up falling for a stagecoach robber (Elliott Dexter of The Affairs of Anatol). 90 mins.

The Little American (1917) - Once again, the great Mary Pickford stars, this time as a young girl who finds herself pursued by a German-American (Jack Holt of San Francisco) and a French-American (Western star, Raymond Hatton) during World War One, leading to international intrigue. 65 mins.



Disc Three

Old Wives for New (1918) - An unhappy husband (Elliott Dexter of The Romance of the Redwoods) leaves his lazy wife (Sylvia Ashton of Greed) for a younger woman (King Vidor's wife, Florence) who turns out to be involved in a murder! 71:30 mins.

The Whispering Chorus (1918) - An embezzler (Raymond Hatton of The Little American) assumes the identity of a dead man - but winds up being arrested for having murdered himself! Noah Beery Sr. (The Mark of Zorro) appears as a longshoreman. 81 mins.

Don't Change Your Husband (1918) - A DeMille comedy with Gloria Swanson as a frustrated housewife who divorces her slob of a husband (Elliott Dexter of Flaming Youth) and marries another (Lew Cody of Dishonored), only to find she's gone from the frying pan into the fire. 79 mins.

Male and Female (1919) - Turning from comedy to a DeMille drama, Gloria Swanson is a spoiled rich girl who learns about the qualities that really matter when she's shipwrecked with her resourceful butler (Thomas Meighan of The Miracle Man). 115 mins.


Disc Four

Why Change Your Wife? (1920) - Another comedy in which Gloria Swanson - in a variation of Don't Change Your Husband - is the wife who is divorced by her frustrated husband (Thomas Meighan again) after he meets the lovely Bebe Daniels (42nd Street). 91 mins.

The Affairs of Anatol (1921) - This time, both husband and wife are two-timing each other in this DeMille comedy that features the ill-fated Wallace Reid (who had little more than a year to live) and, once again, Bebe Daniels. 117 mins.

Manslaughter (1922) - A thrill-seeking society girl (John Gilbert's wife, Leatrice Joy) causes the death of a motorcycle cop (Jack Mower of Dark Victory) and winds up sent to prison by her prosecutor-fiancé (once again, Thomas Meighan) who later descends into alcoholism. 100 mins.


Disc Five

The Road to Yesterday (1925) - A frustrated wife (Jetta Goudal of The Cardboard Lover) realizes the reason she's sexually dysfunctional with her husband (Joseph Schildkraut of The Life of Emile Zola) is that in an earlier life, during the reign of Elizabeth I, she was a gypsy who was burned at the stake. Future Hopalong Cassidy William Boyd is a supporting player. 107 mins.

The Volga Boatman (1926) - A Russian Revolution tale concerning a princess (Elinor Fair of The Miracle Man) who is engaged to a prince (Victor Varconi of The King of Kings), but falls in love with a peasant (once again, William Boyd). Boyd's marriage proposal in the film became his actual proposal to future wife, Fair! 120 mins.

BONUS FEATURES

Miss Lulu Bett (1921) - Cecil B. DeMille's brother, William, directed this powerful drama, based on the Pulitzer-Prize-winning play about a young woman (Lois Wilson of Bright Eyes) who discovers that she's married to a man (Clarence Burton of The King of Kings) who is already married. 71 mins. (Wm)

DeMille Newsreels

Interviews With:
Charlton Heston
John Hart
A.C. Lyles

Approx. Running Time: 25.5 hours

This is a great set for any demille, or silent film fan! An amazing amount of films for the price of one film in many cases. Most of the films on this set are derived from very good above average public domain prints. All have new music scores that are not bad, and most importantly they sound great! You can tell by the sound quality that they are new. Also, there are no pop-up logos on this set. All in all a great set for any silent film fan.

I just got this and have only watched the first four movies so far -- "Squaw Man" through "the Cheat". Very interesting, with excellent picture quality for the money.

The distributor has apparently used, and apparently legally, some other company's cleanup of some of these films. These versions have been available from another distributor for #15-$25 per film for 2-4 years, depending on the film. It's safe to assume that most of the people who are going to buy at that price have done so. I see nothing wrong with this new affordable release. This can only help to support the silent film tradition and broaden the fan base, which will in turn help original restoration work on other films in the future.