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Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
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The Sky Rider
(1928)

This B-studio aviation drama, directed by Alvin J. Neitz, features Gareth Hughes, Josephine Hill, Alfred Heuston, J.P. Lockney and . . . oh, yes . . . Champion, America’s foremost police dog.

Grapevine Video
2012 DVD edition

The Sky Rider (1928), black & white, 59 minutes, not rated, with Captain Kidd’s Kittens (1927), black & white, 16 minutes, not rated.

Grapevine Video, no catalog number, UPC 8-42614-10481-7.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R disc, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $14.95.
Release date: February 2012.
Country of origin: USA

This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a very-good 16mm reduction print. The greyscale range is relatively open, with not so many details-swallowing shadows as in most budget home video releases.

The film is presented with a theater organ music score performed by David Knudtson. We are always thankful for David’s work on Grapevine releases, as it saves us from enduring the lo-fi, cobbled-together scores that appear on so many Grapevine home videos.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is also available directly from . . .

Alpha Video
2018 DVD edition

The Sky Rider (1928), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, with The Call of the Wilderness (1926), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.

Alpha Home Entertainment, distributed by Oldies.com,
ALP 8100D, UPC 0-89218-81009-0.
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 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $7.98 (raised to $8.98).
Release date: 24 July 2018.
Country of origin: USA

This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from a 16mm or 8mm reduction print.

The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting recordings.

This is our recommended home video edition of the film.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.