Silent Era : Home Video Reviews

Silent Era Home Page > Home Video > His Birthright

Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved.

His Birthright
(1918)

This wartime drama, directed by William Worthington, stars Sessue Hayakawa and Marin Sais, with Howard Davies, Mary Anderson, Tsuru Aoki, Sidney De Gray, Harry von Meter, Mayme Kelso and a brief appearance by Tsuru Aoki.

The Milestone Cinematheque
2024 Blu-ray Disc edition

The Dragon Painter (1919), color-tinted black & white, color-toned black & white, color-tinted and color-toned black & white, and black & white, 61 minutes, not rated, with His Birthright (1918) [incomplete], color-tinted black & white, and color-toned black & white, 47 minutes, not rated, and The Man Beneath (1919), color-toned black & white, and color-tinted black & white, 66 minutes, not rated.

Milestone Films, distributed by Kino Lorber,
K26765, UPC 7-38329-26765-0.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) 24 fps progressive scan image encoded in SDR AVC format at 17.8 Mbps average video bit rate; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 1.6 Mbps audio bit rate; Dutch and English language intertitles, permanent English language subtitles; 6 chapter stops; 16-page insert booklet; standard BD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 24 September 2024.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 7 / additional content: 8 / overall: 7.

This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from archival print materials held by Eye Film Instituut Nederland that appear to be a conflation of a 35mm print and a 16mm reduction print that combined are missing the first and fourth reels. Missing narrative has been bridged by expository intertitles. Some beginning nitrate decomposition is present in the second and third reels. It appears that little if any digital clean-up has been performed on the scan. There is a typical amount of dust, speckling, emulsion scrapes, scuffing and chipping, with other print flaws.

The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on digital piano by Brett Miller.

Supplemental material includes the fascinating documentary “Reconstructing The Dragon Painter,” with side-by-side comparisons of the two source prints and with running commentary by Robert Byrne and Kathy Rose O’Regan (66 minutes); and a 16-page insert booklet.

For our comparative reviews of the other films on this disc, see our The Dragon Painter on home video and The Man Beneath on home video pages.

This is our recommended home video edition of the film.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

This Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition is also available from
MILESTONE FILMS through . . .

Silent Hall of Fame Enterprises
2017 DVD edition

His Birthright (1918), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.

Silent Hall of Fame Enterprises, 144, 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 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; slimline CD jewelcase; $34.99 (raised again to $44.99).
Release date: 2017.
Country of origin: USA

This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from an incomplete 35mm or 16mm reduction print (as might be surmised from the publisher-provided still frame above).

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

We continue to criticize this publisher for their overpriced offerings that give the consumer as little value as possible.

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

Other silent era SESSUE HAYAKAWA films available on home video.

Other silent era WORLD WAR I films available on home video.

Silent Era Home Page > Home Video > His Birthright