Silent Era : Home Video Reviews

Silent Era Home Page > Home Video > Desert Nights

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

Desert Nights
(1929)

This romantic drama, directed by William Nigh, stars John Gilbert and Mary Nolan, with Ernest Torrence and Claude King.

Warner Archive Collection
2009 DVD edition

Desert Nights (1929), black & white, 61 minutes, not rated.

Warner Home Video,
no catalog number, UPC 8-83316-19710-3.
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 7.4 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 6 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $19.95 (reduced to $12.99).
Release date: 30 November 2009.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 8 / audio: 6 / additional content: 0 / overall: 7.

This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a very-good 35mm print that has its share of speckling, dust, and other print flaws.

The film is accompanied by its original Vitaphone soundtrack featuring synchronized music and sound effects, with a moderate amount of hiss, crackles and pops (just to remind you how films used to sound). The sound is of lower fidelity than other soundtracks of this vintage.

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.