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

The Forbidden City (1918)

Norma Talmadge stars as a Chinese girl in love with an American (Thomas Meighan) working as part of a diplomatic envoy in China. Talmadge then plays their daughter in search for her lost father.

E.A. Warren plays an early Chinese role, which would become a staple in his career.

This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a very-good 16mm reduction print. The older analog video transfer, originally prepared for release on VHS videotape in the 1990s, does not hold highlight details, which are blasted out to white in many cases, nor hold open shadow areas, which are dark and featureless. The middle tones are OK, which makes the edition still watchable with only a few frustrations. There is the normal amount of dust, speckling and frame jitters seen in most 16mm reduction prints of this vintage.

The film is accompanied by a music score performed on piano that was likely taken from the source print’s optical soundtrack. The audio quality is only fair, with the muffled piano sounding like a vintage 1960s 16mm soundtrack.

This disc is currently the only known home video edition of The Forbidden City on DVD. However, it appears that there is more picture information in the source print than is reproduced in the older video transfer. Perhaps this edition could be remastered on newer telecine equipment sometime in the future — or, better still, a new edition could be produced from the 35mm print held by the Library of Congress.

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Other ASIAN-THEMED FILMS of the silent era available on home video.