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Slippery Jim
(1910)

Inspired by appearances in France by the famous illusionist Harry Houdini in 1909-1910, this split-reel short utilizes a number of stop-action animation effects to mockingly recreate Houdini escape tricks (as directed by Ferdinand Zecca), and then turns into an atypical French chase comedy.

Kino International
2008 DVD edition

Houdini: The Movie Star (1919-1923), black & white, color-toned black & white, color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 450 minutes total, not rated, including Slippery Jim (1910), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated.

Kino International, K563, UPC 7-38329-05632-2.
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 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; no chapter stops; three slimline DVD keepcases in cardboard slipcase; $39.95.
Release date: 8 April 2008.
Country of origin: USA

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

This DVD edition of the French comedy Slippery Jim has been mastered from a good to very-good print from the Larson-Casselton film holdings that appears to be a 16mm reduction print, with greyed highlights but otherwise reasonable greyscale range and good image detail.

The film is accompanied by a piano music score performed by Ben Model.

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