NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (January 2023): A partnership of Kino Lorber, Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Women Film Pioneers Project, Eye Filmmuseum, FIC-Silente, and Carleton University have transferred 99 Silent films - majority shorts plus two feature-length Silents, to their Cinema's First Nasty Women Deluxe First Edition on four dual-layered Blu-rays. The set is too large to breakdown to specifics in one DVDBeaver review. We will give samples of what is here in this multi-faceted set. There are a variety of restorations and here are two samples as described prior to the presentations:

"This is an incomplete version of Leontine devient trottin (1910).
Presumed lost, it resurfaced in 2008 in an antiques shop in Nievre, France, among about 1,000 reels of 9.5mm Pathe Baby films, which were donated to Princeton University Library by Ruben Gallo.
The full narrative is described in the rhyming intertitles."

"This film may never have been completed or released. The original negative most likely burned in the 1941 Vinterviken archive fire. No manuscript or list of intertitles is known to survive and the film was never reviewed by Swedish censors.
Only two fragments of the film survive: one of Lili in a tram, which was presented in the film Minns du—? (Do you remember?, 1935), and one of Lili in a cinema, which was presented in the film Nor seklet var ungt (When the Century Was Young, 1961). Gosta Werner included these clips in his documentary Stiller-fragment (1969)."

So the image quality is subject to the available elements and restorations. They are all watchable with well-layered contrast to tints. Many are surprisingly strong considering their age and technical limitations at production. I never saw overly egregious or distracting damage. These 1080P transfers, generally, look quite pleasing for Silent Era fans. Only a few times did I see any hint of combing.

NOTE: We have added 36 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On the Blu-rays, Cinema's First Nasty Women mostly use linear PCM tracks (16-bit) for the scores. Example of a detailed description at the end of one presentation: "Performed by Yael Acher "KAT" Modiano, lead, flute, and efx Daniel Muschinsky, piano and keyboards Kristor Brodsgaard, double bass and el- bass Ayi Solomon, percussion and voice Niclas Compagnol, drums." All I sampled sounded clean and buoyant. Kino offer optional English, French or Spanish subtitles on their four Region FREE Blu-rays.

The Kino Blu-ray offer commentaries for select films by Jennifer Bean (University of Washington), Liza Black, Enrique Moreno Ceballos (Festival Internacional de Cine Silente México), Liz Clarke (Brock University), Bryony Dixon (British Film Institute), Jane Gaines (Columbia University), Rosa María Licea Garibay (Festival Internacional de Cine Silente México), Joanna Hearne (University of Oklahoma), Maggie Hennefeld (University of Minnesota), Laura Horak (Carleton University), Pamela Hutchinson (Silent London), Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi (Eye Filmmuseum), Mariann Lewinsky (Cineteca di Bologna), Katharina Loew (University of Massachusetts Boston), Cecilia Ramírez Morales (Festival Internacional de Cine Silente México), Ana Belén Recoder (Festival Internacional de Cine Silente México), Lluvia Soto Rodríguez (Festival Internacional de Cine Silente México), Aurore Spiers, Shelley Stamp (University of California, Santa Cruz), Alejandra Calleja Toxqui (Festival Internacional de Cine Silente México), Kristen Anderson Wagner (University of Southern California), Laetitia Vigneron (Festival Internacional de Cine Silente México), and Yiman Wang (University of California, Santa Cruz.) These are in English or other languages ex. Spanish (without subtitle translation option.) These are not listed on the menus (again too much!) and also have optional secondary score tracks for certain films. There are also 11 short documentaries focused on specific films and performers, including interviews with Liza Black, TJ Cuthand, Maggie Hennefeld, Laura Horak, Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi, Dana Reason, Arigon Starr, Susan Stryker, and Kyla Wazana Tompkins. The package has a 120-page booklet in the Blu-ray Deluxe First Edition with essays, interviews, photos, and detailed film notes. On the DVD set and subsequent Blu-ray editions will feature a QR code for the full booklet contents online.

Cinema's First Nasty Women came out at the end of 2022 and hence, many did not see it before our Best Physical Media of 2022 Poll voting. I'm sure it would have received plenty of attention in the "Top Ten Boxsets" section. In fact, I'm sorry it took so long to cover and I know that I would have voted for it in my, personal, Top Ten selection. It's an amazing keepsake filled with mischievous Léontine to gender-unique expressions of strong, athletic women, as pioneers, bold suggestive sexuality, slapstick comedy, in a variety of genres from melodrama to adventure while frequently subverting gender roles of the day. The compilation of them in one set is hugely appealing. Imperfect image quality will undoubtedly still impress, the scores are wonderful, and the set has revelatory documentaries, commentaries and the extensive booklet. We need to celebrate this amazing, labor of love, four Blu-ray package - also hoping for future editions! It has our strongest recommendation.

Gary Tooze