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

ADDITION: Cohen Blu-ray (October 2023): Cohen have transferred a 'Douglas Fairbanks Double Feature' to Blu-ray with Robin Hood (1922) and The Black Pirate (1926) sharing a dual-layered disc. For Robin Hood it is stated that "For this restoration, a full frame 35MM fine grain positive was scanned at 4K, with 175 hours of digital clean-up at 2K completed." For The Black Pirate it is advertised as "A 35MM color negative was mastered in HD for this presentation." Cohen are about to release another 'Douglas Fairbanks Double Feature' with The Three Musketeers and The Iron Mask, available HERE. In 2010 Kino came out with a Blu-ray of The Black Pirate - which we reviewed HERE, of which we commented "The two-strip Technicolor - which was original - produces sepia pinks, maroons and greens that tend to fade 'in and out' often changing skin tones. Film preservationist Bret Wood has done the color-balancing (from the original negative)..." We have compared one capture below. The Cohen is a shade brighter. Image quality of both films is at the mercy of the surviving elements with occasionally flickering contrast. I thought they looked surprisingly pleasing in 1080p with the extensive sets, extras etc. on Robin Hood. It's quite a spectacle and the bold tints are appreciated. Hopefully the screen captures can give you an idea of the HD presentation appearance.

NOTE: We have added 74 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Cohen use a DTS-HD Master stereo tracks (24bit) for the scores for both films. For Robin Hood there is a new musical score compiled from historic photoplay music by Rodney Sauer and performed by The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra and for The Black Pirate there is a musical score written by Mortimer Wilson (also an author of three books including The Rhetoric of Music: Harmony, Counterpoint, Musical Form written in 1907.) He scored Fairbanks' The Mark of Zorro and The Thief of Bagdad. Cohen include English intertitles for both films on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Cohen Blu-ray offers the repeated commentary released on a Kino DVD back in 2004 - by Rudy Behlmer who gives solid commentary for mild to serious films fans. He delivers his astute knowledge in a pleasant and professional format. I don't recall him every giving a poor commentary. Also duplicated from the 2010 Kino Blu-ray are 20-minutes of 'Narrated Outtakes' with Behlmer again leading the way. We see some deleted segments and what might be considered 'bloopers' as well as the 30-minutes more of Outtakes but un-narrated and without production audio. There is a leaflet advertising Cohen releases.  

1922's Robin Hood is notable as the first motion picture ever to have a Hollywood premiere and it had an estimated budget of a million dollars. While a lengthy elaborate film it executes the same story with Friar Tuck, Will Scarlet, Little John, plus Allan-a-Dale, with Fairbanks' Robin Hood accomplishing swashbuckling mayhem while irking a scowling Prince John and his cohort, the sheriff of Nottingham. The two-color Technicolor of The Black Pirate adds another layer of thrills with a revenge tale pushing the narrative that involves kidnapping, murder and deception. Both are exceptionally good silent adventure cinema. Nice to have a Cohen Blu-ray double feature with two essential classics on one disc looking so pleasing with impressive scores. Fans should strongly consider.

Gary Tooze