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

ADDITION: Cohen Blu-ray (October 2023): Cohen have transferred another 'Douglas Fairbanks Double Feature' to Blu-ray with The Three Musketeers (1921) / The Iron Mask (1929) sharing a dual-layered disc. It is stated that "For the restoration of The Three Musketeers, a full frame 35MM fine grain positive was scanned at 4K. At the suggestion of Fairbanks scholar Jeffrey Vance, the scan was done at an historically appropriate 21 frames per second. Following this, more than 150 hours of digital clean-up was completed at 2K. The Iron Mask was restored by Cohen Film Collection in association with Photoplay Productions. In 1999, Patrick Stanbury and Kevin Brownlow of Photoplay produced a photochemical restoration in association with the Museum of Modern Art and The Douris Corporation, using Douglas Fairbanks' personal nitrate print. Picture restoration work was done at Cinema Arts, Inc and Haghefilm, creating a new 35MM negative. The sound sequences were copied from original discs held at the Library of Congress and digitally restored at Cedar Audio (London). Further digital restoration of the analog restoration elements were carried out in 2017 on behalf of Cohen Film Collection at Roundabout Entertainment. The 35MM full aperture negative of the 1999 restoration was scanned at 4K, with more than 160 hours of digital clean-up completed at 2K." Hopefully the screen captures can help with discerning how it may look on your system. Both have inconsistencies - as per their age; The Three Musketeers is over 100 years old! The Iron Mask , considered a partial-talkie (brief opening speech by Fairbanks)does look, overall, a bit better - less weaknesses, marks and the contrast seems better rendered in 1080P. The Three Musketeers originally had scenes filmed in the Handschiegl Color Process (color artificially added to selected areas of the image), but that it not shown here, although that film had finished color restoration in February 2021.

Cohen have already released another 'Douglas Fairbanks Double Feature' with Robin Hood (1922) and The Black Pirate (1926), reviewed HERE.

NOTE: We have added 112 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 track (24-bit) for the scores.  For The Three Musketeers the music is composed, adapted, orchestrated and conducted by Robert Israel and performed by The Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra. For The Iron Mask the music is composed and conducted by Carl Davis and performed by The City of Prague Philharmonic - lead by Petr Pergler. Sounds lively in the lossless. Cohen include English intertitles for both films on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Cohen Blu-ray offers no commentaries or extras on this release. There is a leaflet advertising Cohen releases.

Douglas Fairbanks Double Feature' to Blu-ray with The Three Musketeers (1921) / The Iron Mask (1929) is very good despite the bare-bone Blu-ray status. Both films are wonderful  'Olde France' adventures. 1921's The Three Musketeers is known as the first of the extravagant Fairbanks costume period adventure-dramas. The Man in the Iron Mask story, titled for the film The Iron Mask, has been the subject of many works of film and fiction, mostly based on the 1850 novel by Alexandre Dumas of which both films have direct links. I remember loving 1934's The Count of Monte Cristo with Robert Donat. Both these films have Fairbanks as the brave, noble, ambitious, crafty, and intelligent d'Artagnan, plus in the first effort, his buds Athos, Porthos and Aramis. A lot to like here although I may lean to the earlier 'Douglas Fairbanks Double Feature' with Robin Hood (1922) and The Black Pirate (1926), reviewed HERE. Silent aficionados should probably seek both.

Gary Tooze