Uncle Tom's Cabin Blu-ray - Margarita Fischer

We have started a Patreon page with the hopes that some of our followers would be willing to donate a small amount to keep DVDBeaver alive. We are a tiny niche, so your generosity is vital to our existence.

We are talking about a minimum of $0.10 - $0.15 a day, perhaps a quarter (or more) to those who won't miss it from their budget. It equates to buying DVDBeaver a coffee once, twice or a few times a month. You can then participate in our monthly Silent auctions, and have exclusive access to many 'bonus' High Resolution screen captures - both 4K UHD and Blu-ray (see HERE).

To those that are unfamiliar, Patreon is a secure/verified third-party service where users can agree to a monthly donation via credit card or PayPal by clicking the button below.

Search DVDBeaver

S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

Directed by Harry A. Pollard
USA 1927

An earnest attempt to depict the harsh realities of slavery, Harry Pollard’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin was—at an advertised cost of $2 million—of the most extravagant epics of its time. Margarita Fisher stars as Eliza, a slave who flees a Kentucky plantation after her son and a dignified father figure, Uncle Tom (James Lowe), are sold to a rival landowner. Her Dickensian quest eventually places her in the backwater kingdom of the sadistic Simon Legree (George Siegmann). But the film’s most memorable sequence is Eliza’s flight to freedom across a treacherous ice floe (a staple of the many stage productions, which D.W. Griffith shamelessly appropriated for his 1920 film Way Down East).

***

D. W. Griffith had originally been announced as the director of the Universal "super-production" version of Uncle Tom's Cabin, but negotiations fell through and the job went to studio workhorse Harry A. Pollard. Running 141 minutes, this was the most elaborate filmization of the Harriet Beecher Stowe "abolition" classic to date, and even though it wasn't entirely faithful to its source, audiences went home satisfied. James B. Lowe stars as bloody but unbowed slave Uncle Tom (a role traditionally assigned to a white man in blackface!), while George Siegmann, drooling tobacco juice and brandishing a whip with furious abandon, is Evil Personified as Simon Legree. Other familiar roles were filled by Margarita Fischer (a somewhat long-in-tooth Eliza), Virginia Grey (Eva), Mona Ray (Topsy) and Lucien Littlefield (Lawyer Marks) The film owes more to the theatrical versions of Uncle Tom's Cabin than the novel, including the escape of Eliza across the ice, an incident that was invented for the stage. Budgeted at one million dollars, Uncle Tom's Cabin had to be released several times in the 1930s to break even. Excerpts from the film later showed up in the opening scenes of 1955's Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops.

Excerpt from B+N located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: November 4th, 1927

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

Review: Kino - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Kino - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:49:09.376
Video	1927: 1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 48,238,760,938 bytes Feature: 21,540,211,392 bytes Video Bitrate: 22.04 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video	1958: 1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 48,238,760,938 bytes Feature: 21,540,211,392 bytes Video Bitrate: 22.04 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate 1927 Blu-ray:
Bitrate 1958 Blu-ray:
Audio	1927: LPCM Audio English 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps 1958: Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps / DN -29dB
Subtitles	None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Kino 1927: 1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 48,238,760,938 bytes Feature: 21,540,211,392 bytes Video Bitrate: 22.04 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • 2K restoration of the original 1927 release with Movietone score by Ernö Rapée • Complete 1958 re-issue version, introduced and narrated by Raymond Massey • Audio commentary by historian Edward J. Blum 32-pg bk • Essay by film historian David Pierce • New 2K restoration of the 1914 World Film version, starring Sam Lucas, preserved by the Library of Congress, music by Andrew Earle Simpson (52:00 ) • New 2K restoration of the 1910 Vitagraph version, directed by J. Stuart Blackton, preserved by the Library of Congress, music by Andrew Earle Simpson (24:54) Blu-ray Release Date: August 20th, 2019 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 12

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (August 2019): Kino Lorber present a 2K restoration of the original 1927 "Uncle Tom's Cabin" with a Movietone score by Ernö Rapée. The Blu-ray disc also includes earlier (very troubling) versions of the film (this was the most filmed story in silent film, with at least 9 known adaptations between 1903 – 1927). I will discuss these other versions below, in the "Extras" section but let's get this out of the way; these films contain ugly depictions of slavery that should be offensive to everyone. This precedes the 1914 version presentation:

There is a progression in how the story is re-told as you watch the films in chronological order. That is not to say that the 1927 version is some sort of progressive milestone. For example, blackface appears less and less, but it is still there in the 1927 film. Eventually the films get closer to the source text and less steeped in racist propaganda and (as historian Edward J. Blum notes in his commentary) "Plantation Nostalgia". As snapshots of history, these films should not be erased (and thankfully the Library of Congress has preserved them). The 1927 film has a supportive bitrate for the 1.33:1 film. Some moments feature warping, scratches, and fading, though not as aggressively as we have seen in other films of the era. The 1958 re-release version with narration from Raymond Massey shows some more obvious moments of damage than the 1927 release (as well as having a slightly lower bitrate). Moments of clarity shine through from time to time, though this is not consistent throughout the picture. The 1914 and 1910 versions are discussed below.

The Movietone score by Ernö Rapée (who was once the head conductor of the Radio City Symphony Orchestra) appears in a 2.0 uncompressed linear PCM audio track. There are vintage title cards that appear throughout the picture (and the other previous versions). The re-release version is presented in 2.0 lossless Dolby Digital audio. This is a Region 'Free' Blu-ray from Kino.

Kino has included a valuable audio commentary by historian Edward J. Blum, who jumps write in by singing along to the spiritual, "Nobody Knows". The historian goes on to provide an indispensible reading of the film, full of historical context. The 52-minute 1914 World Film version (preserved by the Library of Congress) of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" opens with the following title card; "The following presentation of Uncle Tom's Cabin ( 1914) was scanned from an incomplete 35mm film element preserved by the Library of Congress. Footage of the missing scenes (approximately seven minutes of material) is being provided from an inferior source." This is a new 2K restoration of the film featuring music by Andrew Earle Simpson. Also included on this Blu-ray is the 25-minute new 2K restoration of the 1910 Vitagraph version, directed by J. Stuart Blackton (also preserved by the Library of Congress and featuring music from Simpson). This version is notable (not just for its outright racist tropes including blackface-- consider yourself warned) for being the first Hollywood film to use 3 reels instead of one, paving the way for the modern feature film length (another piece of film history with heavy racist overtones [see "Birth of a Nation"). Kino have included a 32-page booklet with the film, containing vintage photos and an essay by David Pierce, "Carl Laemmle's outstanding achievement: Harry Pollard and the struggle to film Uncle Tom's Cabin".

As with film's of the early half of the century depicting slavery, you should consider yourself warned that these films are a hideous reminder of the Jim Crow era, not to mention the time actually depicted. Blackface, offensive language, and the constant threat of violence (if not outright violence), appear alongside some other horrible scenarios that I would rather not mention here. This Kino Lorber Blu-ray release is an important one, as this history should never be erased. To those interested, please devote some time to these films in this Blu-ray package!