Reginald Denny Collection Blu-ray

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

The Reckless Age (1924) Skinner's Dress Suit (1926)

What Happened to Jones (1926)

The Reginald Denny Collection gathers three silent features from the career of the debonair British star: The Reckless Age, Skinner’s Dress Suit, and What Happened to Jones The former amateur boxing champion made his name in a series of two-reelers about the fighting life, The Leather Pushers (1922), but soon made his way up to leading man. In the romantic comedy The Reckless Age Denny plays an insurance agent who insinuates himself into the case of a wealthy heiress. In Skinner’s Dress Suit, directed by comedy ace William A. Seiter (Sons of the Desert), he is a shy clerk who asks his boss for a raise at the urging of his wife. His request is rejected, but he lies to his wife, who immediately goes out and buys an expensive suit, an act that upends his once-ordered life. And in What Happened to Jones, also directed by Seiter, Denny plays a wealthy young bachelor on the night before his wedding. He is convinced to attend a poker party which is promptly raided, sending him on the run in a series of increasingly hilarious disguises.

Posters

Theatrical Release: June 9th, 1924 - April 18th, 1926

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

Review: Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	The Reckless Age: 1:15:58.679 Skinner's Dress Suit: 1:16:39.094 What Happened to Jones: 1:10:59.380
Video	The Reckless Age: 1.33:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 23,538,480,045 bytes Feature: 23,416,725,504 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video	1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 45,422,464,079 bytes Skinner's Dress Suit: 23,407,644,672 bytes What Happened to Jones: 21,881,536,512 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate Reckless Age Blu-ray:
Bitrate Skinner's Dress Suit Blu-ray:
Bitrate What Happened to Jones Blu-ray:
Audio	DTS-HD Master Audio English 2006 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2006 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) Commentaries: DTS-HD Master Audio English 1854 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1854 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles	English Intertitles
Features	Release Information: Studio: Kino The Reckless Age: 1.33:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 23,538,480,045 bytes Feature: 23,416,725,504 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video 1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 45,422,464,079 bytes Skinner's Dress Suit: 23,407,644,672 bytes What Happened to Jones: 21,881,536,512 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Audio commentary for The Reckless Age, What Happened to Jones, and Skinner's Dress Suit by film historian Anthony Slide Blu-ray Release Date: August 25th, 2020 Standard Blu-ray Case inside cardboard slipcase Chapters 11 / 11 / 11

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (August 2020): Kino have transferred three Silent Reginald Denny comedies to Blu-ray. Included in this is The Reckless Age (1924) on it's own single-layered Blu-ray with Skinner's Dress Suit (1926) and What Happened to Jones? (1926) housed on a second disc dual-layered Blu-ray. They are cited as being from "NEW 4K RESTORATIONS FROM UNIVERSAL PICTURES!". Predictably each suffers with some marks and scratches - typical of films of this age. Debatably, the best film, Skinner's Dress Suit, is the most inconsistent with some sequences looking very pleasing and detailed while others are inordinately soft and compromised. We can be fairly forgiving considering the age of these Silents but the disparity in Skinner's Dress Suit is notable. Overall, it was a pleasure to see these and the inconsistencies are a factor of the sources. Textures are strong. Each 1080P transfer has max'ed out bitrates and this is the best we are likely to ever see these 90+ year old films on digital.

On their Blu-ray, Kino use robust DTS-HD Master stereo tracks (24-bit) with the original English intertitles on Skinner's Dress Suit and What Happened to Jones but redone (newer) on The Reckless Age. On The Reckless Age the musical accompaniment is by Jake Monaco, for Skinner's Dress Suit it is by Leo Birenberg and for What Happened to Jones it is by Anthony Willis. They are all young-ish composers who have worked in a variety of mediums including animated features and shorts. The scores are modern and lively - generally fun and supportive of the silent era comedies. I particularly liked the variety utilized in Birenberg's score on Skinner's Dress Suit's. Kino's two discs are Region 'A' Blu-rays.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a commentaries on all three films by Anthony Slide (author of Silent Players: A Biographical and Autobiographical Study of 100 Silent Film Actors and Actresses.) He reminds us that ex. while Skinner's Dress Suit is a new restoration, the film has been available in many forms since 1927 including 16mm. That the dancing scene was described by Denny as a cross between The Charleston, the Gabby Glide and the Wobbly Walk. His commentaries are enjoyable for those keen to learn about Silent Era and Denny. They certainly add value to this collection.

I agree with Anthony Slide that The Reckless Age is not a great film, but that it is entertaining. The other two; Skinner's Dress Suit and What Happened to Jones? both made in 1926 are very good, social, and timeless, comedies. I was so pleased to see these Reginald Denny films on Kino Blu-ray. He is definitely been out of the conversation for a long time and I look forward to more of his work - extremely popular in its time, to continue to get released in 1080P. Silent Era aficionados should consider this collection essential.