Drifting / White Tiger Blu-ray

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

Directed by Tod Browning
USA 1923

After the runaway success of Outside the Law, director Tod Browning reteamed with star Priscilla Dean on Drifting, another hard-boiled crime picture flavored with Orientalism. Set in a remote Chinese village, and staged on an epic scale, Dean stars as Cassie Cook, an opium trafficker caught between an undercover government agent (Matt Moore) and a fellow smuggler (Wallace Beery). Dean may have been the star, but it is Anna May Wong (age eighteen and on the brink of stardom), who steals the show during the film’s fiery climax.

An early attempt by Browning to infuse the crime melodrama with elements of the uncanny (spurring the evolution of the American horror film), White Tiger involves a band of jewel thieves who employ a chess-playing automaton to gain entry into the homes of the wealthy. But their elaborate plans are haunted by omens, and they seem doomed to an inescapable fate.

This disc also contains the only surviving footage of Browning and Dean’s 1919 The Exquisite Thief, one of the key films in establishing Dean’s persona as the glamorous jewel thief.

Posters

Theatrical Release: August 20th, 1923

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Review: Kino - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Box Cover		CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Kino - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime	Drifting: 1:24:33.401 White Tiger: 1:17:21.011
Video	1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 46,730,693,583 bytes Drifting: 23,299,031,040 bytes White Tiger: 22,129,139,712 bytes Video Bitrate: 30.70 Mbps / 31.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate Drifting Blu-ray:
Bitrate White Tiger Blu-ray:
Audio	DTS-HD Master Audio English 2002 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2002 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) Commentaries: DTS-HD Master Audio English 2002 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2002 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles	English Intertitles
Features	Release Information: Studio: Kino 1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 46,730,693,583 bytes Drifting: 23,299,031,040 bytes White Tiger: 22,129,139,712 bytes Video Bitrate: 30.70 Mbps / 31.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Audio commentary for Drifting by film historian Anthony Slide • Musical score by Anton Sanko • Audio commentary for White Tiger by film historian Bret Wood • Musical score by Andrew Earle Simpson • Fragment of the “lost” Tod Browning/Priscilla Dean film The Exquisite Thief (10:51) Blu-ray Release Date: October 20th, 2020 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 10 / 9

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (October 2020): Kino have transferred both of Tod Browning's 1923 films Drifting and White Tiger to a dual-layered Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "4K Restorations from the George Eastman Museum". Prefacing "Drifting" text screens state: "This is a digital reproduction of a 35mm print from the George Eastman Museum. A reconstruction project in collaboration with Gosfilmofond of Russia Hungarian National Digital Archive and Film Institute Funded by National Film Preservation Foundation The Rohauer Foundation." Anthony Slide believes this restoration from 2015 as the logo shows at the bottom of the intertitle cards. This is not as impressive looking as Outside the Law, but it still pleasing with some vibrant tints (yellow, red, purple and green.) White Tiger is significantly poorer. No 35mm prints of it are known to exist. There were 16mm prints struck by Universal in the 1930s ("Show at Home" prints.) The decomposition is quite heavy in parts but the film is still watchable understanding the caveat relating to its age and available source(s.) See our screen captures below.

NOTE: We have added 33 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master stereo tracks (24-bit) with Anton Sanko doing the score for Drifting and Andrew Earle Simpson for White Tiger. Kino offer recreated English intertitles (Czech or Russia translations as English no longer exist) on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a new commentary by Anthony Slide (author of Nitrate Won't Wait: A History of Film Preservation in the United States.) on Drifting. He give historical context discussing Shanghai in the 1920's, the career's of performers, the production and filmmakers, - there are some pauses but overall another winning effort for anyone keen on discovering more about Drifting. There is also a commentary on White Tiger by Bret Wood, co-author of Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation Film. He acknowledges the poor quality and describes the available sources. Brett did the color grading himself on White Tiger. He does a fine job. The Blu-ray also has an 11-minute fragment of the “lost” Tod Browning/Priscilla Dean film The Exquisite Thief. Only a single reel of Tod Browning and Priscilla Dean's 1919 film The Exquisite Thief survives today. It was discovered in the Dawson City Film Find of 1978, and has been preserved by the Library of Congress. The score is by Andrew Earle Simpson.

Tod Browning's Drifting and White Tiger are almost miraculous to actually own in 4K-restored home theater 1080P formats. I enjoyed both films but Drifting more. The commentaries really helped solidify my appreciation. I am very happy Kino have released these and Outside the Law on Blu-ray. These two BDs are an essential part of Silent Era aficionado's digital libraries.