Two Films By Lois Weber Blu-ray - Sensation Seekers / A Chapter in Her Life

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

Directed by Lois Weber
USA 1927 / 1923

Among the most exciting rediscoveries of silent cinema are the films of Lois Weber, who produced and directed a series of popular and provocative films at Universal Studios, often depicting women's struggles for independence within the ever-shifting moral landscape of 1920s modernity. Sensation Seekers stars Billie Dove (The Black Pirate) as the free-spirited Egypt, a small-town girl who dreams of escape and adventure, and resists the efforts of a pious minister (Raymond Bloomer) to tame her thirst for excitement. Egypt's progress is highlighted by moments of cinematic spectacle, including a lavish masquerade ball and a stunning shipwreck sequence. A Chapter in Her Life explores the efforts of a young girl (Jane Mercer) whose childish innocence exposes the hypocrisy and weakness that threaten the happiness of an aristocratic family.

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Sensation Seekers: Ray Sturgis, leader of the fashionable Long Island jazz set, is engaged to "Egypt" Hagen, an up-to-date girl in every respect. Egypt is arrested at a roadhouse raid, and at her mother's bidding, the Reverend Norman Lodge arranges for her freedom. At a fancy-dress ball, when Ray wears a costume made of newspaper headlines concerning her arrest, Egypt is offended. Seen constantly in the company of Reverend Lodge, her reputation causes church people to take up the matter with the bishop. Leaving the country club, Egypt goes to the Lodge home and hides behind the door when the bishop arrives; Reverend Lodge wants to marry her, and they admit their love; but humiliation causes her to leave with Sturgis that night. Their yacht is wrecked, but Lodge and the bishop follow and rescue Egypt, though Sturgis is drowned. The bishop, realizing the depth of their love, consents to marry them.

***

A Chapter in Her Life: Jewel stays with her grizzled, angry grandfather while her parents are overseas on business. Family squabbling is brought to heel through love and understanding from Jewel's pure love for others and trust in Divine Love.

Posters

Theatrical Release: March 15th, 1927 / September 17th, 1923

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

Box Cover		CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	Sensation Seekers: 1:12:16.749 A Chapter in Her Life: 1:02:42.467
Video	1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 40,599,343,046 bytes Sensation Seekers: 22,238,693,376 bytes A Chapter in Her Life: 18,291,867,648 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.98 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate Sensation Seekers: Blu-ray:
Bitrate A Chapter in Her Life: Blu-ray:
Audio	DTS-HD Master Audio English 2013 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2013 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) Commentary for Sensation Seekers: DTS-HD Master Audio English 1836 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1836 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: 40,599,343,046 bytes Sensation Seekers: 22,238,693,376 bytes A Chapter in Her Life: 18,291,867,648 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.98 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Audio commentary for Sensation Seekers by Shelley Stamp, author of Lois Weber in Early Hollywood Blu-ray Release Date: April 13th, 2021 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 11 / 10

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (April 2020): Kino have transferred Lois Weber's Silent Era films; Sensation Seekers and A Chapter in Her Life to a lone dual-layered Blu-ray. They are cited as being from "New 2K restorations by Universal Pictures". Sensation Seekers is a "Restoration from 16mm Print provided by Packard Humanities Institute at the UCLA Film & Television Archive". A Chapter in Her Life is from a "16mm B&W print provided by Library of Congress". Both films suffer from their age with understandable damage marks - a few more prominent ones on Sensation Seekers (see below.) The older of the two films, Chapter in Her Life, overall, is slightly inferior looking softer without exporting as much grain. Both have max'ed out bitrates and get the most out of the restorations for this 1080P format, with the predictable marks and weaknesses that come from 90+-year old films.

NOTE: We have added 58 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel tracks (24-bit) for both films. The piano-based score is by Arthur Barrow for Sensation Seekers and Alexandra Harwood for A Chapter in Her Life. Both sounds clean, supporting the film's varying moods. Both presentations have English intertitles on Kino's Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a new commentary for Sensation Seekers by Shelley Stamp, author of Lois Weber in Early Hollywood and Reclaiming the Archive: Feminism and Film History. She did the commentary for Lois Weber's The Blot on the Early Woman Filmmaker Anthology Blu-ray and she knows her subject well. Shelly discusses Lois Weber being the highest paid director at Universal the decade previous, that Carl Laemmle saying she's "the best man on the lot", the plot with 'hedonistic flappers' and describing the story, Billie Dove as the most popular actress in Hollywood besides Clara Bow, Weber crafting believable female characters, Dorothy Arzner carrying the mantle for female Hollywood directors for the next couple of decades and more. She takes an almost 15-minute break in the middle of the feature commentary, but overall a worthwhile listen - highly educational. There are no other extras although I believe that a trailer, of sorts, does survive for Sensation Seekers. but is not included in this package.

I enjoyed both, especially Sensation Seekers with Billie Dove - showing the lifestyle and morality themes of the era. The Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers has an entire Blu-ray of 11 Lois Weber's films, including 1921's What Do Men Want?, and it was great to see these two with the Shelley Stamp commentary giving historical context for Sensation Seekers. Silent Era fans that seek a taste of Lois Weber's films - or wanting to see more of her refreshing work will appreciate this Kino Blu-ray. Recommend to group of cinema aficionados.