Headin' Home

The Old Ball Game.
Being a film historian, a silent film enthusiast, and an avid baseball fan, this set was tailor made for me and I eagerly awaited its release since Kino first announced it. Perhaps it was the keen anticipation or maybe I've become spoiled by recent silent film releases but I was somewhat disappointed by this set at first but it quickly grew on me. Part of the reason had to do with the fact that I watched the shorter material first saving the two features for last.

I found the visual quality of HIS LAST GAME, THE BALL PLAYER AND THE BANDIT, BUTTER FINGERS, and CASEY AT THE BAT to be below the standards usually set by Kino. Most are from 16mm transfers which cut the tops off the pictures and have serious contrast issues while the source prints on a couple are really beat up. A number of these prints come from the Library of Congress which means that they are probably all that's available but a little restoration work would have been nice. FELIX SAVES THE DAY is battered in...

Nostalgic small town baseball from a long ago era
Baseball fans of all ages will probably greatly enjoy the labor of love, REEL BASEBALL, 1899-1926, which runs over four hours on two disks. But devotees of small town America before World War One and later during the Jazz Age, may love it even more. It's a valentine to the America that was, when baseball was played on vacant lots in small towns and whole towns went to a game at the local stadium.

Disk One starts with a shockingly thin Babe Ruth in HEADIN' HOME (1920), which is a 73 minute feature about Babe leaving his town for the big city and success, then returning home at the end. It is followed by a 1 minute Kinogram with The Babe, the 12 minute HIS LAST GAME (1909), and the 12 minute THE BALL PLAYER AND THE BANDIT (1912), starring someone named Harold Lockwood. I should note that this entire set is all silent, with a variety of music scores that range from gramophone to piano to Wurlitzer organ. Print sources include Film Preservation Associates, Lobster Films in...

A Home Run for Silent Film Lovers Who Are Also Baseball Fans
A delightful collection of 2 features and 11 shorts, all but one silent with appropriate and effective musical scores, from the fine folks at Kino, who help keep silent film lovers happy with regular release of pre-talkie goodies! (The lone talkie item here is an early experiment in sound presenting the stage actor DeWolf Hopper presenting a recitation of "Casey at the Bat." This was one of the highlights for me - I really enjoyed the actor's totally over the top performance (he was clearly aware of what he was up to, and having a good time doing it!) The other titles on the two disc set provide straight dramas, comedies, westerns(!), and more.

Babe Ruth's feature is pretty incredible in plot, but entertaining none-the-less, and the Babe doesn't strike out with his acting, which is appealing if a bit lacking in theatrical polish. Charles Ray, Colleen Moore and John (here Jack) Gilbert offer a good introduction to a type of silent film that was very popular - it might be...

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