Cineteca Milano: The Circus Kid (1928) Frankie Darro, Joe E. Brown - correct projection speed?

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c.n.-tonfilm
Posts: 66
Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2019 1:37 pm

Cineteca Milano: The Circus Kid (1928) Frankie Darro, Joe E. Brown - correct projection speed?

Post by c.n.-tonfilm » Sun Sep 19, 2021 1:54 pm

The Cineteca Milano now offers an Italian export print of the 1928 fun American FBO silent "The Circus Kid" directed by George B. Seitz starring Frankie Darro, Poodles Hanneford and Joe E. Brown in 1080p (5,- € Paywall) https://www.cinetecamilano.it/film/3012

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The overall quality of the film scan is nice but nevertheless the file is a little irritating: it's shuddering a lot and sometimes looks "stuttering" (double images?) or like playing in slow motion.

The file length doesn't fit properly with the corresponding measuring figures of the film. The file runs 73'56 at a speed of 25 fps, that would be 2107 metres. The US version was 1855 metres, which would be 67'48 (24 fps) or 65'05 (25 fps). The Italian print measured 1792 meters and i.e. 65'30 (24 fps) or 62'53 (25 fps). So the file would be ca. 10 minutes longer than the film actually was.

Sometimes it's really difficult to figure out which is the correct speed for a particular silent but here 24 fps seem correct as the AFI indeed lists a running time of 65 minutes and 6085 feet: https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3318-THE-C ... cp=1&pos=0

There are some snippets of a version with English intertitles around running at a different speed but seem not to be any reasonable reference: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... 1928+darro

So what do you think - is the Italian file running at the correct speed or much too slow or suffering from technical difficulties?

c.n.-tonfilm
Posts: 66
Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2019 1:37 pm

Re: Cineteca Milano: The Circus Kid (1928) Frankie Darro, Joe E. Brown - correct projection speed?

Post by c.n.-tonfilm » Sat Sep 25, 2021 1:27 pm

I just found that the Nules Essanay Silent Film Museum streamed a different print of "The Circus Kid" Deecember 2020: https://nilesfilmmuseum.org/?tv=4905203513425920

Sadly it's no longer online. Did anybody catch it and knows how this print compared to the Italian print?

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