Silent Film Sources

Silent Films on Home Video in the U.S.

There are several hundred silent films available on video in the U.S. from a variety of distributors. This page includes all of the major films available in licensed versions, and a sample of the better unlicensed titles. Generally, the licensed titles are better films, from better quality prints, with more appropriate music scores.
 
Major Distributors of Licensed Silent Films Additional Distributors of Licensed Silent Films 
(and Public Domain Films from Archival Sources)
Distributors of Silent Films in the Public Domain

Major Distributors of Licensed Silent Films

Fox Video | HBO Video | Kino On Video
MGM/UA Home Video | Milestone Film & Video | Paramount Home Video

These companies distribute licensed films, paying royalties to the owners of the copyright or the best surviving material. Most titles are mastered from 35mm elements, and often feature newly commissioned music scores. The VHS tapes are professionally duplicated from digital video masters.

These tapes can be ordered from Critic's Choice, Festival Films, Movies Unlimited and other distributors.

Fox Video

  • Charlie Chaplin Features The Chaplin Revue, The Kid, A Woman of Paris, The Gold Rush, The Circus, City Lights, Modern Times (all with orchestral scores composed by Chaplin)
  • HBO Video

    Kino on Video 
    Kino International

    333 West 39th Street
    New York, NY 10018

    Phone 800-562-3330 or 212-629-6880
    Fax 212-714-0871
    email: kinoint@infohouse.com
    Kino Home Page

    MGM/UA Home Video

    MGM/UA Home Video Home Page

    Milestone Film & Video

    275 West 96th Street, #28C
    New York, NY 10025

    Phone 800-603-1104 or 212-865-7449
    Fax 212-222-8952
    email: MileFilms@aol.com

    Paramount Home Video

    Paramount Home Video Home Page

    Additional Distributors of Licensed Silent Films
    (and Public Domain Films from Archival Sources)

    Many of these tapes can be ordered from Critic's Choice, Festival Films, Movies Unlimited and other distributors.
    Cabin Fever Entertainment | Critics' Choice Video | Great Lakes Cinephile Society
    Home Vision Cinema Idaho Film Collection | Interama Home Video
    Kultur/White Star Video | Liberty Home Video
    William McIlhany | MCA Home Video
     Meridian Video Corporation | Republic Pictures Home Video
    Smithsonian Video | Something Weird Video
    Thanhouser Company Film Preservation, Inc. | Video Artists International
    Water Bearer Films | Will Rogers Memorial

    Cabin Fever Entertainment

    Critics' Choice Video

    PO Box 749
    Itasca, IL 60143-0749

    Phone 800-367-7765
    Critics' Choice Video Home Page http://www.ccvideo.com/
    email: vcatalog@ccvideo.com

    Critics Choice offers a wide variety of titles. Some of the familiar public domain titles (The Birth of a Nation, etc.) are as good as their Kino on Video counterparts, though missing the special features.

    A group of exclusive titles licensed from the Killiam collection are of special interest. All of these titles have piano scores, except for Sunrise, which offers a noisy recording of the original orchestral score. America is the 1969 reissue version with narration replacing the historical titles.

    Critic's Choice is also a distributor, and can order any video title in print.

    Great Lakes Cinephile Society

    PO Box 352
    Frankenmuth, MI 48734-0352

    Phone 517-652-8881
    Home Page: http://www.cinephiles.org/Videos_for_Fil.html
    email: Cinesation@aol.com or Cinephile@att.net

    Home Vision Cinema

    5547 Ravenswood Avenue
    Chicago, IL 60640-1199

    Phone 800-826-3456
    Fax 312-878-8406
    Home Vision Cinema Home Page

    Idaho Film Collection

    Bookstore (Attn: Pat)
    Boise State University
    Boise, ID 83725

    Idaho Film Collection Home Page

    Interama Home Video

    Interama, Inc.
    301 West 53rd Street, Suite 19E
    New York, NY 10019.

    Phone 212-977-4830
    Fax 212-581-6582

    Kultur/White Star Video

    195 Highway 36
    West Long Branch, NJ 07764

    Phone 800-458-5887 or 908-229-2343

    Liberty Home Video

    1133 East 60th Place
    Tulsa, OK 74146

    Phone 918-254-6337 or 800-331-4077
    Fax 918-254-6117
    email: vcihomevideo@worldnet.att.net
    Liberty Home Video Home Page

    William McIlhany

    PO Box 7486
    Beverly Hills, CA 90212

    Phone 310-275-3194
    Fax 310-205-7952
    email: whm@earthlink.net

    MCA Home Video

    MCA Home Video Home Page

    Meridian Video Corporation

    1575 Westwood Blvd., Suite 305
    Los Angeles, CA 90024

    Phone 310-231-1350
    Fax 310-231-1359

    Republic Pictures Home Video

    Smithsonian Video

    PO Box 23345
    Washington, DC 20077-5365

    Phone 800-669-1559

    Description of the collection

    Something Weird Video

    PO Box 33664
    Seattle, WA 98133

    Phone 206-361-3759
    Fax 206-364-7526

    Something Weird Video Home Page

    Thanhouser Company Film Preservation, Inc.

    705 NW Albemarle Terrace
    Portland, OR 97210

    Fax: 503-223-3733

    email: tco@teleport.com
    Thanhouser Company Film Preservation Home Page

    Thanhouser Classics Video Collectors Set
    original organ scores composed and performed by Andrew Crow

    Video Artists International, Inc.

    109 Wheeler Avenue
    Pleasantville, NY 10570

    Phone 914-769-3691 or 800-477-7146
    Fax 914-769-5407

    Home Page: http://www.vaimusic.com/

    Water Bearer Films

    48 West 21st Street, Suite 301
    New York, NY 10010

    Phone 212-242-8686
    Fax 212-242-4560

    Home Page: http://www.waterbearer.com

    Will Rogers Memorial

    email: wrinfo@willrogers.org
    Will Rogers Memorial Home Page

    These tapes do not have music scores.

    Distributors of Silent Films in the Public Domain

    These companies offer films in the public domain, where the American copyright has expired. They pay no royalties to the original producers, or owners of the best surviving material. Most tapes are copied from 16mm or 8mm prints, though some distributors even sell copies made from other company's releases or even television broadcasts. Tapes are usually mastered from U-Matic or VHS tapes. Music scores often consist of stock music, or no music. Generally, tapes must be ordered directly from each company.

    A-1 Video | A.D. Ventures | Aikman Archive | American Home Entertainment Bill Brewer | Classic Cinema | Facets Multimedia | Festival Films Foothill Video | Glenn Video Vistas Grapevine Video | Peter Kavel | LS Video | Madacy Entertainment Group | Moore Video | Sinister Cinema | Stokey's Nostalgia Favorites | Unknown Video | Video Classic Video Dimensions | Video Specialists International Video Yesteryear | Videobrary Inc. | Vintage Video | Windmill Group | Wyatt Classics

    A-1 Video

    PO Box 8808
    Michigan City, IN 46361-8808

    Phone 716-731-2727
    OnSite Video Home Page

    A wide selection of silent shorts, with an emphasis on films from Hal Roach.

    A.D. Ventures

    c/o LRS Marketing
    835 E. Holt Avenue
    Milwaukee, WI 53207
    Phone 1-888-749-5072 or 414-481-9631

    LRS Marketing Home Page
    email: frankenstein@lrsmarketing.com

    Aikman Archive

    143 Hickory Hill Circle
    Osterville, Mass. 02655-1322

    Phone: 888-533-3456 or 508-428-7198

    American Home Entertainment

    12124 Sherman Way
    North Hollywood, CA 91605

    email: amerhome@earthlink.net

    Phone 919-765-1777 or 1-800-422-6484
    Fax 818-503-5282

    Bill Brewer

    7 McKinley Drive
    Greenville, SC  29611-4160

    Phone 864-220-0791

    Classic Cinema

    formerly known as Discount Video Tapes

    P.O. Box 18932
    Encino, CA 91416-8932

    Phone 1-800-946-6843
    Fax 818-709-0546
    Classic Cinema Home Page

    Facets Multimedia

    1517 W. Fullerton Ave.
    Chicago, IL 60614

    Phone 1-800-331-6197
    Fax 773-929-5437
    email: sales@facets.org
    Facets Multimedia Home Page

    Festival Films

    6115 Chestnut Terrace
    Shorewood, MN 55331

    Phone/Fax 612-470-2172
    email: FesFilms@aol.com
    Festival Films Home Page

    Festival Films is also a distributor, and can order any video title in print.

    Foothill Video

    42257 6th Street, West
    Bldg. 306
    Lancaster, CA 93534

    Phone 805-726-7533 or 805-726-7534
    Fax 805-726-7535

    Glenn Video Vistas

    Attn: Murray Glass
    6024 Canby Avenue, Suite 103
    Reseda, CA 91335

    Phone 818-881-8110
    Fax 818-981-5506

    email: MGLASS@worldnet.att.net

    Expensive videos of rare silent titles. The 16mm sales firm at the same address is Glenn Photo Supply , while 16mm rentals are by Em Gee Film Library.

    Grapevine Video

    PO Box 46161
    Phoenix, AZ 85063

    Phone 602-973-3661
    Fax 602-973-2973

    email: jbhardy@grapevinevideo.com
    Grapevine Video Home Page

    Peter Kavel

    20 Years of Rare Silent Classics

    1123 Ohio Avenue
    Alamogordo, NM 88310

    email: pkavel@netmdc.com
    Peter Kavel Silent Screen Movie Classics Home Page


    LSVideo

    P.O. Box 415
    Carmel, IN 46032

    email: joec@indy.net
    LS Video Home Page

    Madacy Entertainment Group

    PO Box 1445
    St. Laurent, Quebec, Canada  H4l 4Z1

    email: sales@madacyvideo.com
    http://www.madacyvideo.com

    Moore Video

    P.O. Box 5703
    Richmond, VA 23220

    Phone/Fax 804-745-9785

    The Windmill Group

    P.O. Box 56551
    Sherman Oaks, CA 91413
    Orders Only: 800-470-5540
    Phone: 818-704-6650
    Fax: 818-704-6655

    email: fthomp1065@aol.com

    Sinister Cinema

    The leading source of horror, mystery, and science fiction on video.

    P.O. Box 4369
    Medford, OR 97501

    Phone 541-773-6860
    Fax 541-779-8650

    email: sinister@magick.net
    Sinister Cinema Home Page

    Stokey's Nostalgia Favorites

    All titles in illustrated plastic storage case

    PO Box 109
    Jamesburg, NH 08831

    Unknown Video

    PO Box 5272
    South San Francisco, CA 94083

    email: unkvid@earthlink.net

    Video Classic

    Home of the Forgotten Clowns- Silent film comedy shorts and features.

    Bill Sprague
    PO Box 293
    White River Jct., VT 05001

    Phone 802-295-4903
    Video Classic Home Page

    Video Dimensions

    322 Eighth Ave.
    New York, NY 10001

    Phone 212-929-6135

    Video Specialists International

    "We've Got What The Others Don't"

    182 Jackson Street
    Dallas, PA 18612

    Phone 717-675-0227
    email: sarteiv@ix.netcom.com
    Video Specialists International Home Page

    Video Yesteryear

    Return With Us Now To Those Thrilling Days Of Yesteryear!TM

    Box C
    Sandy Hook, CT 06482

    Phone 1-800-243-0987
    Fax 203-797-0819
    Home Page: http://www.videoyesteryear.com/
    Email: video@yesteryear.com
     

    Videobrary, Inc.

    Paul Lisy
    5812 Wish Ave.
    Encino, CA 91316

    Phone 818-881-2640
    Fax 213-660-5571

    Videobrary Home Page

    Vintage Video

    PO Box 53
    Leeds Point, NJ 08220

    Phone 609-748-0368
    Fax 609-748-2482

    Wyatt Classics

    1012 Vance St.
    Raleigh, NC 27608

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    This page is updated as needed. Send suggestions to David Pierce, sunrise@dc.infi.net

    © 1996-99 David Pierce
    Revision 1.2.3