The DVD version runs 68m, the film is listed as 92m, is this due to different frame rates or is the DVD cut, if so is a longer version available?
Tim
I think it's just cut. A lot of scenes have 'jumpy' parts where it seems as if a few seconds of film have been cut out for some reason. Both versions on DVD run for 68 minutes so I guess there may just not be a full-length print available anymore.
shareThe Video is over at youtube as a 1 hr 13 min version. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCjVCYsJPlE&hd=1
The same user has a good amount of other silent movies there as well including a good handful of Lon Chaney Sr's work.
Frame rate accounts for the difference. Years ago this film was available on VHS at an improper frame rate of 18 frames per second, roughly equaling 92 minutes. The company that released the film had a proprietary process for changing frame rates to a slower speed. However they applied the process to almost all of their silent films despite the fact that not all were filmed at such slow speeds. Criterion references this company in their Passion of Joan of Arc release because the slow frame rate made the film plod along unmercifully. The DVD edition of The Bells has been speed corrected to a correct 24 frames per second, which equals roughly a 68 minute running time, by a leading silent film archivist, David Shepherd. He is meticulous about his restorations. There is nothing missing from this edition of the movie.
shareMany thanks for your very interesting answer and the name of this silent film archivist, David Shepherd. I truly appreciate.
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