Frank Borzage: 1922 Silents: Back Pay / The Valley of Silent Men - BLU-RAY

Academy Award-winning director Frank Borzage is perhaps best known today for his silent film masterpieces 7th HEAVEN (1927) and STREET ANGEL (1928) starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell. But Borzage had a substantial silent era career directing a string of dramatic hits in the 1920s, none of which have been available for fans. FRANK BORZAGE 1922 SILENTS presents two important films Borzage made for Cosmopolitan Productions - BACK PAY and THE VALLEY OF SILENT MEN. These two rare features are presented here in new 2K digital scans from 35mm archival preservations by the Library of Congress, and new musical scores have been created for them by Andrew Earle Simpson. ••• BACK PAY is the tale of Hester Bevins (Seena Owen), a restless small-town girl who leaves town and boyfriend Jerry (Matt Moore) behind for luxury in the big city. But that luxury comes at a terrible cost. THE VALLEY OF SILENT MEN is an adventure story of the far North, shot on location in Canada. Following a series of bizarre and identical murders, suspicion falls on the mysterious Marette Radisson (Alma Rubens). Or is the man who loves her - Corporal James Kent of the Mounties (Lew Cody) - the killer? ••• This 2-disc set brings these films to home video for the first time, along with a video essay about Borzage and the early-1920s films he made for Cosmopolitan. DVD is NTSC, Region-free.

Hester Bevins is trapped - by her small town, by her slovenly aunt's run down boarding house, by the attentions of her piggish 'uncle'. She finally flees in the company of a traveling salesmen. All she leaves behind is her heart, held by earnest clerk Gerald. Hester soon trades up the boyfriend chain in the big city until she lands the big one: war profiteer Wheeler (Montagu Love). But Hester's debt to Gerald is beyond measure. Famed 'O

LON CHANEY BEFORE THE THOUSAND FACES - VOL. 2 contains five more rare dramatic silent films from 1914-1917 in which Lon Chaney has a supporting role, selected by Chaney historian Jon Mirsalis. Lon Chaney's film work from the 1920s is well-known and- with the exception of the notoriously lost A Blind Bargain (1922) and London After Midnight (1927) - is mostly available on home video. In contrast, only 24 of the 111 films Chaney made at Universal in the 'teens survive, and only about 13 are complete. ••• The films on this set have been curated from the Library of Congress and private collections; missing scenes and titles have been reconstructed where possible, and new musical scores have been created for each by Jon C. MIrsalis. The films on this 2-disc set BY THE SUN'S RAYS (1914) - THE OUBLIETTE (1914) - THE MILLIONAIRE PAUPERS (1915) - TRIUMPH (1917) - THE SCARLET CAR (1917). Blu-ray is NTSC, Region-free.