Son of Monte Cristo

Rowland V. Lee's The Son of Monte Cristo may be the handsomest American movie ever to have fallen out of copyright. As a public domain title, it's been around and available, but the virtues of its opulent production have been difficult to appreciate, mostly because the standard release prints have been so worn and faded. This Alpha Video DVD is, thus, extremely welcome; except for what looks like a momentary digital authoring error at four and a half minutes in, this is a well-made disc from a high-quality source. The transfer is amazingly consistent visually; the producers may have pumped a little too much light through the print at times, but it has enough detail and depth of contrast to carry the load without hurting the eye or distracting viewers. Indeed, this may be the best-looking title in the entire Alpha library, and would be a bargain at double the price -- it's difficult to believe that the film would look too much better coming from the hands of its proper owner. The sound