Tom Tyler Silent Film Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Tom Tyler Silent Film Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 4, 2025

Despite having an at least decently long career, and despite having some 180 (!) acting credits according to his IMDb page, Tom Tyler isn't especially well remembered these days, and if he is remembered, it tends to be for his turns in the serial versions of Adventures of Captain Marvel and/or The Phantom . But Tyler's career was long enough that it had actually started in the silent era, albeit toward the very end of that lack of recording technology, and in fact both of the films Undercrank has aggregated for this collection stem from 1929, shortly after Warner Brothers famously brought synchronized sound to the movies courtesy of The Jazz Singer .

While these both are probably at least broadly "westerns", The Man from Nevada in particularly might be further defined as a kind of neo- western almost in the mold of later efforts like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, at least insofar as some modern day contrivances are shown. The Law of the Plains is probably more "traditionally" a western, documenting a quest for vengeance on the part of the righteous son of a murdered rancher (guess who plays both father and son). Interestingly, the villain in the film is the film's director, J.P. McGowan, in a bit of casting that might have very well provoked a few jokes among the crew.

The Man from Nevada shifts the emphasis of vengeance from the character played by Tyler in the film to characters Tyler's character is attempting to help, including an obvious love interest played by Natalie Joyce (weirdly, The Law of the Plains at least relatively forgoes a traditional love angle). Both films offer good showcases for Tyler's obvious athleticism, and some of the location work is also nicely evocative of a bygone era (perhaps in more than one way). There are some missing reels in The Law of the Plains indicated by stills and (very) brief descriptions of what's missing.

Tom Tyler Silent Film Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 are from The Law of the Plains. Screenshots 2, 4, 6, and 8 are from The Man from Nevada. Per Undercrank's standard operating procedure, these are offered on a BD-R.

The Tom Tyler Silent Film Collection is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Undercrank Productions with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in 1.32:1. Each of the features has some information text offered at the end of the films, as follows:

The Law of the Plains was digitally restored by Undercrank Productions in 2K from a 35mm nitrate print at the Library of Congress. Missing intertitles have been recreated in teh style of the surviving material.

The Man from Nevada was digitally restored by the USC HMH Foundation Moving Image Archive in 2K from a 35mm nitrate print in the Dino Everett Collection at the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

These are quite decent looking for the most part, though those unacquainted with how badly damaged older silents can be may be momentarily dismayed by the at times obvious scratches, nicks and slightly unstable frames. That said, neither of these films has any of the horrible mold or emulsion related damage I've seen in any number of other transfers of silents that I've reviewed, and clarity and detail levels are generally quite commendable throughout, at least contextually speaking with an understanding of the technologies of the day and a prevalence for midrange framings. As can be seen in the screenshots accompanying this review, The Man from Nevada has a sepia tone, while The Law of the Plains is in more traditional black and white.

Tom Tyler Silent Film Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Undercrank Productions is the brainchild of composer Ben Model, who contributes two more appealing scores to these films, albeit offered in Dolby Digital 2.0 rather than a lossless codec. One score features a "virtual" organ, while the other is piano, and both offer good, at times downright jaunty, accompaniments. I obviously would have preferred lossless audio, even with perceived "solo" instruments, but fidelity here is fine, again contextually speaking.

Tom Tyler Silent Film Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Slideshow (HD: 4:15) is a really interesting compendium of Tyler adjacent material and biographical data. This has another, well, jaunty piece of piano accompaniment by Model.

Tom Tyler Silent Film Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

These two films aren't exactly epics, but they were the sort of film that provided bread and butter income for countless local movie emporia back in the day. Technical merits are decent considering the age of the material, and the included slideshow really appealing, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.