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The Hope Diamond
Mystery
(1921)

This crime mystery serial, starring Grace Darmond, George Chesebro and Harry Carter, is the earliest surviving featured role of Boris Karloff.

A large diamond, originally stolen from a Hindu temple, is offered for sale to English Lord Francis Hale. It is also the target of criminal Sidney Atherton (Carter), who disguises himself as Nang Fu.

Some location photography was taken at the home of producer Samuel S. Hinds, as is verified by the reflection of his mailbox in Sidney Atherton’s automobile window 11 minutes into chapter one.

The Serial Squadron
2024 Blu-ray Disc edition

The Hope Diamond Mystery (1921), black & white, color-tinted black & white, and color-toned black & white, ? minutes, not rated.

The Serial Squadron,
no catalog number, unknown UPC number.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 Hybrid Blu-ray Disc (H-BD); 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) 24 fps progressive scan image encoded in SDR AVC format at ? Mbps average video bit rate; LPCM 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard BD keepcase; $18.95.
Release date: 2024.
Country of origin: USA

This Hybrid Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from archival 35mm and 16mm reduction print elements. Note that the serial is presented in standard-definition rather than a high-definition picture.

The film is accompanied by a music score.

This is our recommended home video edition of the serial. Note: Hybrid Blu-ray Discs plsy correctly on only a limited number of BD players; check the publisher’s product page for additional information. If you do not have a compatible BD player, we recommend that you order the Serial Squadrom DVD edition noted just below.

This Region 0 Hybrid Blu-ray Disc (H-BD) edition is available directly from . . .

The Serial Squadron
2024 DVD edition

The Hope Diamond Mystery (1921), black & white, color-tinted black & white, and color-toned black & white, ? minutes, not rated.

The Serial Squadron, no catalog number, no UPC number.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at ? Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $18.95.
Release date: 2024.
Country of origin: USA

This DVD-R edition has been mastered from print materials held by the Library of Congress. The picture quality should be the same as the earlier DVD edition noted below. Some digital stabilization has been performed, which likely took care of pronounced frame movement, but there remains a small amount of frame movement.

The film is presented with music scores compiled from various performances on MIDI synthesizers by Kevin McLeod. Occasional sound effects have been added to the soundtrack.

The serial chapters running times are chapter one (18:19), chapter two (16:23), chapter three (18:56), chapter four (15:04), chapter five (21:03), chapter six (22:29), chapter seven (16:58), chapter eight (19:48), chapter nine (16:52), chapter ten (17:21), chapter eleven (16:45), chapter twelve (16:55), chapter thirteen (21:51), chapter fourteen (19:29), and chapter fifteen (21:16).

This is our recommended DVD home video edition of the serial.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .

The Serial Squadron
2014 DVD edition

The Hope Diamond Mystery (1921), black & white, color-tinted black & white, and color-toned black & white, ? minutes, not rated.

The Serial Squadron, no catalog number, no UPC number.
Two single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R discs; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at ? Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 7 chapter stops (disc one) and 8 chapter stops (disc two); standard two-disc DVD keepcase; $39.95.
Release date: 2014.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 7 / additional content: 0 / overall: 6.

This DVD-R edition has been mastered from print materials held by the Library of Congress. The results are good, with speckling, dust, occasional heavy scuffing, processing flares. Some digital stabilization has been performed, which likely took care of pronounced frame movement, but there remains a small amount of frame movement.

The film is presented with music scores compiled from various performances on MIDI synthesizers by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com). Occasional sound effects have been added to the soundtrack.

The serial is presented with chapter one (18:19), chapter two (16:23), chapter three (18:56), chapter four (15:04), chapter five (21:03), chapter six (22:29) and chapter seven (16:58) on disc one; and chapter eight (19:48), chapter nine (16:52), chapter ten (17:21), chapter eleven (16:45), chapter twelve (16:55), chapter thirteen (21:51), chapter fourteen (19:29), chapter fifteen (21:16) on disc two.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .