The Trap is a grand story of romance and betrayal that includes the first starring role of the legendary “Man of a Thousand Faces” Lon Chaney. Chaney plays Gaspard, a French-Canadian trapper whose beloved Thalie (Dagmar Godowsky) throws him over for Benson (Alan Hale), the scoundrel who tricked Gaspard out of a mine claim. Gaspard nurses his resentments over a decade, and traps a half-starved wolf as his agent of vengeance. Shot against the awe-inspiring backdrop of Yosemite National Park, The Trap is a wildly entertaining melodrama.

For thoughts on The Trap, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:

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Video Quality

The Trap makes its way to Blu-Ray thanks to Kino Classics with a fetching transfer from a 4K restoration completed by Universal. The restoration stems from a 16mm tinted print provided by The Packard Humanities Institute and a 16mm print provided by the British Film Institute National Archive. For a film that is over 100 years of age, this is a truly impressive presentation.

The transfer shows off a solid amount of depth and enhanced detail within the film’s composition. Black levels present with acceptable depth with no overwhelming occurrence of black crush or compression artifacts. The gorgeous color-tinted photography shines in high definition with natural grain intact. There is a decent amount of detail present with nice textures on the clothing and within the setting. The contrast is pretty well defined, but the transfer has a light rain of nicks and scratches that rarely let up throughout the runtime. This ongoing occurrence of minor damage becomes metaphorical white noise as you focus on other aspects such as the depth of field and detail. Kino Classics has done as well as could be expected given the materials at their disposal and the age of the feature.

Audio Quality

This Blu-Ray presents the film with a DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that sounds perfectly agreeable. The film is graced with original music from Kevin Lax that is quite beautiful and occasionally haunting. As this is a silent film, the music is the only element at play within this track, and it sounds bright and lovely with no clipping or age related wear and tear. Fans should be beyond pleased with the sound quality of this track, as the new piece seems to complement the visuals perfectly.

Special Features

By The Sun’s Ray (1914): A nearly 12-minute Lon Chaney short film is provided here in standard definition in which a detective goes undercover to fight back against gold robbers.

Lon Chaney – Behind The Mask (1995): A 65-minute documentary on the life and career of Lon Chaney featuring tons of great archival footage and clips.

Final Thoughts

The Trap is a good debut starring role from the talented Lon Chaney. The film is not overly ambitious with its minimal runtime, but it tells an effective and somewhat creepy narrative that works well. The way in which the practical effects are put to good use is very impressive. For a silent-era feature, it makes an impression. Kino Classics has released a new Blu-Ray featuring a strong 4K restoration that looks and sounds as well as you can hope given the state of the source material. This disc also includes a nice array of special features that fans should enjoy. Silent film fans should not pass this one by. Recommended

The Trap is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Kino Classics has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.