Showing posts with label movie serials. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movie serials. Show all posts

Dick Tracy-15 Episodes (1937) Review

Dick Tracy-15 Episodes  (1937)
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This is a great treat for Dick Tracy fans. Before television we had to go to the Saturday morning movie matinees to see our action heros.
Cartoonist Chester Gould created this action hero in the early 1930's and by the middle 30's the FBI and gangsters were in all the newspaper & radio headlines. So Gould countered with Dick Tracy G-man (in the movie serials) & Dick Tracy cop hero in the comic strip.
The "Dick Tracy" (1937) Republic Pictures 15 episode action serial launched Ralph Byrds career as the super crime solving G-man/Sherlock Holmes sleuth. The movie version was always the international view while the comic strip was the local city crime storyline.
Thanks to VCI Entertainment for a great restoration job & super loaded 2 DVD package.
This 15 episode action packed serial is over 290 mins long and is presented with great picture & sound.
Extra features include: a background Commentary by famous Dick Tracy writer Max Allan Collins who penned the comic strip for 15 years after Goulds retirement. Special photo montage & Photo Gallery. Bonus 1945 Radio Show: Dick Tracy in B-Flat - a musical rendition of Dick Tracy with the voice of Bing Crosby as Tracy, Dinah Shore as Tesh Trueheart, Bob Hope as Flathead and many more big radio stars of the 40's. This is fun stuff.
Summary: Action serials are always more about the action packed journey & how our hero escapes the bad guys at the cliff hanging ending chapters than the actual story. We need to have a thrill filled 20 minutes each week and then painfully wait until next week for the continuing saga to take us to more excitement until the finale on chapter/week 15.
Dick Tracy delivers all we expect in an action hero and this being one of the first serials gives us a taste of the world of 1937. Enjoy.

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The Lost Serial Collection - Clips and Chapters from 35 Extremely Rare Serials Review

The Lost Serial Collection - Clips and Chapters from 35 Extremely Rare Serials
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This anthology is overpriced for what it is. Most of the excerpts are too brief and lacking in context to be of much use or interest. The two episodes that are presented complete are not particularly distinguished. Print quality is very variable and often poor. The two-disk format might lead one to expect more: disk 1 is just over 90 min. and disk 2 is barely 50 min. The extremely interesting field of early serials deserves a better showcase.

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This special 2-DVD set features clips, short sequences and chapters from over 30 extremely rare serials that may be lost forever, except for what you can see here. Some clips are very short, featuring usually one special stunt sequence. ZUDORA, THE HAZARDS OF HELEN, CAPTAIN KIDD, HAUNTED VALLEY, THE LIGHTNING RAIDER and others are represented by extended action scenes, and complete chapters are included of THE IRON CLAW featurng Pearl White and THE FLAME FIGHTER starring Herbert Rawlinson. Clips from a couple of rare but not completely lost serials, A WOMAN IN GREY and OFFICER 444 are included too. These scenes and chapters are presented as they might have been originally shown, each with a new opening title and music, and no intrusive narration or explanations. Stills and posters from some of the serials are also included. This is a collection no serial historian or collector can live without. The complete list of serial titles represented is listed below. A great value -- a massive amount of serial history all in one set!LEADING LADIES1912 What Happened to Mary (Mary Fuller)1914 The Hazards of Helen (Helen Holmes, Helen Gibson)1914 The Perils of Pauline (Pearl White)1914 Zudora (Marguerite Snow)1920 A Woman in Grey (Arline Pretty)SERIALS OF PEARL WHITE1916 Pearl of the Army (Pearl White)1916 The Iron Claw (Pearl White) (Chapter 7 Complete)1917 The Fatal Ring (Pearl White)1919 The Lightning Raider (Pearl White, Warner Oland) (Scenes from Chapter 1)1923 Plunder (Scenes from Chapters 9 and 15)1924 Terror (The Perils of Paris)SERIALS OF RUTH ROLAND1919 The Tiger's Trail (Ruth Roland)1920 Ruth of the Rockies (Ruth Roland)1921 White Eagle (Ruth Roland)1922 The Timber Queen (Ruth Roland)1923 Haunted Valley (Ruth Roland) (Abridged version of Chapter 6)LEADING MEN1921 Hurricane Hutch (Trailer)1922 Captain Kidd (Eddie Polo) (Scenes from Chapters 2 and 11)1925 The Flame Fighter (Trailer, Scenes from conclusion of Chapter 2, Chapter 3 complete)1926 Officer 4441927 Return of the Riddle Rider (Trailer)1928 The Mystery Rider (Trailer)MORE PERILS1916 The Shielding Shadow1919 The Masked Rider Trailer produced by the Serial Squadron1920 The Third Eye1923 The Steel Trail1924 The Fast Express1927 King of the Jungle (Trailer)1927 The Man Without a Face (Walter Miller)1927 Whispering Smith Rides (Trailer)1928 A Final Reckoning (Trailer)1928 The Haunted Island (Trailer)1928 The Scarlet Arrow (Trailer)1928 The Terrible People1929 Queen of the Northwoods

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The Miracle Rider (Complete Serial - 15 Episodes) (1935) Review

The Miracle Rider (Complete Serial - 15 Episodes)  (1935)
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One reviewer must've gotten the wrong video, because this is definitely Tom Mix, and Rin Tin Tin is nowhere to be seen in it! Besides Tom Mix, you get Charles Middleton as the villian. He's not nearly as menacing as he is in the Flash Gordon serials, but he's still a notable villian.
This is truly a contemporary western, taking place in 1935 when the movie was made. The bad guy is bent on chasing the indian tribe off their reservation so he can mine it for a secret explosive that he plans to sell to an unnamed European country. In one scene, he mentions the added power this powerful explosive would give a dictator, so if you know enough history to know what was happening in Europe in 1935, you can guess what country was being suggested here.
Tom Mix and Middleton together make this one of the better western serials, and I quite recommend it.

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The Perils of Pauline (1934) Review

The Perils of Pauline (1934)
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I know this DVD is cheap, but you certainly get what you pay for here. No restoration has been done on this 1934 serial, so we get very hissy, muffled sound and plenty of scratches and flecks etc on a washed-out, very rough-looking print. Oh and an alpha logo popping up on the chapter titles cards. The RHS text of some of the opening chapter summary cards is also cropped off.
This is the only DVD version available at the moment, so by all means buy it, but be prepared - you will certainly not benefit from DVD quality!

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Item Name: The Perils of Pauline; Studio:Alpha Video

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Battling with Buffalo Bill (1931) Review

Battling with Buffalo Bill (1931)
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Congradulations to VCI Entertainment for releasing BATTLING WITH BUFFALO BILL (1931) an early Universal talking serial. The print used is EXCEPTIONAL and makes viewing a wonderful experience.
Tom Tyler is probably the best looking Buffalo Bill ever, complete with long hair, beard and buckskins! The action is fast and furious and serial fans should readily welcome this addition to their dvd libraries.
Jim Rodney played by Francis (director John's brother) Ford is after the gold near Hard Rock and ignites an Indian war to get it. Buffalo Bill, Dave Archer (future cowboy star and lieutenant governor of Nevada, Rex Bell) and John Mills (William Desmond, vetern Western and serial star) are the main good guys thwarting Rodney and his henchmen at every turn. Giving them a hand are stuntman Yakima Canutt as scout Jack Brady and usually bad-guy Ed Cobb as a good townsman. Pretty Lucile Browne (MYSTERY SQUADRON, LAW OF THE WILD) is Dave Archer's sweetheart, needing rescued every now and then, mostly by Buffalo Bill.
On the bad side of things Bud Osborne plays back-shooting Joe Tampas and George Regas plays a character named Breed, not unlike similar characters to appear in future Universal Western serials essayed by George Stevens (Snake-eye in WINNERS OF THE WEST,1940).
All said, this is a fine example of an early all-talking Western serial, a little crude and disjointed, but quite enjoyable and certainly action-packed! You not only get to see the same Indian shot off his horse at least six times during the 12 chapters but even again during the previews for THE OREGON TRAIL (1939), a Johnny Mack Brown serial!!!
This is really a fun time for fans, and again HATS OFF to VCI for releasing a great looking print of BATTLING WITH BUFFALO BILL!...Be sure to buy this one.

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Gang Busters-13 Episodes (1942) Review

Gang Busters-13 Episodes  (1942)
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VCI Entertainment and Universal Pictures presents a film based on the radio program by Phillips H. Lord "Gang Busters" (1942) (Dolby digitally remastered), with 13 Chapters based on a real radio show in which unsolved crimes were reenacted in the hope of catching the criminal, stories were combined with original and completely ficitional...dedicated to law enforcement officers throughout the nation, in grateful recognition of their unending war against crime..story line has twists and turns as "The League of Murdered Men" with mad scientist (Ralph Morgan) at the helm...is there a mysterious death stimulating drug that presumes a person dead only to be resurrected by this mad man Prof. Mortis (Morgan)...will Lt. Bill Bannister (Taylor) and Det. Tim Nolan (Armstrong) stop this gang of misfits who is terrorizing the city...can Vicki Logan (Hervey) and Happy Haskins (Davies) who work for the local newspaper, get in the way or be of some assistance bringing the villains to justice...what is this strange hideout in a subterranean cell that is located beneath the city's subways...don't touch that dial or leave the theater until the final chapter is over and done with "Law and Order"....just remember double thrills, chills, mystery and suspense...hitting the bull's eye with excitement...don't miss a single spine thrilling episode..return next week to this local theater for another episode of action and adventure that will keep you thrilled until the next chapter.
Under director's Ray Taylor and Noel Smith, associate producer Ford Beebe, Original screenplay by Morgan B. Cox, Al Martin, Vic McLeod, George H. Plympton, dialogue director Jacques Jaccard, musical score by Ralph Freed, Charles Previn, Heinz Roemheld, Hans J. Salter, Frank Skinner and Franz Waxman...the cast includes Kent Taylor (Lt. Bill Bannister), Irene Hervey (Vicky Logan), Ralph Morgan (Dr. Clayton Maxton aka Prof. Mortis), Robert Armstrong (Det. Tim Nolan), Richard Davies (Happy Haskins), Joseph Crehan (Police Chief Martin O'Brien), George Watts (Mayor Hansen), George J. Lewis (Joey Morrions aka Mason), Ralf Harolde(Halliger-henchman), John Gallaudet (Wilkinson-henchman), William Haade (Mike Taboni), Vic Zimmerman (Ted Lane, alias Barnard), Johnnie Berkes (Mr. Grub ), Pat O'Malley ( Police Chemist Crandall), Eddie Dean (Blair, Police Lab Tech), William Desmond (Rogan's Death Witness), Karl Hackett (Henry, crooked watchman), Carleton Young (Highway Patrolman)........great stuntwork by Carey Loftin, David Sharpe, Tom Steele, Ken Terrell and Dale Van Sickel....meanwhile back to our Universal Serial which is always good till the last drop and this serial is no exception...there is a great deal of entertainment here for the cliffhanger fans out there...all courtesy of VCI Entertainment, who in my humble opinion is the best there is in restoring early serials and features.
CHAPTER TITLES:
1. The League of Murdered Men
2. The Death Plunge
3. Murder Blockade
4. Hangman's Noose
5. Man Under Cover
6. Under Crumbling Walls
7. The Water Trap
8. Murder by Proxy
9. Gang Bait
10.Mob Vengeance
11.Wanted at Headquarters
12.The Long Chance
13.Law and Order
BIOS:
1. Kent Taylor (aka Louis William Weiss)
Birth Date: 5/11/1907 - Nashua, Iowa
Died: 4/11/1987 - Woodland Hills, CA
2. Irene Hervey
Birth Date: 7/11/1909 - Venice, CA
Died: 12/20/1998 - Woodland Hills, CA
3. Robert Armstrong (of the film "King Kong" fame)
Birth Date: 11/20/1890 - Saginaw, Michigan
Died: 4/20/1973 - Santa Monica, CA
4. Ray Taylor (Director)
Birth Date: 12/01/1888 - Perham, Minnesota
Died: 2/15/1952 - Hollywood, CA
If you're into vintage serials as I am, why not pick up a copy of the following titles from VCI Home Video:
VCI CLIFFHANGER TRAILERS:
1. Buck Rogers (Buster Crabbe)
2. Adventures of the Flying Cadets (Bobby Jordan)
3. Drums of Fu Manchu (Henry Brandon)
4. Jungle Girl (Frances Gifford)
5. The Phantom (Tom Tyler)
6. Zane Greys "King of the Royal Mounted" (Allan "Rocky" Lane)
7. Secret Agent X-9 (1945) (Lloyd Bridges & Keye Luke)
8. Adventures of Red Ryder (Don "Red" Barry)
9. Secret Agent X-9 (1937) (Scott Kolk & Henry Brandon)
10.Zorro's Cliffhanger Collection (Reed Hadley, John Carroll & Linda Stirling)
11.Dick Tracy's G-Men (Ralph Byrd)
12.Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (Buster Crabbe)
13.Jungle Jim (Grant Withers & Raymond Hatton)
14.Miracle Rider (Tom Mix & Tony Jr)
If you crave action, drama and plenty of adventure then this is the place for all of the above...check out another release from VCI Entertainment and Republic Pictures present Zane Grey's "King of the Royal Mounted" (1940) (digitally remastered), 12 Chapters of vintage serial loaded with action sequences...is there a discovered substance called "Compound X", which may cure infantile paralysis...has Tom Merritt stumbled on such a rare find...is there a war between Canada and sources known later as the "Father Land".....get out there as they're going fast, this is the one you've been waiting for.
Great job by VCI Entertainment for releasing "Gang Busters" (1942), the digital transfere with a clean, clear and crisp print...looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage serial era of the '30s, '40s & '50s...order your copy now from Amazon or VCI Entertainment where there are plenty of copies available on VHS, stay tuned once again for top notch action mixed with deadly adventure from the "King of Serials" VCI...just the way we like 'em
Total Time: 255 mins ~ VCI Entertainment 1731 ~ (1992)

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