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Watching Any Good Serials?
Topic Started: Apr 12 2006, 09:28 AM (88,415 Views)
HGB3
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Laughing Gravy
Feb 15 2007, 10:11 AM
Sarge, I think you misread his post... the "lineup" those serials are in are on his viewing schedule, not TCM's.

I saw Clash of the Wolves at the Castro in SF, and I loved it... Hey, it not only has Rin-Tin-Tin in it, it's got June "Miss Crabtree" Marlowe!

Sorry I wasn't clear. Those are indeed the serials I've been watching, not what is coming up on TCM.

I quite enjoyed Clash of Wolves the first time I saw it, and I'm looking forward to watching it once again to see whether my initial favorable impression still holds true.

Since I last posted, we finished up The Lightning Warrior. This Sunday, we start on The Shadow, or perhaps Secret Agent X-9.

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KanSmiley
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HGB3: Which SECRET AGENT X-9? I personally prefer the Lloyd Bridges (1945) version to the Scott Koch (193?) version.

Kan
http://www.saturday-matinee-memories.com/

intoxicated, adj.: When you feel sophisticated without being able to pronounce it.
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HGB3
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Kan,

It will be the '37 version of Secret Agent X-9. I haven't seen either one yet, so I figured we'd start with the earlier.

Also, last week I began watching The Adventures of Smilin' Jack. I got the serial from Grapevine, and so far it looks fine to me.
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Mantan
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Finished the last chapter of FLYING G-MEN yesterday.
What a terrific serial!
Enjoyed this immensely.
Always a pleasure to settle in with 15 chapters featuring the lovely Lorna Gray.
If you don't own this serial, you really should order the dvd from Trevor today.

This morning I finished the last chapter of THE PHANTOM RIDER (Republic Pictures Home Video VHS). 1946 serial directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet & Fred Brannon and featuring Robert Kent, Peggy Stewart, LeRoy Mason, Hal Taliaferro, and George J. Lewis. Fast-moving serial I was almost sad to see end.
Robert Kent as the hero, clad in a cool Indian-head mask and decked out in Buck Jones as WHITE EAGLE drag, battles LeRoy Mason & henchmen while helping George J. Lewis and Chief Thundercloud with the formation of an Indian Police Force intended to patrol the Lone Pine Reservation and put an end to LeRoy Mason's wretched lawless shenannigans and furtive mannerisms.
I like Robert Kent as a hero. I know he did a couple of ther other serials but I don't own them - I don't think.

By the way - as much as I enjoyed this serial, Bennet & Brannon should have been ashamed of themselves for casting poor ol' Tom London as the evil tribal medicine man.
Credits also list Monte Hale as being in the serial somewhere but I never spotted him.
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Laughing Gravy
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Well, thanks Manny -- this is the last of the old Republic VHS serials that I bought but have never opened. I never heard anybody say anything good about it before!
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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Laughing Gravy
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And the serials I ordered from good ol' Rodney arrived today, so The Invisible Monster, G-Men Never Forget, and Trader Tom of the China Seas head for the "to be watched someday" shelf.
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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Mantan
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I am currently up to Chapter 5 of DAUGHTER DON Q 1946 (Republic Home Video VHS) and going on Chapter 6 or 7 of DESPERADOES OF THE WEST 1950 (Republic Home Video Laser Disc).

DAUGHTER OF DON Q might turn out to be one of my all time favorite Republic serials.
What can I say about Adrian Booth that I haven't already said about Lorna Gray?
I've mentioned how drop-dead gorgeous I find her before, haven't I? She's almost as exotic as Tura Satana of FASTER PUSSYCAT, KILL KILL fame.
She dispatches Fred Graham, Dale Van Sickel, or Tom Steele with a ju-jitsu flip and karate chop more easily believable than hero Kirk Alyn can fake taking a Roy Barcroft punch to the gut.

DESPERADOES OF THE WEST is not of the same calibre as DAUGHTER OF DON Q but just as fun as far as I'm concerned. I love b-westerns, anyway. This b-western/serial is directed by Fred Brannon and looks a lot like one of his Red Ryder westerns.
A mature Richard Powers is excellent and the supporting cast includes the always-terrific Cliff Clark. Also -I. Stanford Jolley minces about in a top hat making big plans and plotting nefarious deeds for henchmen Roy Barcroft, Dale Van Sickel, Tom Steele and others to carry out.

2 serials I recently purchased from a new source (for me) arrived today: CALL OF THE SAVAGE and THE SECRET OF TREASURE ISLAND. I took 'em for a test run and I couldn't be more excited with these purchases.
I own 3 different dvd copies of THE SECRET OF TREASURE ISLAND and only one is half-way viewable.
I'd rate both of these dvd-r's a 9 out of 10. I'd rate them 10 out of 10 but there are no chapter stops. A minor quibble considering the overall quality of these transfers.
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Laughing Gravy
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How on earth do you watch a serial on DVD if there are no chapter stops? What, when you get to chapter 11 you have to fast-forward through 10 chapters?!??
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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Mantan
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Laughing Gravy
Feb 21 2007, 09:25 PM
How on earth do you watch a serial on DVD if there are no chapter stops? What, when you get to chapter 11 you have to fast-forward through 10 chapters?!??


That is correct, sir.
I have to scan thru all previous chapters in order to watch the next chapter.
Am I happy about it? No.
Does it make the serial less enjoyable? ...hmmmm... slows things down by about 5 to 10 minutes. I persevere and endeavor to maintain.
This causes no discernible loss of quality.
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Sgt Saturn
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Quote:
 
How on earth do you watch a serial on DVD if there are no chapter stops? What, when you get to chapter 11 you have to fast-forward through 10 chapters?!??


Some of us are lucky enough to have a player that remembers where you were and will restart at that location. (I think it has a three or four disc 'memory' so you are restricted to playing just that one movie ...)

The Ol' Sarge
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Mantan
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Finished DAUGHTER OF DON Q this morning.
I really love this one... despite Kirk Alyn's milquetoast leading man performance, it's so funny to see Adrian Booth kick, karate chop, and judo flip Tom Steele, Eddie Parker, and the great Barcroft chapter after chapter.
It's going to take a long time before I find another serial I enjoy as much as I enjoyed this one.

I'm up to Chapter 9 of CALL OF THE SAVAGE.
Noah Berry's goofiest performance ..."haha- Mona sleep"; "haha- Chikama hungry".
Perfect vehicle for Pauly Shore if they ever do a feature length remake.

Harry "H. L." Woods in a good-guy role for change and Walter Miller as a rotten-to-the-core researcher/adventurer are magnificent.
Dorothy Short as "Mona" does nothing for me but the serial is a lot of fun.
Especially if you like the Bomba The Jungle Boy features.
Cheap, dumb and fun -just the way I used to like my girlfriends.
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marlin lee
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Quote:
 
Perfect vehicle for Pauly Shore


Now that is an oxymoron if ever I heard one.
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Pa Stark
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Would it be possible to tell us who is selling serials without chapter stops? I wouldn't want to buy from him. Tell us more about SECRET OF TREASURE ISLAND. I have an old Beta tape from a battered print, and I heard that Richard Orsack has a nice print.
Honest and Lovable Pa Stark
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rodney
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I finished up The Phantom last night, which I thought was very, very good. I think I'm starting Jungle Girl this weekend.
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Mantan
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Pa Stark
Mar 5 2007, 08:05 PM
Would it be possible to tell us who is selling serials without chapter stops?  I wouldn't want to buy from him.  Tell us more about SECRET OF TREASURE ISLAND.  I have an old Beta tape from a battered print, and I heard that Richard Orsack has a nice print.

I'd prefer not mentioning the name of the guy with the serials minus chapter stops on a public board without his permission.
PM or email me and I'll gladly provide you the info -I'm sure you already know who the guy is, though.
He's been referenced at least twice in the Brenda Starr thread.

I purchased one of my copies of SECRET OF TREASURE ISLAND from Trevor after getting an inferior dub of what had probably been taken from Trevor's print to begin with from some eBay seller.
Trevor's version was a major improvement on what I had but still not up to what I'd hoped for quality wise.
This most recent copy of SECRET OF TREASURE ISLAND I purchased minus the chapter stops has visual quality so sharp that I can actually make out background details not visible in my previous acquisitions. You can actually make out the names of the cast.

Not trying the defend the odiousness of neglecting to insert chapter stops and menus on a serial being offered for sale but... the hassle of doing a search function on the dvd-r is not that problematic. I write down the running time when I finish a chapter.
When I view the next chapter, I simply enter the running time of the dvd up the end of the previous chapter and resume watching the serial from tha point.
Or you can do what I did for a week -you can fast-forward for 15-20 minutes until you reach the chapter you last viewed.


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