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Watching Any Good Serials?
Topic Started: Apr 12 2006, 09:28 AM (88,333 Views)
CliffClaven
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I have a special affection for jungle serials that manage to stay foggy about what continent they're on, blending natives who look like South Sea islanders (or white guys with Beatle wigs), African lions, Asian temples, and a gorilla from the Columbia comedy unit.
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panzer the great & terrible
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Mouth Breather
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I like 'em too. Any movie where a few potted plants stand in for a whole, entire continent is fine with me. I calls that ingenuity.
Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
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cinemalover
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Thanks, Panzer, and everyone else.

I finished Mysterious Island this weekend (yes, I sinned and watched more than one chapter). It was enjoyable if not fabulous. It has a nice pace that never allows itself to drag. The pace also helps viewers from thinking too hard about this strange collection of characters and their wavering alliances. The close ups of the side of the pirate ship looked more like a stone wall than an actual ship (despite tacking on netting and a rope ladder) and didn't look anything like the ship when the shot switched to the miniature, but it's all in good fun.

Next up for me on the Columbia docket: Terry and the Pirates.
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The Batman
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cinemalover
Apr 13 2009, 07:40 AM


(yes, I sinned and watched more than one chapter)

CL, it is not a sin to watch more than one chapter a week.

For best viewing results, it is best to watch one serial at a time, and watch one chapter a day.

Weekly chapter-viewing is a thing of the cinema days of old. Chapter-a-day watching is best for home video viewing.

Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman!
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cinemalover
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Batman,
Agreed. Single serial at a time, a chapter a day is ideal home viewing. I just got an itch coming down the home stretch last night and watched the final three chapters back to back. I couldn't help myself, no self-control!
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panzer the great & terrible
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Mouth Breather
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I prefer to watch four serials one chapter at a time, in rotation: one day a Republic, the next day a Columbia, then a Universal, and finally an indy (including silents). That way you stay aware of the differences between the studios, and you don't get as bored when you pick a turkey. There was one period when I had four bombs in rotation: it took almost a year to get through them, and I managed to do it only by throwing the worst one into the round file. I didn't need Queen of the Jungle in my life any more, and couldn't think of anybody I disliked enough to give it to. I replaced it with Panther Girl of the Kongo, expecting little, but to my surprise I loved it! It's still one of my favorite bad serials.
Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
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CliffClaven
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I don't have the mental focus for more than one at a time. It's hard enough in a single serial to track who's holding who prisoner and where the McGuffin was last seen ("We'll hide the code in the safe in my office . . . again . . .").
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The Batman
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cinemalover
Apr 13 2009, 08:32 AM
Batman,
Agreed. Single serial at a time, a chapter a day is ideal home viewing. I just got an itch coming down the home stretch last night and watched the final three chapters back to back. I couldn't help myself, no self-control!

I've watched more than one in a day, too, CL. Basically for the same reason, the serial was too darn good and I was getting into it!

Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman!
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panzer the great & terrible
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Mouth Breather
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The first serial I ever bought was a used copy of The Adventures of Captain Marvel on Betamax. I gave it to a friend who had a Beta machine and she threw a small party and ran the whole thing. It was a lot of fun, but without a crowd of wise guys I have more fun doing a chapter at a time. I don't really see how it matters how you watch things: sometimes I spend days and days getting through a feature.
Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
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mort bakaprevski
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panzer the great & terrible
Apr 13 2009, 01:42 PM
... sometimes I spend days and days getting through a feature.
I can identify with that!!
"Nov Shmoz Ka Pop."
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Pa Stark
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I am watching the 1934 Universal version of THE PERILS OF PAULINE, and so far it is a real surprise. So far every chapter has a different setting, chapter one took place in a Chinese city with a war going on. With all the bombs being dropped, it is certainly the noisiest chapter ever. Chapter two took place of a ship at sea, three on a raft going up a river. The McGuffin is the search for two parts of an ancient disc that has a formula for a deadly gas that can wipe out whole civilizations. If reminds me of THE DRUMS OF FU MANCHU, with John Davidson in one of his best roles playing villainous Dr. Bashan. VCI's print is one of the best early Universal's I have seen. Pa says check it out.
Honest and Lovable Pa Stark
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panzer the great & terrible
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Mouth Breather
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Wow! Thanks, Pa. Alan Barbour, I think it was, ridiculed this serial and I never seriously considered watching it until now. Don't know why I believed him this time as he's been wrong so often. I'm ordering it tonight!
Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
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The Batman
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Another thanks, Pa! Definitely be adding this one to the list.

Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman!
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cinemalover
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I watched the first chapter of Terry and the Pirates last night. This is another Columbia product directed by James Horne. I can't say that the opening chapter really wowed me, but it was a step or two above terrible. William Tracy as the the headlining Terry skewed more towards grating than great, I'm hoping his character grows on me as the storyline proceeds. Dick Curtis played Fang, one of the primary villains, and came across about as intimitdating as Captain Kangaroo with a really bad accent. I don't think the world should be trembling from fear just yet.

It didn't put me to sleep, but I wasn't even remotely tempted to watch an additional chapter. We'll see how this one plays out. This was VCI's print and suffered from quite a bit of speckling and other minor print damage. Nothing that I couldn't live with, but not one of their better prints.
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Laughing Gravy
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I love TERRY, the closest Horne came to directing a Laurel & Hardy serial. As I recall, there is a lot of print damage in the first couple of chapters. Dick Curtis is a hoot in this one. Mostly, though, note that it contains some of the finest cliffhangers in the entire serial catalog.
"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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