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Rating the DVD Releases of Sound Serials; Best picture and sound quality available on DVD
Topic Started: Jun 16 2014, 07:30 AM (21,469 Views)
williejg
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Bats~ Yes, Sinister Cinema is still selling from their site.

willie
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The Batman
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williejg
Jun 20 2014, 12:54 PM
The Alpha and Sinister cinema prints of KING OF THE WILD are 2 different critters. Easy to tell when you have both and can compare. I've heard that they were the same print for several years. Absolutely not.

willie

Thanks, Willie, good to know.
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The Batman
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williejg
Jun 20 2014, 12:56 PM
Bats~ They should both be 9's. No question.

willie

I'll go 8.5, for now. How's that?


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The Batman
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williejg
Jun 20 2014, 01:03 PM
Bats~ Yes, Sinister Cinema is still selling from their site.

willie

Thank you, sir.

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williejg
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Bats~ 8.5 is better, but I still stand for 9. Let's see if anyone else will pipe up for the 9.

willie
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They misspell Creighton (Lon, Jr.) Chaney on their menu page, but I won't hold that ag'in 'em. Still, does anybody PROOF these friggin' things? Heaven knows *I* never allow a tpyo to mar MY writting.

Factoid you won't hear anywhere else: Roan's The Three Musketeers was the FIRST SERIAL ever to be released on DVD.

Million-dollar liner notes:
"Co-director Armand Schaefer would go on to great success as the producer of Roy Rogers films... John Wayne would go on to become John Wayne."

Seriously, you'd think *I* wrote that, wouldn't you?

I give this an 8, tops. And Last of the Mohicans (I can't BELIEVE there was no sequel) a rare nine.

"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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JazzGuyy
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The Batman
Jun 20 2014, 12:39 PM
What is edge enhancement, Jazzy? That's the only term I am not familiar with in your post.


edge enhancement is an artificial sharpening of the borders of objects in a picture. What it often (usually) does is create ringing which looks like a little halo a couple of pixels wide on edges. It actually makes matters worse.
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Barcroft
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Bats,
I have the VCI release of "Adventures of Red Ryder" which includes Bios, Photo Gallery and a Don "Red" Barry Interview. Quality for this 1 disc DVD is very good and I'd rate the serial 7.5 out of 10. Had Barry been over 6' I'd have given it an 8.............lol
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riddlerider
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Jun 20 2014, 01:33 PM
Million-dollar liner notes:
"Co-director Armand Schaefer would go on to great success as the producer of Roy Rogers films... John Wayne would go on to become John Wayne."

Mandy Schaefer had nothing to do with the Roy Rogers Westerns. He was Gene Autry's producer.

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Laughing Gravy
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In regard to The Vanishing Legion, didn't Eric also add music to the soundtrack? I seem to recall that as an issue back in the day.

Tailspin Tommy (VCI, 1 DVD): 8. Extras: Trailers for Cap'n Video, Tailspin Tommy, Junior G-Men of the Air, Tim Tyler's Luck.

Tailspin Tommy in the Great Air Mystery (Serial Squadron, 2 DVD-Rs): 9. Extras: Trailers for Rustlers of Red Dog, Lost City of the Jungle, The Master Key, Gang Busters; promo for Eric's Masked Rider escapade.

The Vanishing Shadow (Serial Squadron, 2 DVD-Rs): 6. This confuses me; someone sent me a copy, no idea if this was burned from Eric's VHS or DVD-R release or what. Don't recall now.

"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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williejg
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LG~ What's the difference if Grood added a music soundtrack to THE VANISHING LEGION? I don't remember if he did or not, but it would certainly enhance the viewing pleasure. I'd say it's worth a 7.5-8.

As far as THE VANISHING SHADOW goes, Doc told me that it's from the same VHS master, but he took a bit of time to clean up the soundtrack a bit, like getting rid of a few bits of hiss in the original tapes. True or not, I don't know. I have both versions, but have never compared them. I have only watched the VHS tape version, and I have to disagree with your rating of 6. I'm pretty certain that when I checked the disc version quickly I didn't see a whole lot of improvement over the original VHS tapes. But I think it's a pretty darn good print and deserves a rating of 8. Maybe the person who sent you your copy sent a 3rd or 4th generation print of the original VHS tapes? That would certainly account for you only rating it a 6.

willie
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Laughing Gravy
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I disagree that adding music to a talking picture decades after the fact "enhances" it. The idea, to me, is to get a film as close to its original state as possible. Eric's adding music, color, sound effects, new sequences, and changed credits all are negatives to me.

I explained about the Vanishing Shadow DVD I have because I wasn't sure of the source, but it's a six over here.
"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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williejg
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You know, working on this list is the most fun I've had in a long time. I'm surprised that more members aren't joining in. Everybody has some info that they can share. It's going to take a long time to complete this list if other members don't join in.

But I guess that's OK too if it remains the same as it has been without other members piping up. It will make it easier for Bats to keep up.

willie
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williejg
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That's OK LG. Everyone has their own opinion. IF you dislike Grood adding a music track to a serial it's OK. Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do about it except buy a different print or turn off the sound and listen to Led Zeppelin or any other choice of music that you'd like. I've done that with silent serials that have boring music tracks.

willie
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The Batman
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OK, I've made the recent updates, thanks, everyone.

Bart, I guess TAoRR needed a "lift" to get an 8 rating.

LG and Willie, I've split your Vanishing Legion/Shadow ratings and gave both a 7, until we get more feedback.

I can't find any info about the SS adding music to TVL, but if someone can confirm, I will add it to the notes.



Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman!
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