Was in K-Mart last night and saw a $9.95 Mill Creek four DVD boxed set called THE LEGEND OF RIN TIN TIN. It was marked as having "48 Episodes," so
initially thought it was from TV. Then I noticed it said "From 1930 to 1935." Turns out it's four 12 chapter serials, THE ADVENTURES OF REX AND
RINTY (1935), LAW OF THE WILD (1934), LIGHTNING WARRIOR (1931) and THE LONE DEFENDER (1930). Have never seen any of these...can anyone here comment on them?
(Held off picking it up, but did grab their three DVD, 35 episode set of THE BEST OF THE CISCO KID, which appears to be compiled from the first two seasons.)
0 Kudo
Rin Tin Tin serial set
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 BijouBob8mm |
Rin Tin Tin serial set |
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(04/02/08 9:04 AM) |
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Monster Kid |
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(04/02/08 10:08 AM) |
THE ADVENTURES OF REX AND RINTY and LAW OF THE WILD star Rin-Tin-Tin's son, Rin-Tin-Tin Jr. and Rex, King of the Wild Horses (mostly his double, Brownie).
The other two star (in closeups only) a quite aged Rin-Tin-Tin, the original "mortgage lifter" for Warner Brothers. Mascot produced the latter
starring Rinty after Warner Brothers basically dumped him and his master after the dog proved too old for stunts. Never mind that Warner almost killed the
beast several times in the course of his long career, making him walk across the crests of huge dams and making him leap off bluffs and carry burning torches
in his mouth.
None of them are what I would want to watch again and again because of the repetitious action, although I own three of them. THE ADVENTURES OF REX AND RINTY is actually a little more interesting since it has to do with an island ruled by Mischa Auer whose inhabitants worship horses in general and one horse in particular. Naturally some bad guys steal the horse and take it away to train to play polo in America. Rinty has to help him evade some real dangers. |
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HalLane |
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(04/02/08 10:15 AM) |
I've seen THE LIGHTNING WARRIOR. It's about what you'd expect from a Mascot serial: lots of running around in the woods with plenty of chances
to play 'Name That Stuntman'.
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BijouBob8mm |
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(04/02/08 11:19 AM) |
Thanks for the feedback, guys! Yeah, the price is nice...not sure how the prints will be, though. I did grab up their set of the three John Wayne serials
around the holidays, and image quality could have been better, could have been worse. The quality of source material from Mill Creek can be a mixed bag, but
you do get a lot of bang for the buck in these (in terms of sheer quantity). Might be this weekend before I can crack open that CISCO KID set to see how those
look. (I do recommend VCI's Duncan Renaldo Cisco Kid double features that came out in 2002 and 2003, which included interviews with Renaldo. Haven't
had a chance to look at their more recent Cisco Kid triple features with Gilbert Roland, or their release last month of a Renaldo triple feature.)
Mill Creek's sets of ONE STEP BEYOND and JACK BENNY looked about as good as any other PD releases, but with a lot more episodes for the money than I've seen from any other company. May have to go back after RIN TIN TIN.... |
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Cinema Bill |
$5 Each | ||
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(04/03/08 2:23 AM) |
Our Wal-Mart had the Cisco Kid set as well as first season 39 episodes of Adventures of Robin Hood w/Richard Greene in the $5 bin. So, $15 got me 35
Cisco's; 39 Robin's and 20 very early Alfred Hitchcock movies.
I'm set for a few evenings... |
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captainmarvel1957 |
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(04/03/08 3:46 AM) |
I picked up the Rin Tin Tin set at WalMart a couple of weeks ago for $5. I think the title of the set is The Legend of Rin Tin Tin. It's a two disc set and
I believe is the same collection that you saw at K-Mart for $10. I opened it and spot checked it and found that it is watchable not certainly not great video
quality. I'm glad I picked these up for $1.25 a serial, but the quality of the material, as I posted in another thread here, makes Alpha look like
Criterion. The serials look like they were transferred from video tape and there is the ghosting that we all remember from duping VHS tapes back in the
1980's. The roughest of the bunch is the first serial on the second disc. Very high contrast which leads me to believe that it not only was dubbed off of
video tape, but may well have been dubbed off of VHS video tape. The quality of the first disc is fairly akin to the type of public domain programming we used
to see on broadcast television back in the late 70's and early 80's. Rough by today's standards but okay overall.
I had been tempted to pick up a Mill Creek collection for a while. And while I couldn't resist Rex and Rinty I think they would probably have to come out with a release of London After Midnight before I would buy another one---unless, of course, members here on the Board said that the quality of the video was much better than this Rex and Rinty collection. So, you're going to have to let us know how Cisco, Hood and Hitch look, Bill! |
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BijouBob8mm |
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(04/03/08 9:56 AM) |
I have those Hitch flicks from Diamond, from a few years back. I keep forgetting Walmart has most of those Mill Creek sets for about half of what K-Mart does.
(Found that out the hard way with ONE STEP BEYOND.) Will have to keep my eyes opened for that ROBIN HOOD set--thanks for the info, Bill! In terms of
quality, I thought their ONE STEP and JACK BENNY collections looked pretty much like their Diamond and Alpha counterparts. The quality on their other John
Wayne set (not the serials, but the 20 movie pack of Lone Star films, McCLINTOCK and a documentary on John Ford) was well worth the $5. A couple of the titles
in that had some digital artifacts from the source material but, overall, those looked as good as any other PD westerns...and 20 features for five bucks? Hard
to go wrong, there. And the Mill Creek set of the complete Ronald Howard SHERLOCK HOLMES (with introduction by Christopher Lee) was decent.
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Cinema Bill |
Mill Creek Robin Hood Update | ||
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(04/03/08 12:06 PM) |
I hate starting a set like this one, because it's like trying to eat just one potato chip. I can't stop.
All in all, the quality is very acceptable. Some dark scenes, but not that many. And I'd forgotten that Donald Pleasence played Prince John (he has a ball chewing up the scenery). So far I am throughly enjoying this set. "Robin Hood, Robin Hood riding through the glen; Robin Hood, Robin Hood with his band of men; Feared by the Bad, loved by the Good Robin Hood, Robin Hood, Robin Hood..." |
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BijouBob8mm |
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(04/03/08 1:26 PM) |
I have to smile every time I hear that Robin Hood theme. Long before I saw my first episode of this series (when it was getting shown on late night TV in the
Eighties), I caught the Monty Python skit about a flower-stealing highwayman called Dennis Moore, which used the tune with new lyrics for the thief's theme
song.
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KNOBTAIL |
Rin Tin Tin | ||
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(04/03/08 8:14 PM) |
Yep 5 bucks at Walmarts. Also picked up John Wayne from his Lone Star days 20 movies and the 48 Cisco Kid TV programs. I can resist anything but temptation.
The Rinty dvds are not bad. About equivalent to Alpha. But since I did NOT have any of these, its a nice addition to my library.
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captainmarvel1957 |
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(04/03/08 9:01 PM) |
Thanks for the info, Bill. And, you're right Knobtail, how could you pass up Rin Tin Tin AND Rex, the Wonder Horse for only $5???
Woof! |
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oldmanster |
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(04/05/08 11:13 AM) |
I'll have to track down one of these multi-film sets. I have the Alpha Video copy of
Lightning Warrior, and generally enjoyed it but the print was very choppy and sub-par. I hope the other films have better prints. ... Reed |
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KNOBTAIL |
Rex and Rinty revisted | ||
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(04/08/08 7:03 PM) |
I must tell you that one of the 4 dvds The Law of the Wild, was in very good condition. The sound quality was excellent and the picture was quite clear. It
broke down to $ 1.25 per serial. One thing that I found rather interesting in these early serials, especially Mascot, the foilers (bad guys) never went through
the entire 12 chapters. They were getting killed off either in the first chapter or by the time the 5th chapter rolled around. Under normal circumstances, the
bad guys always went through to the end before their fate caught up with them. Not so with these early serials.
Secondly, I dont know how they were able to train both the dog and horse in some of those scenes. Rather remarkable. Rin Tin Tin, had made more than 25 movies for Warner before sound, and although allot were left to her offspring, these dogs were brilliant in their own right. Most impressive, and certainly could not be repeated in todays culture with all the PETA's influence associated with movies. JERRY |
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BijouBob8mm |
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(04/09/08 2:28 PM) |
Well, my Walmart didn't have the Rin Tin Tin set, although they did have a number of the other Mill Creek releases, so I may have to pony up the $9.95 at
the Big K. (Wish I had known about Walmart having had those other sets prior to my getting the others at K-Mart.) So far, neither store has come up with the
Robin Hood set, but it seems like each visit finds a few new offerings, so I'll keep my eyes open for it.
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Monster Kid |
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(04/11/08 4:03 PM) |
Thanks for the comments, Knobtail. I think my book on dog heroes, which will be available in May from Midnight Marquee Press, will answer all your questions
and more: http://www.midmar.com/
PETA, by the way, has had nothing to do with the better ethical standards for humane treatment of animal actors in film, as the American Humane Association has been monitoring the movies and TV shows now for three decades and never needed PETA's help. Trust me, you would not want the moviemakers now doing what was too often done in the 1920s and 1930s to dogs and horses. |
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LGravy |
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(04/11/08 4:40 PM) |
How long is the chapter on Laughing Gravy? At least 111 pages, I should hope.
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darren nemeth |
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(04/11/08 10:52 PM) |
KNOBTAIL wrote:I always thought the original Rinty was a male. The one brought back from France after the war.
Last Edited By: darren nemeth
04/12/08 12:31 AM.
Edited 1 times.
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KNOBTAIL |
Rinty | ||
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(04/12/08 10:48 PM) |
My mistake, she is a he. Their were actually 2 pups saved and brought to America. One was a male the other a female. Rinty was named after the french puppet
Rintintin.
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BijouBob8mm |
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(04/14/08 10:45 AM) |
Thanks for the comments, Knobtail. I think my book on dog heroes, which will be available in May from Midnight Marquee Press, will answer all your questions and moreIn the meantime, you can get a sneak peek of what to expect from Monster Kid's book in that same author's article, "Of Dogs and Monsters," in Scary Monsters #65. |
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LCranston |
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(04/19/08 5:53 PM) |
I've been keeping my eye out for the RIn Tin Tin set, hope I'll find it when I go to Wal-Mart tomorrow.
I've picked up 6 or 7 Mill Creek collections and am mostly pleased with them. You have to be wary sometimes, because they do dilly in for "Digitally Remastering" them. On the COmedies collection, their print of "Dixiana" is short by 20 minutes, and doesn't use a color print for the climax. Of course, the film isn't great anyway, so maybe shorter is better. If you decide to get the John Wayne 20 Pack, be aware that Mill Creek released it twice, in a 4-disc and a 3-disc set. The number of the films is the same, but on the 3-disc set they've included 80 minutes of trailers--I can't see how they crammed all that onto 3 discs! I have the 4 disc set and the quality looks fine, but I'm thinking of trading it if I can.
"I live the unknown, I love the unknown... I AM the unknown."
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BijouBob8mm |
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(04/21/08 2:58 PM) |
My Walmart finally loaded up on a bunch of those Mill Creek sets a few days ago! Got RIN TIN TIN and ROBIN HOOD.
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