Search - Radio Patrol on DVD

I agree......mostly

jrc | Jonesboro, AR USA | 09/17/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Agree with above review regarding the serial; it's fun and has some great cliffhangers. VCI did the best with materials they had to work with. The negatives for most of these serials no longer exist, so we are left with only 16mm television prints. This version has the Universal Presents plastered over by Krellberg et al. VCI has done a lot with the image, but the sound is distorted and noisy throughout (but all of the dialogue is discernable--only the music suffers). This is probably the best viewing experience you're going to have for this title unless Universal still holds the negatives and releases their own pristine versions (NOT!).



If you want to see what VCI can do with outstanding source material, look at the GREEN HORNET serials recently released. They are almost perfection. Interestingly, they note a "thanks" to Universal Pictures on the package--although I doubt that Universal provided negatives/prints--the ownership of those passed to the copyright holder years ago.



I greatly admire VCI for what they do and buy almost all of their releases. They should be greatly commended for releasing many of these Public Domain titles in decent transfers.



A question for the experts:

Are those chapter openings from the original 1937 release? The shot of the camera tracking in to the boy on the couch has a 50's setting look."