Search - Rider on the Rain on DVD

4 star Bronson film, a watchable public domain DVD release.

Ollie | Ireland | 06/02/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"***Update Feb 2010 - Optimum Home Entertainment in the UK have released Rider On The Rain on Region 2 DVD and can be found on Amazon.co.uk. The transfer is perfect and has the English and French versions, but you will need a Region free DVD player. If ordering Optimum's DVD release, do not get it mixed up with Orbit Media's release of Rider On The Rain which has similar cover art and is an even worse version than this Region 1 release.***



I got my DVD through [...], the cover art is the same as this one listed on Amazon, DVD sleeve is purple in colour with a photo of Bronson(waste up on the right side of the DVD cover with Bronson facing to the left) in a dark gray t-shirt (photograph is not related to this film), the words RIDER and RAIN appear in large capitalised red lettering with "on the" in lower case white lettering along with Bronson's name also in white in lower case lettering with the C and B capitalised, all top centre of the DVD cover. The [...] version is half the price of the amazon.com version.



Assuming these are the same DVD transfers, it is another public domain non DVD quality release. It appears to be taken from a medium quality VHS. It is anamorphic as described on the [...] website and it also does appear to be in widescreen although I'm not sure if it is original aspect ration widescreen but nothing appears obvious to be missing from the left or right based on the framing of scenes. I watched this DVD through a projector onto a 140" screen so perhaps the following picture quality description may not be as negative on a 30", 40" or 50" TV screen, the picture quality is watchable but is very soft in places with background actors, buildings, objects etc having no detail at times which is expected from a VHS copy. The image did not have any major print damage or scratches, it looks like what it is, a fairly worn VHS transfer to DVD. Again as listed on the [...] website, this is indeed in 5.1 surround sound, the actors dialogue comes through crisp and clear through all speakers attached to my home theater amp and all ambient sound effects are also crisp and clear albeit with a very low minor hissing sound which is not that noticeable, however the same can not be said for the musical score which at times for some reason sounds like a CD player running off batteries that are almost dead but still trying to play the CD, that's the best way I can think to describe it. Strangely though, during scenes where the musical score is played along with dialogue, the dialogue is perfectly fine. I also noticed that the transfer seems to be cropped slightly top and bottom, at times during the opening of particular scene's, it appears as if the camera is positioned just a little to low cutting of the actors heads from the nose up until the camera moves into the scene and the framing corrects itself.



I read up on the Orbit Media DVD released in the UK and I checked if the cuts made by Orbit Media to their version are intact in this version. This DVD version appears to be intact and uncut. As I have only just now watched this film for the first time, I can not be sure that the film is here 100% in its entirety but it does appear to be so.



I really did enjoy this Bronson film and I wish that a respectable DVD distributor will find a high quality print and release this on DVD properly but for now from reading about other public domain versions of this film, I think this DVD version might just be a case of the best we will get until that time.

"

Horrible DVD, Good Movie

Harry J. Harris | Lynchburg, VA | 01/12/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of the worst copies of a movie on DVD I have ever seen. It looks like it was copied from a video tape. The sound is even worse, in a lot of places it sounds like it was taped on a tape recorder with weak batteries, the sound problems are almost entirely during the music and background voices. The main characters can be clearly understood. I am a big Charles Bronson fan and hadn't seen this movie and was glad to finally be able to get it on DVD. The movie is very good, but the DVD transfer is pretty bad."

Interesting, Very European Bronson Flick, VHS Transfer on DV

curtis martin | Redmond, WA, USA | 03/06/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

""Rider" is an interesting flick, but has an odd disregard for logic that reminds me of David Lynch's film noir takes or Dario Argento's films (without the blood). I'm not sure if this was on purpose or not.

This particular DVD, however, is just a digital transfer of a VHS master; thus it replicates the look of an old VHS tape perfectly! For the price, it's better than nothing for the Bronson fan, but a very, very far cry from an actual digital master of the film.



ps-- The film is not, as previously stated, "dubbed flawlessly." It was filmed in two versions--one in French with Bronson dubbed, one in English with the main French actors all speaking English along with Bronson (some minor characters are dubbed--though not flawlessly)."

Horrible Reproduction

Avatar of Azathoth | Texas | 05/25/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"The reproduction quality of this DVD is worse than the VHS copy I own which is almost 20 years old. Save your money and wait for a better copy."