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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Less enchanting with age, but still worth it, August 31, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Blackhawk [VHS] (VHS Tape)
I saw the Blackhawk serial when it first came out about 50 years ago. The only disappointment I remember was that on screen we do not see all seven Blackhawks going around together and attacking the Commies and other enemies simultaneously, which they do in the comic books. In the serial, only five of the Blackhawks are on active duty: Blackhawk himself (Kirk Alyn, Chuck (John Crawford), Olaf (Don Harvey, Andre (Larry Stewart) and Stan (short for Stanislaus; Rick Vallin). None of them has a foreign accent like in the comics. Chop Chop is not the short, toothy, pigtailed comic relief that we see in the comics. He is dignified and soft-spoken, He stays behind at headquarters and operates the radio. Even 50 years ago I saw this as an improvement. He looks authentically Chinese, but the actor's name is Weaver Levy. Never figured that out. And Hendrickson (Frank Ellis) stays behind to maintain the airplanes at the hangar. I wondered then, as I wonder now in middle age, how the Hendrickon with his middle-age spread and less than top physical condition was able to run around anyway. With maturity, I see many of the holes in the plot and settings. For one thing, it is immediately obvious today that Blackhawk Headquarters has no security. The bad guys can just drive up to it, somewhere in Arizona supposedly but maybe in the San Fernando Valley. Maybe we didn't notice these things back in the 1950s? It is still gripping and enjoyable today, although maybe less so than before. I assumed when I first saw it that The Leader was Josef Stalin, dictator of the USSR. In the 15th chapter we found out the truth. When I saw it again recently, I of course already knew the ending. So like in other cases like this, the thing to do is look for hints as to how you can first guess what is going to happen. All in all, this is worth it if you are/were a serial fan. And oneof the handful of Columbia serials actually available through regular commercial outlets.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Nostalgia Isn't What It Used to Be, May 8, 2005
This review is from: Blackhawk [VHS] (VHS Tape)
I wish the title were original, and it was, but Simone Signoret beat me into print with it.
I caught one episode of this when I was in my early teens and always wanted to see what I'd missed. Be careful what you wish for.
In the comics, the characters had comic-opera accents, but in this bomb, Olaf doesn't even have a Minnesota accent, much less Swedish, and none of the other "international" characters have one either. I know this was shot on a budget of a buck twenty-nine, but they cast a shrimp as Andre, then couldn't apparently spring for an eyebrow pencil to give him his trademark moustache. None of the blonds from the comic seemed to be blond, so they apparently couldn't spring for a couple of bottles of hydrogen peroxide, either.
The director of photography seemed to have cut his classes on lighting, the fights were apparently choreographed on the spot (I figure the Blackhawks won about 60% of the brawls, which hardly qualifies them for superhero stardom.) The effects were generally so cheesy they were funny.
The biggest problem was the writing. There were three writers and I got the feeling they only got together once to divvy up the job. The first writer probably said, "I can create something really inane with a six-pack and half a brain."
The second writer apparently said, "I can lose your plot (Where did the death-ray plot go? I dunno, it was here just a minute ago. Well, we'll skip on to an even more inane plot about Element X) and do something even more inane with six shots of tequila and half a prefrontal lobe."
Apparently the third writer said, "I can create a real mess with a quart of rotgut and the march of the dead brain cells."
I'm not going to recommend whether or not to buy this dog, but I will warn you that if you're getting it for nostalgia, keep your memories. If you want to see how bollixed-up the old serials were and like to laugh at the incompetent, this could be a great acquisition.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Kirk Alyn flies for the last time, December 8, 1999
This review is from: Blackhawk [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This 1952 serial adventure stars Kirk Alyn (famous as Superman of the serials) as the head of a flying squadron. The bad news is that there is surprisingly little airborne footage in this, and nothing much happens for several chapters. The good news is that the serial wakes up later on, with plenty of action and well-staged stunt work by David Sharpe. And for those who enjoy the peculiar lapses of logic found only in Columbia serials, there are a few uninentional laughs (two pilots bail out of an airplane and shut the door BEHIND them). This video will appeal most to fans of Kirk Alyn and to kids.
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