Customer Reviews

The Lost Serial Collection - Clips and Chapters from 35 Extremely Rare Serials

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This anthology is overpriced for what it is. Most of the excerpts are too brief and lacking in context to be of much use or interest. The two episodes that are presented complete are not particularly distinguished. Print quality is very variable and often poor. The two-disk format might lead one to expect more: disk 1 is just over 90 min. and disk 2 is barely 50 min. The extremely interesting field of early serials deserves a better showcase.

Since I'm absolutely enthusiastic about this collection, let me explain why I give it four rather than five stars. There's an extra frame listing the title and stars of each of the 35 serials represented, but 11 of them are represented by clips less than a minute long. I feel the compiler should have given the info in caption form rather than devoting the extra frame to introduce a clip which could be as short as 17 seconds.And one listed trailer for THE MASKED RIDER is missing altogether.That nitpick aside, this is a terrific compilation giving us looks at legends such as Pearl White and Ruth Roland. It is especially interesting that while the sound serials of the 30's through the 50's had, with a few notable exceptions, male heros, a goodly percentage of the silent serials had female leads.The fun of the silent serials lay in the absolute implausibility of the plots and individual scenes. Some of my favorite moments include the very nasty old woman and the blatant female in bondage scene in THE WOMAN IN GREY, the parrot in THE IRON CLAW who can speak only one phrase.."Look out for the Iron Claw", future Charlie Chan star..Warner Oland..in THE LIGHTNING RAIDER, the technical gimmicks of the villains in HAUNTED VALLEY and the dog faced villain in QUEEN OF THE NORTHWOODS.A must-have for those who love serials and a good introduction to those who know nothing of the genre, although it must be pointed out that the later sound serials gave us the true classics in the genre.

This is a very good compilation of surviving fragments of our motion picture past. An excellent restoration, with appropriate backgound music.