Customer Reviews

The Perils of Pauline

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

 

 

I know this DVD is cheap, but you certainly get what you pay for here. No restoration has been done on this 1934 serial, so we get very hissy, muffled sound and plenty of scratches and flecks etc on a washed-out, very rough-looking print. Oh and an alpha logo popping up on the chapter titles cards. The RHS text of some of the opening chapter summary cards is also cropped off.

This is the only DVD version available at the moment, so by all means buy it, but be prepared - you will certainly not benefit from DVD quality!

What a shame that possibly the best of all the movie serials produced should be one of the worst available, technically. Except for the annoying performance of Sonny something-or-other, the acting is good, John Davison is superior. What a fine speaking voice. The first chapter has too many loops of the same bomb being dropped, but from chapter two on, the continuity is more than OK.

However, the quality of the dvd print is terrible, just awful. The sound track is bass muffled and audio gain control non-existant. I've viewed many old serials from a number of distributors but this one is pathetic in quality.

I would pay a premium price for a good copy of "Perils", if one existed. And if I only had one serial, this would be it.

I give 4.5 stars for the serial acting and content. One-half star for the technical quality. It gets the one-half because at least the dvd exists.

I had seen the original black and white version of these episodes when they were silent. This version is still fun to watch. I enjoyed them.

Universal's 1933 serial, "The Perils of Pauline" isn't a "remake" of the 1914 Pearl White original, but an entirely different story by Charles W. Goddard, who wrote the story and screenplay for the first serial. The screenplay is by Basil Dickey (who also worked on the 1914 serial), Jack Foley, Ella O'Neill and George Plympton, and it was directed by Ray Taylor.

Professor Hargrave (James Durkin) is in China, seeking an ancient formula for a deadly disintegrating gas, which many years earlier he had promised his dying friend, the priest Confu, he would use (somehow) to benefit humanity. With the Professor are his daughter, Pauline (Evalyn Knapp) and his secretary, Willie Dodge (Sonny Ray), neither of whom are enthusiastic about staying in China, given that a revolution is in progress and the city is being bombed. But the Professor explains that others have learned of the formula's existence, and it might fall into the hands of the evil Dr. Bashan (John Davidson). He sets off with his unwilling secretary to the temple where the formula is believed to be hidden. Pauline notices they are being followed and leaves the hotel to warn them, but has to be rescued from two of Bashan's henchmen by an American, Robert Warde (Robert Allen). As might be expected, the formula was inscribed on a disk of ivory; the hard disk crashed and is in two pieces, only one of which is at the temple. The bad guys are driven back when the temple is bombed, but spend the next several chapters following Professor Hargrave and his party around the world looking for the rest of the formula.

This is a fairly early Universal sound serial, with the expected technical limitations. After the opening title music the background is mostly limited to sound effects, but there are a couple scenes where music is mixed with spoken lines. Universal was known for using a lot of stock footage and there is plenty of it here, mostly used quite well, effective even away from the exotic locations. The burning building in Chapter Eleven was one of Universal's favorites, used in many later serials, but the fire trucks racing to the scene provide a little unintentional humor, with the pre-1920 cars parked along the street and even a horse-drawn covered wagon present.

Evalyn Knapp doesn't really have the same kind of perils encountered by Pearl White in the earlier serial. She looks good, and has more involvement than most serial heroines of the 1930's, but not the variety requiring direct physical action like Pearl White's need to outrun a boulder rolling down a steep trail. Instead, this Pauline faces the more-usual threats from wild animals, ancient death traps, and Dr. Bashan's henchmen. The scavanger hunt for the next piece of the formula provides a good variety of settings, if with some reuse the stock footage seen in earlier locations, and the plot moves along fairly well. Sonny Ray, as the perpetually frightened "comic relief" character is the most unfortunate part of this serial, a common problem in films of the early 1930's. The slapstick comedy almost works in a couple places, but the role is mostly a total loss. Our hero, billed as Robert Allen, had made several films under his given name, Hugh Enfield, and was later known as Craig Reynolds. Even Universal was confused, one of their advertising posters showed three cast members: Evalyn Knapp, Robert Allen and Hugh Enfield. He makes a believable hero, and like James Durkin as Professor Hargrave avoids appearing to be any brighter than the bad guys. And it's the bad guys who really keep up the interest; one feels sympathy for chief henchman Fang (Frank Lackteen) who, after being jumped by a leopard and saved by the good guys, escapes through crocodile-infested waters only to face his boss, who is angry over Fang's bungling. And John Davidson has one of his best roles as Dr. Bashan; he isn't someone you would want to make angry.

The Alpha DVD, # 4937D, is on a single disc. The image is fairly fuzzy and the gray scale isn't too good, especially noticed in the opening titles where the white lettering tends to be washed out by light-colored backgrounds. Some digital compression artifacts can be seen, such as limited number of intensity levels causing odd patterns and a splotchy apperance when the screen fades to black, but it's not too obvious during most of the film, and the action can usually be followed even in the "dark" scenes. In a couple of the opening chapter recaps a few letters go off-screen, but the framing isn't otherwise a problem. The sound has a little distortion, and dynamic compression which brings up the noise level, but it's better than with many transfers of old Universal serials, and good enough to understand the words. Alpha puts their logo on-screen during the opening credits and "next week" titles, a minor annoyance. Not a high-quality transfer, but better than many from Alpha, watchable with a little tolerance and reasonably priced. An odd item; Alpha's package cover shows only two cast members, Evalyn Knapp and William Desmond. Yes, Desmond is in it, but only in the last couple chapters as Professor Thompson, a scientific ally of Hargrave who also provides welcome assistance in a couple fist fights.

A much better edition is available from Sinister Cinema's website on two "burned" DVD-R discs. The image is sharp, with mostly good gray scale, and is somewhat better framed. They put their initials, "SC" in the picture for about the first three minutes of the first chapter, understandable if unfortunate, but the letters are not very large and they don't seem to show up in later chapters. There are a couple minor pieces missing that are present in Alpha's transfer, and it costs about three times as much, but it is a lot easier to watch and the sound isn't as badly compressed, which reduces the background noise.

For those curious about this serial the Alpha edition is at least cheap, complete, and has no serious problem with missing bits due to splices. While not as entertaining as the 1914 "Perils" the plot makes more sense, at least with a day or so between chapters, and unlike Mascot's serials of 1933 there aren't any extensive "retrospective" scenes. I rate it four stars mostly because the serial is interesting if a little creaky, though Alpha's transfer is really only at the "OK" three-star level.

I had hoped that this would be a compilation of the original Perils of Pauline - but it turned out to be a rehash of the type that sprung up in the 30s and 40s. While the offering itself is a good representation of the serial genre, it was not what I had really wanted. However, old movies, like old art, may become more enjoyable later on.