4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"The King of Serials...VCI Entertainment ~ Perils of Pauline (1934)", November 7, 2005
This review is from: Perils of Pauline [VHS] (VHS Tape)
VCI Entertainment and Universal Pictures present..."Perils of Pauline" (1934) (Dolby digitally remastered), a 12 Chapter cliffhanger from an enjoyable early sound Universal serial era featuring an outstanding cast with Ray Taylor and Henry MacRae at the helm....will our famous scientist (James Durkin) and his beautiful daughter Pauline (Evalyn Knapp) find an ivory disc in a temple in Indochina...does this hidden artifact have the formula for a deadly gas engraved on it...will the evil doctor (John Davidson) and his gang of henchman succeed in lifting this from our heroine Pauline and her new found friend Robert Allen...could this Universal Serial be the start of something big that will keep growing decades hereafter...and is it very nice to keep us guessing during and after every episode...don't leave the theater until the final chapter is over and done with "Confu's Sacred Secret"....just remember double thrills, chills, mystery and suspense...hitting the bull's eye with excitement...don't miss a single spine thrilling episode..return next week to this local theater for another episode of action and adventure that will keep you thrilled until the next chapter
Under director Ray Taylor, associate producer Henry MacRae, original screenplay by Ella O'Neill, Basil Dickey, George Plympton and Jack Foley, original story by Charles W. Goddard, musical score by Heinz Roemheld, Sam Perry, Andor Pinter, Guy Bevier, David Broekman...the cast includes Evalyn Knapp (Pauline Hargrave), Robert Allen (Robert Ward), James Durlin (Professor Hargrave), John Davidson (Dr. Bashan), Sonny Ray (Willie Dodge), Frank Lackteen (Fang), Pat O'Malley (Tim Sullivan, Aviator), William Desmond (Professor Thompson), Josef Swickard (Higgins, Foreign Consul), William Worthington (American Consul), Jimmie Wong (Foo Chow, Bashan's Henchman), Tom London (Soldier at American Consulate), Monte Montague (Police Guard), Charles Stevens (Bashan's Henchman), Adolph Millar (Captain Drake), George DeNormand (Bashan's New York Henchman), Beulah Hutton (Bashan's Woman Accomplice in Singapore), Dick Rush (Policeman at Fire Scene), Merrill McCormick (Bashan's Indian Guide-Henchman).....special footnote, some veteran actors of the '30s, '40s and '50s grace this feature with William Desmond, Tom London, Monte Montague and Charles Stevens (played various roles of an Indian, Mexican and Asian villains with blackhearted style we all come to love) all made their mark in the B-Westerns and Serial Department....meanwhile back to our Universal Serial which is always good till the last drop and this serial is no exception...there is a great deal of entertainment here for the cliffhanger fans out there...all courtesy of VCI Entertainment, who in my humble opinion is the best there is in restoring early serials and features.
CHAPTER TITLES:
1. Guns of Doom
2. The Typhoon of Terror
3. The Leopard Leaps.
4. Trapped by the Enemy
5. The Flaming Tomb
6. Pursued by Savages
7. Tracked by the Enemy
8. Dangerous Depths.
9. Mummy Walks
10.The Night Attack
11.Into the Falmes
12.Confu's Sacred Secret
If you're into vintage serials as I am, why not pick up a copy of the following titles from VCI Home Video:
VCI CLIFFHANGER TRAILERS:
1. Adventures of Red Ryder (Don "Red" Barry)
2. Adventures of the Flying Cadets (Bobby Jordan)
3. Buck Rogers (Buster Crabbe)
4. Captain Midnight (Dave O'Brien)
5. Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere (Judd Holdren & I. Stanford Jolley)
6. Dick Tracy's G-Men (Ralph Byrd)
7. Don Winslow of the Navy (Don Terry)
8. Don Winslow of the Coast Guard (Don Terry)
9. Drums of Fu Manchu (Henry Brandon)
10.Fighting Kit Carson (Johnny Mack Brown)
11.Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (Buster Crabbe)
12.The Green Archer (Victory Jory)
13.Jungle Girl (Frances Gifford)
14.Jungle Jim (Grant Withers & Raymond Hatton)
15.Lost City of the Jungle (Russell Hayden & Keye Luke)
16.Mandrake the Magician (Warren Hull & Dick Curtis)
17.Miracle Rider (Tom Mix & Tony Jr)
18.The Painted Stallion (Ray "Crash" Corrigan)
19.The Phantom (Tom Tyler)
20.The Return of Chandu (Bela Lugosi)
21.Riders of Death Valley (Dick Foran, Leo Carrillo & Buck Jones)
22.Secret Agent X-9 (1937) (Scott Kolk & Henry Brandon)
23.Secret Agent X-9 (1945) (Lloyd Bridges & Keye Luke)
24.Sky Raiders (Donald Woods & Billy Halop)
25.Undersea Kingdom (Ray "Crash" Corrigan)
26.Winners of the West (Dick Foran, Harry Woods, Roy Barcroft & Charles Stevens)
27.Zane Greys "King of the Royal Mounted" (Allan "Rocky" Lane)
28.Zorro's Cliffhanger Collection (Reed Hadley, John Carroll & Linda Stirling)
Great job by VCI Entertainment for releasing "Perils of Pauline" (1934), the digital transfere with a clean, clear and crisp print...looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage serial era of the '30s, '40s & '50s...order your copy now from Amazon or VCI Entertainment where there are plenty of copies available on VHS, stay tuned once again for top notch action mixed with deadly adventure from the "King of Serials" VCI...just the way we like 'em
Total Time: 240 mins on 2 VHS ~ VCI Entertainment 1735 ~ (11/28/2000)
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
THIS ONE SET THE STANDARD FOR MANY THAT FOLLOWED, October 3, 2010
Well to begin with, it would be difficult for me to add a great deal concerning this film after reading the wonderful review on this page by J. Lovins. "Mr Jim" has pretty well hit the nail on the head with this one.
The Saturday afternoon serial was, in many ways, a semi-important part of life for many of my generation. As far as outside entertainment was concerned, the movies were it...no T.V., no video, no computers, no nothing of that nature. We had the movies and we had books. Looking back, this was quite satisfactory and quite adequate. A big part of the movie experience for little boys and girls in this era was the cliff hanger serial. We followed these things week after week and again, looking back, it is surprising just how much of our conversation during the week, between episodes, addressed past episodes and speculated on future ones.
Our theater was located in a very isolated section of the country at that time, in a very small town. We did not often get current movies and certainly did not get all of the current serials. This was in the late 1940s and very early 50s. A 1934 movie, such as this one is, was pretty new and for us and we felt lucky go get it. We gladly plunked down our dime each Saturday afternoon to see it and the many, many others of this ilk.
The Perils of Pauline, the two tape set being reviewed here, was an absolute classic and sort of set the standard for such things at the time. There was nonstop action, buildings falling down, kidnappings (good grief...kidnapping after kidnapping), evil bad guys, sticky sweet and heroic good guys, wild snakes and other critters and plenty of treasure hunting. Above all though, was the danger faced by the heroine; Pauline! This poor girl went from mess to mess, trouble to trouble and I swear, Pauline played by Evalyn Knapp, had one of the best screaming voices in the business, which was in constant use. (Do note and do watch closely on this one...Evalyn Knapp played a part here, portraying a heroine who was in many ways far ahead of her time. She was physically aggressive (she would shot a bad guy or animal or native in a second), had a sort of take charge attitude many times, and was far, far brighter (I am speaking of Pauline here) than her counter part hero and indeed, most of the male cast of characters.
Pauline's leading man, the number one hero in this series of stories was played by Robert Allen, was absolutely perfect. Good looking, heroic, athletic, and to be quite frank, just as dumb as sled tracks...my kind of hero! His dimness was only trumped by her father's.
The supporting cast, both evil and good, all played their parts perfectly...the bad guys were really, really bad and the good guys really, really good. There were no shades of gray in this offering.
A couple of things to note about this particular release: In several episodes, the first two in particular, the background noise, in this case a major battle and revolution going on, can be quite distracting and due to the difficulties with sound management and technology at that time, makes the dialog rather difficult to hear, much less follow. Secondly, many of the scenes are shot in dark areas; at night, in temples, dark streets, etc. Lighting techniques were not what they were today. This made the clarity of some of the action rather difficult to see and follow. Third, the viewer must never ever consider grading this movie for accuracy of any sort; wrong animals in wrong countries, wrong "native tribes" in the wrong areas of the world and such stuff as this. Forth, we have the almost blatant racial tone of the entire work. You must remember when the movie was made. This was pretty standard for that time and place.
This film though is simply fun to watch. Never mind the somewhat hokey story line, the horrid dialog at times, the less than stellar acting abilities of some of the cast and the rest and very primitive special effects. Just set back and enjoy it and remember that these serials were a very important part of our entertainment history.
Don Blankenship
The Ozarks
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