Customer Reviews

Rider on the Rain

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

 

 

***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.

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.

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.

Director Rene Clement's top quality thriller, "Rider on the Rain" (1969) (I don't know where this "Rider in the Rain" keeps popping up!), is based on a Sebastien Japrisot story, probably one of his best if they all are not ("Trap for Cinderella" (never filmed) and "Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun" with Samantha Eggar (NOT on video) were exceptional) and should be viewed as the re-start of his career as we all sat back in 1969 and waited for his "next film" which turned out to be "The Deadly Trap" with Faye Dunaway and Frank Langella, also very good and not available on video. The old pro, Clement ("Purple Noon," "Joy House" and "Forbidden Games" (just a few)) had become a new "auteur" with "Rider ON the Rain" never mistaken for "in the rain" as with this DVD pressing the movie sounds like it is "under water." Marlene Jobert as "Melancoly" steals the film from Charles Bronson in this his comeback picture. It ceases to amaze me "what people will do" and this DVD printing is one of the worst I've ever bought. (I have a feeling "Rider in the Rain" is a catch-all for the relentlessly poor DVD pressing and they wouldn't even bother to make the title certain). Am I supposed to be thankful for such a poor quality DVD pressing? Is it asking too much? Actually, the picture is a masterpiece. It makes the blending of the Hitchcock/Japrisot that there will never be as close as possible. Honors to Clement, Jobert for the exquisite performance as "Melancoly" and Bronson.

"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).

The movie is fairly good, this DVD release is not. Trinity Home Entertainment, (AKA 905 ENTERTAINMENT) released another DVD which I unfortunately purchased. Beware this releaser. This release suffers from VHS video quality and horrible wow on the audio track, rendering the background music unlistenable. I have to wonder if Trinity has legally gained the reights to release these movies on DVD as the quality is so poor. Someone should investigate them. A web search does not produce much in the way of an address or location, or otherwise who these people are. Amazon should investigate just who they are buying from. The products from this releaser are worse than anything I have seen from any other source. Beware "The Next Man" on DVD starring Sean Connerly. The original source had to be a slow speed VHS recording of a TV broadcast of the movie, there were obvious reception distortion problems plus the run time was shortened to that allowable by a 2 hour broadcast, ie; 93 minutes or so.

This movie is not your typical Charles Bronson movie. Of course...Bronson is Bronson and he is as menacing as ever in this but the movie is not a typical Bronson film. There is no ultra high body count and piles of dead bodies and bullet casings at the hands of Bronson. It is a story that centers more around the female star and her perdicament. She is alone in her house while her hubby is away. She is then brutally assaulted and raped by a stranger who breaks into their home. She then manages to kill her attacker. She tries to dump the body and cover up the crime. Enter Bronson as a stranger who seems to know more than he is letting on and who also menaces the young brutalized woman. Is he friend or foe? Is he hero or villian? What is his connection to he rapist, to the crime, to the girl? This all leads to a very good movie and one of the best roles that Bronson had ever sunk his teeth into. For all you fans of the killing machine Bronson movies, you may be disappointed by this movie because it is heads and tails above any of them but not full of all the action and adventure that they had. But for all of you fans of good movies and fans of Bronson the actor I think you will enjoy this movie. It is a foreign film but the copy I have is dubbed flawlessly and is done very well and you never even notice that it is a foreign flick but if you do it actually adds to the richness of the story and the acting.

This is one of Bronson's best films,you haven't seen it you should definitely check it out. Its definitely one of his more unusual roles and you get to see his more comedic side at times. The film is heavy on atmosphere and it might take you a couple of viewings before you really "get it".

The picture quality looks just like my vhs copy of the movie. However, don't let that deter you from getting this dvd if you haven't seen the film before. For a vhs to dvd bootleg it doesn't look that bad, believe me I've seen much worse (and I'm sure you have too if you buy cheap ass bootleg quality dvds.)

I'm not holding my breath for a nice region one dvd release of Rider On The Rain (maybe some dvd company will prove me wrong but I doubt it). The dvd is cheap enough that its worth it, even though its full frame and vhs quality. If you just want to see the film go ahead and get this dvd. Don't expect a stunning transfer, just a stunning film.

Melody is a troubled young woman who's life has been controlled by men: a Father that left when she was a nine, a macho husband that goes nuts if anybody even looks at her "A man who is not jealous is not a man", and then by the mysterious man who arrives in town by bus during a downpour. "No one ever comes by bus" Melody explains to her mother as she watches. "Then he must have come in on the rain." Soon this mysterious man will be watching Melody, and will end up raping her in her own flat. After the brutal act the man still lingers on dispite her entreaties to go away "I won't tell anyone . . . I won't press charges." But he does not go. In an act motivated more out of liberation than of revenge or fear, Melody takes a shotgun and kills the man in her cellar. After dumping the body into the Ocean, Melody goes on with her life but things get complicated realy quickly. The body does not stay hidden and another man arrives into town asking questions. A man who will stop at nothing to find out the truth of what happened and is convinced that Melody is hiding something. A well directed psychological thriller

This movie has a very good plot, however the distorted background sound, particularly the music takes away from this movie.