![Scouts to the Rescue [DVD]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51mrudRbQCL._SX300_SY300_QL70_ML2_.jpg)
"Scouts to the Rescue" is a 12 chapter serial released in 1939 by Universal, directed by Ray Taylor and Alan James. The story is by Irving Crump, "of Boy's Life Magazine" with screenplay by Wyndham Gittens, George Plympton, Basil Dickey and Joseph Poland. There are two DVD editions currently listed by Amazon, and while little different in video quality, the one from VCI is decidedly preferable.
Boy Scout troop No. 1 of Martinsville, led by Bruce Scott (Jackie Cooper) goes to Ghost Town in search of buried "pirate treasure" indicated on a partially-burned map found by young Skeets Scanlon (Bill Cody, Jr.) Skeets' father, former government engraver Pat Scanlon (Edwin Stanley), had recently burned a letter from his no-good brother, who is in prison. A gang of counterfeiters led by Turk Mortensen (Ivan Miller) abducts the elder Scanlon, whom G-man Hal Marvin (William Ruhl) believes is part of the gang. The Scouts find the treasure, but have to contend with the counterfeiters, convince the G-man that Skeets' father is innocent and escape what VCI's notes call a "lost branch of Inca Indians" who want to sacrifice all the whites to their fire god.
Fortunately, the plot is played "straight" which greatly enhances the humor. The discovery of the "buried treasure" is improbable enough, but the Indians apparently had gone unnoticed until 1939 despite the well-maintained, paved mountain road through their territory. As usual with Universal, a lot of stock footage is used, though effectively mixed with the new scenes. If the plot doesn't always make sense, it never fails to entertain, at least when the chapters are watched with a day or so between them.
VCI's edition, # 8484 (ASIN: B000P0IZZM) is on a double-layer DVD+R, which may cause problems with some players, though my copy seems to work in most newer ones. The image is sharp with good gray scale, and the sound, if a little restricted in frequency response, is loud and clear, much better than with many releases of serials of this era. There are only a few "jumps" due to splices, most of them in the scrolling chapter recaps. The source print had some minor issues, and VCI's editing includes the usual "cheat" of having the same MPPDA certificate number on all chapters, though they properly include "mug shots" of the main actors only on the first three, with the rest having just a cast list. The "next week" titles may be from a later release, since they don't appear via a "wipe" as was usually done in 1939, but there is no name of a later film distributor. The opening titles start abruptly, missing the opening fragment, so to cover this a "Universal Pictures" title was added -- the one with the letters orbiting a reflective globe, from a videotape source having the expected head-switch glitch near the bottom of the screen. The sound during this piece has better fidelity than the chapters, and it ALSO starts abruptly, a couple beats into the music, so it doesn't help much except that it is the kind of title that would have introduced the chapters.
VCI's "extras" are not extensive, but include a "Photo Gallery" with five lobby cards, "Bios" of Jackie Cooper and the two directors, plus trailers for Universal's serials "Tim Tyler's Luck," "Lost City of the Jungle" and "Scouts to the Rescue" plus one for Republic's "Adventures of Captain Marvel" under its reissue title "Return of Captain Marvel."
Amazon lists another edition of the serial as being from "Reel Vault" (ASIN: B011BRKFAK) priced lower than VCI's. It is on two single-layer DVD-Rs, and while the video quality is similar to VCI's, so is the editing, having the same pasted-in "A Universal Picture" title, though with the head-switch glitch masked. In short, it appears to be a "pirate" of the VCI, only without any "chapter marks" other than at the start of the serial's chapters. No menu is provided; the disc starts playing from the beginning when inserted, so selecting a desired chapter is awkward, and necessary when watching one chapter at a time if the player doesn't remember where it stopped. The producers seem to have heeded the FBI warning on VCI's edition, since they are not identified on the package nor on the discs. Not recommended.
I have no problem giving a 5-star "I Love It" rating to VCI's edition, which should be available for a reasonable price. Check VCI's website if Amazon's dealers would have you believe it is a rare, hard to find item. It is not only honestly produced, but less cumbersome to use than the cheap copy of it.
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Star Maiden
Beware US DVD-R copies being sent out as VCI originals...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 7, 2013
