Enid Blyton Adventure Series (1995) + The
Green Hornet (1940 Serial) + The
Green Hornet Strikes Again (1941 Serial) + Oz-Ploitation Volume 3 (ABC
Of Love & Sex/Australia After
Dark/Barry McKenzie On His Own/Felicity/Les Patterson Saves The World/Mad
Dog Morgan/Patrick; Umbrella
Entertainment/PAL Region Free/0/Zero DVD Imports)
Picture:
C+ (ABC C-)
Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Episodes:
C+ Serials: B- Films (see below…)
PLEASE NOTE: These DVDs sets can only be
operated on machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle Region
Zero/0/Free PAL format software and can be ordered from our friends at Umbrella
Entertainment at the website address provided at the end of the review.
Umbrella
Entertainment has some new releases that are pretty much new for them and their
market, plus another installment in a successful compilation series of classic
films they previously issued.
Though a
featurette seems to claim that 1995 is the first time Enid Blyton’s book were
adapted, a new four-DVD set called Enid
Blyton Adventure Series is actually a quality TV remake (or continuation of
sorts if you will) of an exceptional series of black and white Famous Five
films made in 1957 and 1964, which we were luck to get a look at from a BFI
Region 2 DVD import at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10325/Enid+Blyton%E2%80%99s+Famous
Five On A Treasure Island and Five With A Mystery To Solve hold up very well and like black and
white Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew material, this full color TV version is as well
made and memorable as Universal’s full color TV take The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries (reviewed elsewhere on this
site) from the late 1970s. This 4-DVD
set includes all 8 adventures produced for this ambitious series and the money
spent is still on the screen, even if some of the effects do not hold up.
Their dog
Timmy has been succeeded by a parrot named Kiki for some reason, but the
casting is good, the pace is fine for a children’s TV program and it is done in
an intelligent enough manner that it is child-friendly and was very much worth
issuing on DVD. In the eight shows, they
solve mysteries on an Island,
in the Woods, in a Valley, at Sea, in a Mountain, on a Ship, at a River and at a Circus. Like the theatrical films and the 1970s
series we have not covered, why this is not readily available in the U.S. is a
odd, but if a new version was made now an d was a big hit, I bet that would not
be the case.
The 1.33
X 1 color image may have some aliasing errors, detail issues, some staircasing
and some video noise, but they look good for their age and in this format. The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is simple stereo
at best. The only extra is a 45-minutes
long making of featurette.
With the
new 2011 Green Hornet film (in 3D too) arriving to open a new year of
blockbusters, Umbrella has picked up the underrated Universal Picture movie
serials The Green Hornet (1940) and The Green Hornet Strikes Again (1941),
which are now owned by The Green Hornet Inc., but Universal participated in the
restoration just the same. We previously
reviewed both sets when they arrived in the U.S. form VCI entertainment and you
can read about them at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8808/The+Green+Hornet+(1940)+++The+G
These are
the same nice transfer masters they used with Video Black slightly better, but
some slight cross color in the detail that the VCI edition did not have. Still, those who might not enjoy the 2011
comedy take on the character will be surprised how effective these serials
are. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono tracks
are the same too, but extras are a little different. The Umbrella versions lack a few extras VCI
has. While both have the same
restoration comparison clips and bonus episodes of the classic radio show,
paper pullout essays are not included in the Umbrella editions, as well as
historical piece I Am The Green Hornet
from the first set and stills, trivia and Keye Luke bio from the sequel
set. They do share the same nice cover
art, though Umbrella lists info on each chapter inside the paper covers you can
read through the transparent plastic case.
Finally,
we look at the Oz-Ploitation Volume 3
DVD set which offers films we have mostly covered before in previous Umbrella
releases. Links are included with
additional information where applicable….
ABC Of Love & Sex (1977) C+ and Australia
After Dark (1975) C+ are a double
feature disc with two semi-erotic programs that are highlights of this set with
Dark being a weak 1.33 X 1 transfer
as we get to see the “dark underbelly” of erotic living Down Under around the
time of the Disco era, while ABC is
a campy sex education film that tried to come up with an important topic for
every letter of the alphabet. It is
presented in an anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 frame. Both have good Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono and
extras including stills, poster galleries, an interview with Dark director John D. Lamont called Confessions Of An R-Rated Filmmaker
trailer for ABC and four trailers
for similar product on Umbrella DVD including Felicity that ties this as the best DVD in this set.
Both Barry McKenzie On His Own (1974) C- and Les
Patterson Saves The World (1987) C- follows
the very unfunny Adventures Of Barry
McKenzie which is available in the following Umbrella sets:
Australian Cinema Collection,
Volume One
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9250/Australian+Cinema+Collection,+Volume
and Oz-Ploitation, Volume One (which we
covered with Volume Two)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7998/Oz-Ploitation+Volume+1+(incl.+Turkey
These
must be acquired tastes, because despite star Barry Humphries comic talents,
these all seem one-note to me and unless you like the first one, you can skip
these altogether. Just not a fan. The films are presented in decent,
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 color transfers that booth look good and are
from restored materials, while the audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 Sound, with Own monophonic and World in stereo. Extras on Own include 6 TV Spots, 3 Teaser
Trailers, feature length audio commentary by Actor Barry Crocker, 2003
Humphries interview and 1974 documentary Barry McKenzie: Ogre or Ocker in
16mm and black & white, while World
has a PDF of its script for DVD-ROMs, stills, Radio Ads, Alternate Ending,
Radio Interview with “Patterson” from 1985, a featurette by Humphries on his
attempts to save the world (22:58) and trailers to four other similar Umbrella
DVD releases.
Felicity (1978) C+
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8451/Felicity+(1978/Umbrella+Entertainment
Mad Dog Morgan (1976) C+
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8049/The+American+Way+(1986/aka+Rider
This is
one of two films the late, great Dennis Hopper made overseas that we covered in
the link above, still deserving more U.S. exposure. Hope this happens in his honor now that he
has left us.
Patrick (1978) C
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8283/Patrick+(1978/Umbrella+PAL+Region
It is a
good set, though you can get the ones you are interested in separately in this
case. For even more on Oz-Ploitation
besides the link above for the first two sets, try the documentary Not Quite Hollywood at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9105/Not+Quite+Hollywood+(2008/Documen
As noted
above, you can order all these PAL DVD import sets exclusively from Umbrella
at:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
