Hopalong Cassidy Vol 1

Rating:
Summary: Not "Shane" or "High Noon" but thoroughly enjoyable
Review: First of all, these films are not "High Noon, or "Shane", but if you were a boy in the late 30's, 40's, or early 50's, they represent an era when times were simpler, and good and evil was defined, literally, in black and white. I just spent a snowy afternoon viewing the first of the 8 dvd series that is available, and promptly ordered the rest of the set, What a value, five movies per disc! With a great job of digital restoration, these movies haven't looked so good since they were new, "Border Patrol" the first picture on the first dvd, features a look at a very young Robert Mitchum in his first screen role(he went on to work in a half dozen "Hoppy" pictures), "Superman" TV star George Reeves playing a Mexican peon, Future "Cisco Kid" star Duncan Renaldo as the Mexican Commandant, and a host of other familiar faces. Scripted by Michael Wilson(who would later do "Bridge on the River Kwai"), the "Hoppy" films are generally considered to be among the best produced of the "B" westerns, with above average scripts and generally good acting. Producer Harry "Pop" Sherman had taken former silent stage star "Stage" Boyd, who had hit the bottle during hard times, sobered him up with an offer to do the "Hoppy" series, and gone on to make it one of the more successful of the "B oaters". If you like old time westerns don't miss this series!!!

Rating:
Summary: Ridiculous!
Review: Five Hopalong Cassidy B westerns in one DVD at an absurdly low price is ridiculous indeed. Yet, here it is by Platinum. There are four volumes of pure Hoppy westerns and it would be be ridiculous not to get all of them. These are not bootleg copies but products sanctioned by U.S. Television Office, the Hopalong Cassidy copyright holders. What then makes these different from the Hoppy DVD released by Image (also with US Television Office blessing)? Not much really. Except that those coming from Image are the vintage 1930's movies while the Platinum ones are circa 1940's. The 1930's westerns have a different feel to them, that makes the Image products quaint. Also, the Image products have additional features and with almost "Criterion Collection" like picture quality. These have been cleaned up and enhanced. But the 1940's Hoppy films from Platinum are also of very good quality. The clear and sharp images (for an economical product) is unbelievable. I suggest you get all the four volumes. There are also no "repeats" of the the Image selection in these Platinum releases. You can have both collection, one of the 1930's Hoppy and the other the 1940's releases. You'll enjoy the many hours of watching Hoppy westerns.

Rating:
Summary: 8 DVDs = 40 Movies for the Price of 4-Brilliant value
Review: Marvelous! Five,yes 5, Hopalong Cassidy B Westerns for less than half the price that one could reasonably expect to pay for one. Image Entertainment's 'Hopalong Cassidy - The Early Years' are priced at around $22.00 for just two movies. So, these get five stars for value, five stars for quality (all movies are digitally remastered) and an average three and a half stars for production values of the movies themselves. That's top marks because all of Hoppy's westerns are 'B' movies with an 'A' movie feel. (I rate most B Westerns between One and a half and three and a half stars as all are low to medium budget; at best) These are the later years, 1940 plus, and have stars like Robert Mitchum in the early stages of his career.
I've not a lot to say about the movies themselves and this review applies to all eight volums with the exception of 'Wide Open Town' (1941)in Vol 4; because you know what to expect with regards to this type of film and none of these will disappoint. 'Wide Open Town' is a remake of 'Hopalong Cassidy Returns' (1936) and has some interesting observations which I shall share.
1) Evelyn Brent the saloon owner and boss of the villians, she plays the same role in both, even some of the dialog is word for word identical; which means the producers must have reworked and borrowed heavily from the same script.
2) In 'Hopalong Cassidy Returns' Morris Ankrum (aka Stephen Morris) plays Evelyn Brent's henchman 'Blackie' and he foully murders the local crippled newspaper editor. In 'Wide Open Town' Morris Ankrum plays the part of the newspaper editor and is on the side of "Hoppy". Comedy relief is ably carried out by Andy Clyde as California instead of George 'Gabby' Hayes 'Windy Holiday'.
In spite of the above, these two movies are not entirely the same and the remake has some different twists in the story. The ending is a little happier!
The entries in Vol 1 are, in order of presentation, 'Border Patrol'(1943) 'Doomed Caravan'(1941) Fool's Gold'(1947) 'Forty Thieves' 1944 and Hidden Gold (1940) I've purchased all eight volumns, 40 movies for $82.00 including postage and packing to Australia; this is truly unbelievable!!!
I would like to point out that these aren't Region 1 encoded as stated by Amazon. They are encoded ALL REGIONS and can be played anywhere in the world. No matter where you live you can purchase these with confidence.