Jimmy Wakely Monogram Cowboy Collection, Volume Six (1945 – 1949/Monogram Pictures/Warner Archive
DVDs)/Longmire: The Complete First
Season (2012/Warner DVD)
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D/C Main Programs: C+
PLEASE NOTE: The Wakely Monogram Cowboy Collection is only available from Warner
Bros. through their Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the link
below.
Now for
two new releases with echoes of cowboys and Westerns, but not in the way we
always see.
The Jimmy Wakely Monogram Cowboy Collection,
Volume Six (1945 – 1949) features six hour-long comedies that sometimes
have action storylines and have singing cowboys. A cinematic tradition eventually killed by TV
and Rock Music, Wakely is one of the less-remembered of the singers in that
cycle, but he made dozes of these films and was as good as any of his
contemporaries. If you never saw him in
movie theaters or on cable TV, yet he still sounds familiar, then you may have
seen him on the great TV show Matinee At
The Bijou.
The films
here over two DVDs include:
Riding The Dusty
Trail (aka Riders
Of the Dawn, 1945)
Lonesome Trail (1945)
The Rangers Ride (1948)
Range Renegades (1948)
Silver Trails (1948)
Brand Of Fear (1949)
For their
low budgets and simple writing, these are surprisingly efficient, entertaining,
quality programs Western fans and those just looking for something fun and
different would enjoy seeing. Those
interested should definitely check this set out.
There are
no extras.
Fast
forward back to now and we have a new police procedural detective murder show,
but with a twist. Longmire: The Complete First Season (2012) is a new series based on
author Craig Johnson’s Western Mysteries.
You have a contemporary detective who is great at what he does and
happens to be a cowboy, a scenario that will bring to mind wither the Jesse Stone telefilm series with Tom
Selleck or the incredible hit series Justified,
which is on a roll like few shows on TV.
This one
is more like the Selleck TV movies, albeit as a TV series. Robert Taylor is the title Sheriff in Wyoming
(great location visually, of course) and we get 10 hour-long shows that are at
least different and have potential, but it is never realized and I was hoping
the show might build from the first episode, but its only able to get
melodramatic and adds nothing new to what we have been seeing in the police
procedural cycle for too long. For the
very curious only, Lou Diamond Phillips also stars.
Extras
include two featurettes: The Camera’s
Eye: Realizing The World Of Longmire and Longmire Justice: Exploring The Cowboy Detective.
The 1.33
X 1 black and white image on all six Wakely
films look really good for their age, shot on 35mm film and from well-preserved
film prints. Some parts will show their
age of course, but it is amazing how good they look. The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on
Longmire is a soft color HD shoot
and it has a consistent look, but it tends to be softer here than I
expected. Maybe it would look better on
Blu-ray.
The lossy
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on all six Wakely
films can show their age with sonic limits, but sound as good as they probably
have in decades, but the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on Longmire is more towards the front speakers and in the center
channel than it should be, plus the sound is a little soft throughout with the
surrounds rarely being used well and engaged fully.
To order Volume Six of the Wakely Monogram Cowboy Collection and catch up on all the previous
volumes, go to this link for it and many more great web-exclusive releases at:
http://www.warnerarchive.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
