Cry Of The Black Wolves

 

Picture: C     Sound: C     Extras: D     Film: C

 

 

Around the time Ron Ely logged up appearances as Tarzan and Doc Savage, he took on the good guy lead in a low-budget adaptation of Jack London’s Cry Of The Black Wolves in 1972.  Instead of a children’s movie, we get a film that may have a supporting child actor, but is made more like the Spaghetti Westerns of the time.  That includes obviously looped dialogue, though this film originated in English.  The story has the usual greedy bad guys trying to steal land, animals to abuse and the intent of exploiting people either way.

 

Though we have seen this to death, and the story is a sort of Western, it is surprise how seriously this is done, despite being so low budget.  Ely never found that big starring role that would have launched him into a profitable franchise, but it was not for lack of trying.  The twist is that our hero is framed for murder and a bounty hunter is sent to get him.  This runs 90 minutes and is entertaining for what it is, a B-movie that is part of the unusual titles coming from VCI Home Entertainment’s new Cinema Pops series.  At least it is not overly sentimental like so many similar film versions of this kind of material.

 

The picture is 1.33 X 1 and one cannot tell if it is shot full screen or this is tunnel vision with sides missing from a 1.66 or 1.85 x 1 frame, but it is average, with definition limits and color that is almost consistent.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono does not fare any better, buy since the film was Mono, we would only expect so much.  There is only a preview for the Cinema Pops series, so there are no extras, but the film is worth a look if this is your kind of storytelling.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo