Lost City of the Jungle (1946) - September 17, 2019

[MifuneFan]

VCI (groan) will be releasing Lost City of the Jungle, a 13-part serial film from Universal. It's supposedly remastered in 2K from an original 35mm fine grain negative, but again, it's coming from VCI, so keep your expectations in check.

Following the end of WWII, war-monger Sir Eric Hazarias (Lionel Atwill) sets the wheel in motion for WWIII. His search for Meteorium 245, the only practical defense against the atomic bomb, leads him to mythical Pendrang. Obstructing his sinister plan to rule the world are Rod Stanton (Russell Hayden), United Peace Foundation investigator, Tal Shan (Keye Luke), Pendrang native, and Marjorie Elmore (Jane Adams), daughter of scientist Dr. Elmore (John Eldredge), unwilling assistant to Sir Eric.

1946 LOST CITY OF THE JUNGLE - Serial trailer - Lionel Atwill, Russell Hayden - YouTube

[Dragon78]

Never heard of this one, might be interesting.

[iaf6]

These serials are a lot of fun and I think VCI did a decent job with Tailspin Tommy in the Great Air Mystery and I am also looking forward to their upcoming release of The Vanishing Shadow. They're never going to look as crisp as a fully restored classic but I am really glad these films are being made available in a very watchable form!

Still wish someone would release Blu-ray versions of some of the more top-tier serials like the three Flash Gordon ones or some of the other better Republics...

[scallenger]

I hope they will put out Jungle Girl on Blu, which had a DVD release from them many years ago.

[Dragon78]

Never heard of Jungle Girl(1941) but looks like fun.

[scallenger]

Jungle Girl 1941 was one of the big influences on Indiana Jones, especially Temple of Doom. Check out this link at 25:30 to see what I mean...

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5ujm7z

[GrimJester]

Sad that Lionel Atwill died before he could finish work on this. How many chapters does he appear in total?

[amputd]

Originally Posted by scallenger

I hope they will put out Jungle Girl on Blu, which had a DVD release from them many years ago.

I second that. I really enjoyed the DVD’s and Jungle Girl would look great in hi def

[MifuneFan]

VCI are releasing the Jungle Queen serial in December, do perhaps they'll continue and do Jungle Girl after.

[Pulp Hero]

TCM had been showing LCotJ as their Saturday morning serial until Summer Under The Stars started; I believe they have another two or three chapters to go.

If TCM has been running the same master that VCI is using then the serial looks nice.

Also, any Indiana Jones fans out there unfamiliar with serials, LCotJ is exactly the sort of serial that inspired Lucas and Spielberg in creating Indy. At least try checking out the last chapter or two when TCM starts running them again (first Saturday in September).

[Dragon78]

I almost forgot about this one.

[Dave Bannion]

Originally Posted by Pulp Hero

TCM had been showing LCotJ as their Saturday morning serial until Summer Under The Stars started; I believe they have another two or three chapters to go.

If TCM has been running the same master that VCI is using then the serial looks nice.

Also, any Indiana Jones fans out there unfamiliar with serials, LCotJ is exactly the sort of serial that inspired Lucas and Spielberg in creating Indy. At least try checking out the last chapter or two when TCM starts running them again (first Saturday in September).

I say this having seen my share of good and mediocre serials. But I watched the first couple of chapters on TCM and found this thing to be dreadful.

But I agree the picture quality wasn't too bad on the TCM broadcasts.

[captveg]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

VCI are releasing the Jungle Queen serial in December, do perhaps they'll continue and do Jungle Girl after.

Starting with Tailspin Tommy and the Great Air Mystery, these serials have been officially licensed from Universal using fresh scans of their best elements, so maybe VCI is growing up a little.

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/mons...42562#p1442562

The full list of licensed serials:

ACE DRUMMOND
ADVS OF FRANK MERRIWELL
ADVS OF SMILIN JACK
ADVS OF THE FLYING CADETS
CALL OF THE SAVAGE
DON WINSLOW OF COAST GUARD
DON WINSLOW OF NAVY
FLAMING FRONTIERS
GANG BUSTERS
GORDON OF GHOST CITY
GREAT ALASKAN MYSTERY
GREEN HORNET
GREEN HORNET STRIKES AGAIN
JUNGLE JIM
JUNGLE QUEEN
JUNIOR G-MEN
JUNIOR G-MEN OF THE AIR
LOST CITY OF THE JUNGLE
MASTER KEY
MYSTERIOUS MR M
MYSTERY OF THE RIVER BOAT
OREGON TRAIL
OVERLAND MAIL
PERILS OF PAULINE
PHANTOM CREEPS
PHANTOM OF THE AIR
PHANTOM RIDER
PIRATE TREASURE
RADIO PATROL
RAIDERS OF GHOST CITY
RED BARRY
RED RIDER
RIDERS OF DEATH VALLEY
ROARING WEST
ROYAL MOUNTED RIDES AGAIN
RUSTLERS OF RED DOG
SCARLET HORSEMAN
SCOUTS TO THE RESCUE
SEA RAIDERS
SECRET AGENT X-9 1937 and 1945
SKY RAIDERS
TAILSPIN TOMMY
TAILSPIN TOMMY IN THE GREAT AIR MYSTERY
TIM TYLER'S LUCK
VANISHING SHADOW
WILD WEST DAYS
WINNERS OF THE WEST

[Egbert Souse]

DVD Beaver has caps up and they look good, though it seems like nobody bothered to adjust the contrast from the raw scan.

And before anyone asks, Universal doesn't own the Flash Gordon serials as they reverted to Hearst (the Image DVDs released years ago were officially licensed and looked pretty good)

[MifuneFan]

Not bad. I'll pick it up when it comes down a little in price.

[bigshot]

Originally Posted by Dave Bannion

I say this having seen my share of good and mediocre serials. But I watched the first couple of chapters on TCM and found this thing to be dreadful.

If you've seen a lot of serials, how can you judge by the first couple of episodes? The first couple of episodes of serials rarely represent what is going to happen later on.

[Slob]

Originally Posted by bigshot

If you've seen a lot of serials, how can you judge by the first couple of episodes? The first couple of episodes of serials rarely represent what is going to happen later on.

True. Like with 24, by the time you get to hour 12 what's going on is completely different from the first few episodes.

[Professor Echo]

I love serials, but for me once I've watched one in its entirety it's very unlikely I will ever watch it again, which makes buying these at relatively high prices much less attractive. I rarely advocate streaming over physical media, but this is one time I would prefer a dedicated streaming channel for vintage serials in excellent quality, not the unwatchable public domain crap that streams now.

[Drake2222]

The Green Hornet Strikes Again was great, a huge improvement over the first serial. I think the main reason was the writing was greatly improved and it substantially affected the dialogue, storyline, action, characters etc. Great to see the Green Hornet, Michael Axford, and Kato in that one.