Beware Early John Wayne Westerns Remastered & Retitled

[DukePilgrim]

I recently noticed the odd John Wayne DVD on ebay that whose title didnt mean anything to me. They all seem to originate from 1934/35 period

On investigation Play.com have the titles individually at £5.99 each and as a set. They have been remastered and are colourised. Let hope not like the videos of the 1980s.

The annoying thing is they seem to have been retitled from the original titles we know. The unsuspecting will think this is a new lost movie they dont have but guess what it is a well known title.

The artwork is also misleading as it shows Duke in his 40s and does not represent how he will look in these DVDs.

After their original release in September 2009 they will no doubt turn up in stores and pound shops so beware!!! They are old Monogram movies dolled up to look special.

Mike

The titles are

Stolen Goods

Goldstrike River

Innocent Man

Cold Vengeance

Guns along the Trail

Stagecoach Run


http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/11103...r/Product.html

[chester7777]

I kind of remember a few years ago, running across some DVDs over here in the US, with titles I didn't recognize, and upon further investigation, they were reissues of older movies, just like you are describing.

You won't find any of those titles listed in Mike's post in the John Wayne filmography anywhere.

A cheap ploy to sucker in unsuspecting (and less knowledgeable) John Wayne fans!

Chester

[Lt. Brannigan]

Also they are edited versions and have horrible synthesizer music added to them. For a clip check out http://www.legendfilms.net/legendfilms.html for clips.

[DukePilgrim]

Couldn't find the clip for John Wayne movies.

I notice most of their titles are public domain but watching the trailer for House on the Haunted Hill actually persuaded me to buy it. I will give you a report.

[Lt. Brannigan]

Sorry about that, I neglected to link to the right thing so to make things right here is one. since I can't link to the clips on the site directly maybe this youtube clip will make up for it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_eNot_uOmo

[ethanedwards]

November 3rd, 2006,
ZS_Maverick
Hey yall,

I found this on the amazon.com sight. Anyone know about this? Probably more old Lone Star Westerns edited, remastered and given different names, but I'm not sure. Anyway I thought it might be of interest. Here's the info I copied from the sight...

John Wayne in Color (Stolen Goods / GOld Strike River / An Innocent Man)

Actors: John Wayne
Format: Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English
Region: Unknown. Read more about region encoding and how it may affect you here.
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 3
Rating
Studio: Legend
DVD Release Date: December 12, 2006
Run Time: 164 minutes
DVD Features:
Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 2.1 Stereo)
Includes the films: Stolen Goods, Gold Strike River, An Innocent Man
Featurette hosted by Vincent Price
Featurette and bonus short with John Wayne and Jimmy Durante
John Wayne classic commercials, vintage film, TV rarities and trailers

Just found where these scams first popped up,
and the posts start Here

[chester7777]

Thank you, Keith, for finding that!! I knew it was here somewhere, but was pressed for time the other day.

Chester

[DukePilgrim]

The colorised House on the Haunted Hill is actually very good. It is well mastered and the colour is the best i've seen for a colorised movie. It would seem they have actually spent a little money on cleaning them up.

Guess I will wait for the credit crunch to kick in with the retailers and once price drops to the right level I may speculate on a title.

[Moonshine_Sally]

I know this is an old traed but only just now reading all this. A couple of years ago we had DVD's released which were called "John Wayne collection". All films from the 1930's with the original titles and in B/W. A few months later I saw DVD's called "Young Duke", I bought all 4 of them and found them the same as the ones in the John Wayne collection. The difference being the titles which I had never heard of before, the films in different order than on the JWC and these were in colour. Have these been released anywhere else? Each DVD has 3 films.

[RoughRider]

I know this is an old traed but only just now reading all this. A couple of years ago we had DVD's released which were called "John Wayne collection". All films from the 1930's with the original titles and in B/W. A few months later I saw DVD's called "Young Duke", I bought all 4 of them and found them the same as the ones in the John Wayne collection. The difference being the titles which I had never heard of before, the films in different order than on the JWC and these were in colour. Have these been released anywhere else? Each DVD has 3 films.

These Monogram titles, produced under the studio's Lone Star banner, were colorized by Color Systems Technology, Inc. in the late 1980s and released for television broadcast and home video under their original titles. Later the features were abbreviated and released on VHS and DVD under the Young Duke banner with different titles, marketed by CST Entertainment, Inc. (aka CST Featurizations, Inc.).

The black and white ones you referenced are most likely the ones from Fox/Lorber Associates and Classics Associates, who were the first (mid-1980s) to take these public domain films and add new music, editing, and sound effects. The films were free for the taking and with John Wayne being so marketable, companies altered them enough to file copyrights based on the changes they made.

And now the films have been altered again, this time by Legend Films. To be fair, Legend has done a class act colorizing the films, but that is to be expected considering there's twenty years of technology improvements from the first ones done by CST. Legend also includes the black and white version with each title, although they're otherwise the same as the color version. They also include some interesting special features with each title (e.g. John Wayne on the Jimmy Durante show, commercials and trailers). Say what you want about altering films, Legend has done a nice job with their DVDs.

I believe all of the colorized Republic titles were done by a company called American Film Technologies, Inc., although copyrights weren't an issue since most aren't in the public domain. Colorizing Angel and the Badman, though, allowed Republic Pictures to file a copyright on the color version.

Personally I dislike the altered Monogram versions, not so much for the colorization but for the tacky music and re-editing. It's too bad Legend Films didn't also release the original version with each title, because colorization requires the prints to be in good shape -- unlike so many of the public domain versions.