Wild Bill Elliott Collection III ~ 29 Westerns 9 DVD ~ Vigilantes of Dodge City, Sheriff of las Vegas, Marshal of Laredo, California Gold Rush, Lone Texas Ranger, Tucson Raiders, Sheriff of Redwood Valley, The San Antonio Kid, Sun Valley Cyclone, The Great Stagecoach Robbery, Phantom of the Plains, Conquest of Cheyenne, Cheyenne Wildcat, Wagon Wheels Westward, Valley of Vanishing Men

My Father loves it

A fine collection of western s from a man who could fight, ride and shoot but he was first and foremost he was a peaceable man! 4 stars because 2 of the movies are not clear, and hard to watch. plus ads, ads! at the beginning of every movie..:

This was a gift for my Dad and he loved it! It gives him hours of enjoyment! Perfect purchase! :)

THIS COLLECTION SAYS 29 FILMS IF YOU COUNT 15 CHAPTER SERIAL IT COMES TO 29. SERIAL CHAPTERS ARE AROUND 12 OR 13 MINUTES. QUALITY IS POOR. VERY GOOD PRINT ON YOU TUBE WHICH IS SUPERIOR TO WHAT WAS IN THIS COLLECTION.. THE ELLIOTT FILMS IN THIS COLLECTION ESPECIALLY THE RED RYDER FILMS ARE OF VERY POOR QUALITY.IF THIS DEALER HAD PRINTS BETTER THAN WHAT I GOT HE OR SHE SHOULD USE THEM.I WILL NOT ORDER AGAIN EVEN FROM THE PAPERS THEY SENT IF ALL THEY HAVE IS AS ROTTEN AS THIS.

This collection resembles those issued by Mill Creek, where quantity, not quality is the main selling point. It contains ten single-layer DVD-R discs, held in the case by a short spindle, and while a little awkward it provides compact storage and avoids the scuffing of disc surfaces that can happen with paper sleeves. 14 of the 16 Red Ryder films with Bill Elliott are included, the missing titles being "Marshal of Reno" (1944) and "Colorado Pioneers" (1945), but for no obvious reason other than filling the spindle there's a disc having two with Allan "Rocky" Lane, "Santa Fe Uprising" (1946) and "Vigilantes of Boomtown" (1947). While the Red Ryder films are available elsewhere in better, more-expensive editions, the collection also includes Elliott's last Columbia serial, "The Valley of Vanishing Men."The Red Ryder series contained some unusual entries, such as "Great Stagecoach Robbery" which includes the murder of a child -- hardly standard "B" Western fare -- along with some more "formula" films. They have Bobby (Robert) Blake as Little Beaver, and Alice Fleming as The Duchess, with many actors familiar in "B" westerns and serials, and the action is enhanced by Republic's pulse-pounding musical scores. The transfers are not very good, with varying degrees of defocus from a little soft to pretty fuzzy. Gray scale on most isn't too bad, though some are rather murky and the white letters in titles and credits often burn out, appearing blurrier than the rest of the film. Don't expect to be able to read copyright dates, though the larger MPPDA certificate numbers can usually be deciphered. There are a few videotape tracking glitches and some that seem to be from the film, mostly during the opening titles. Occasional "jerky action" is encountered, possibly due to video glitch removal during the transfer to DVD. The sound quality also varies, sometimes lacking in high frequencies but it is usually better than the picture, loud and clear enough to understand the dialogue."The Valley of Vanishing Men," here on two discs, does not appear to be available from other "commercial" sources, though Gozillaflix also offers it apart from this collection. It is a 15-chapter Columbia serial released late in 1942, directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet.Confederate Captain Wild Bill Toliver (Bill Elliott), recently out of work owing to the end of the Civil War, is searching for his missing father, aided by his comic sidekick "Missouri" Benson (Slim Summerville). They tangle with and chase off masked bandits who have just shot a rider, who utters two words before he dies, "President Juarez." The man was a representative of the Mexican government, and the bandits are raiders led by Jonathan Kincaid (Kenneth MacDonald), an outlaw notorious during the War, now allied with renegade European Colonel Engler (Arno Frey), attempting to crush the forces of freedom in Mexico. Kincaid has taken over a gold mine, abducting men for slave labor, and has Bill Toliver's father (Rick Anderson) held prisoner for his technical assistance. Involved in aiding the Juarez government is Consuelo Ramirez (Carmen Morales), whom Wild Bill has to rescue periodically.This was the second serial from Columbia following the death of director James W. Horne. Comedy is still present, and while Slim Summerville as "Missouri" engages in some remarkably idiotic clowning, some of it is effective, and he is often a helpful character, the comedy restricted to scenes for that purpose. The bad guys' hideout in a ghost town is similar to the arrangement in Universal's 1944 serial "Raiders of Ghost City" and if the gold mine has some mighty spacious chambers with a large idol once used by ancient Indians that inhabited a higher-budget movie, it looks impressive enough. Kenneth MacDonald is suitably ruthless and scheming as the outlaw leader Kincaid, though it's not clear why he bothers wearing a mask when out with the raiders, other than to cover the features of a stunt man in those scenes. His henchmen include a number of well-known 'B' and serial movie actors, including George Chesebro, Jack Ingram, Tom London, Lane Bradford, Kenne Duncan and Stanley Price. And the citizens of Canyon City, some of whom might be spies for Kincaid, include Helen Gibson, Robert Fiske, Ernie Adams, Victor Potel, and Blackie Whiteford. Roy Barcroft plays Deputy Jed 'Luke' Lucas, who takes over when the Marshal (Michael Vallon) is killed. Music is credited to Lee Zahler, and is reasonably effective, though I didn't know he wrote "Ride of the Valkyries" which is used for the opening titles. In all a good Columbia serial.Unfortunately, Gozillaflix' transfer is fairly bad. The claim "digitally remastered" must mean that it was transfered to DVD. The source video master had a few problems, mostly lack of sharpness, to the point that most of the MPPDA certificate numbers on the chapter titles are hard to read, and they're not especially small. The gray scale usually isn't too bad, but some chapters suffer from washout of the highlights, causing faces to look a little blank. There isn't much in the way of dirt or scratches, and the framing is decent enough, but there's a hint that videotape was involved; in a couple chapters there is mistracking, followed by a large "HI-FI" message on-screen. Still, it is possible to see what's going on most of the time. Unfortunately the sound in most chapters is rather feeble, with much background "hiss" made louder by some form of "auto-level" in the transfer process, and high frequencies are not plentiful, making even some of the spoken introductions by Knox Manning a little hard to understand. But there aren't many interruptions due to splices, and the chapters appear to be complete, including the "Columbia" logo at both ends. A continuous "AIA" logo shows near the top of the screen, quite dim and far less disruptive than the "Gozillaflix" logo that pops in a couple times per chapter. This annoyance can be minimized by turning off the color.My three-star "OK" rating takes into account the low cost per title. The transfers won't do for those wanting clean copies but are fine for getting an overview of Elliott's films, and it's good to have the serial available, even if the picture and sound quality make watching it, even one chapter at a time, something of a trial.

it good

This particular collection is the `Red Ryder' films that `Wild' Bill Elliott did and, for some reason, even includes two of the `Red Ryder' films that starred Allan `Rocky' Lane. I found the complete collection to be very enjoyable and brought back a lot of memories.

Just delighted to have such a rare treat in my collection. Hours of anticipation. Now I need to save for a Power Converter for my Region One player.