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Ghost Canyon

'Wild West Days' [Blu-ray]
(Johnny Mack Brown, George Shelley, Lynn Gilbert, Frank Yaconelli, Bob Kortman, et al / Blu-ray / NR / 2021 / VCI Entertainment - MVD Visual)

Overview: This classic Western serial is now available on disc for the first time! Restored from the Studio Film Masters in 4K.

This action-packed serial presents the dangers, hardships, and glorious triumphs of the early western pioneers.

Kentucky Wade and his two buddies ride to help a couple who are being threatened by outlaws. Kentucky and his pals also keep busy fighting their way across the plains and mountains to battle a tribe of Indians led by Red Hatchet.

Shortly they also contend with false reports of a strike, which starts a gold rush and exciting hair-trigger action.

Blu-ray Verdict: For my reviewing dedication to the cause, I watched this brand new Blu-ray 4K remastered series 'Wild West Days' over a period of about five days, and have to say, it was compelling from start to finish.

Containing all 13 episodes from the serial, every one of them was filled with plenty of action and plot twists. Too often a serial can be described as "they fight over here, then they fight over there, and then they fight over here again," but not this one.

For in 'Wild West Days' there are many times where the action takes place in the same locations, but the plot is well served by the repetition.

Indeed, there were no boring episodes in this story-driven serial and something that makes the plot different from other westerns is that a man finds a platinum mine - rather than a gold mine.

The bad guys search for the location of the platinum, but Kentucky Wade's determination to stop them are the reasons for this adventure serial.

Instead of a trio we get four cowboys plus a strong willed rancher fighting the bad guys and trust me when I say that Johnny Mack Brown looked every bit the part of a '30s western hero in his role as Kentucky.

He was taller than most of the people around him and he was always the best dressed. Oh, and Brown's deep voice also made him a natural leading man, of course.

Frank Yaconelli was perfect as the comical, yet serious Mexican comrade, Mike and George Shelley, as Dude, got to court the girl and do all the singing.

Although Yaconelli's guitar playing was for show rather than accompaniment during Shelley's songs, it was nice to learn that he really was a musician as opposed to an actor faking playing a guitar.

Bob Kortman was the sharp and wise gunslinger, Trigger. I was used to seeing him as a bad guy, so this was a fun turnaround. Frank McGlynn, Jr. is Larry Munro, but he really does not do too much until halfway through the episodes.

To balance the good guys, there are a lot of bad guys: The Secret Seven, who are able to use the nearby Indian tribe to do their dirty work or just simply round up men whenever needed to go out to commit their crimes.

The worst of the bunch are Keeler (Russell Simpson), Buckskin (Charles Stevens), and Steve Claggett (Al Bridge, whose name was at the bottom of the credits).

Chief Thunderbird was a real Indian, and as Chief Red Hatchet, to my mind he really added authenticity to the Indians in the serial.

Every character was well defined and their personalities were well developed by the end. It made me wish for more adventures, in truth, as I'd never seen these before today.

Also, not only were the characters well portrayed, the costuming was unique for every cowboy. The businessmen wore suits that may have been slightly different, but each cowboy could be identified immediately by his clothes.

Dude, Trigger, Larry, and Claggett could be identified by their vests alone. Mike had his vaquero outfit. Buckskin had his buckskin outfit. Kentucky Wade had the most incredible clothing and was very conscientious about it too.

Indeed, more than once he mentions having to change clothes or asking someone to get him a new shirt. In fact, Kentucky knew that a hat and shirt must go together in order to look like the western hero that he was.

For a couple of the episodes, Kentucky wears a white shirt and white hat instead of the black shirt and hat worn through the rest of the serial.

The reason, of course, was so an old shot of a cowboy and horse leaping off a cliff into some water could be used. It was cheaper to have an actor change clothes than to recreate the stunt! [SH] These are all black and white, Full Screen Presentations (1.37:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.

www.VCIentertainment.com

www.MVDvisual.com





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