Search - Green Hornet - Vol. 1 on DVD

Great tv series, terrible video/dvd release

John Gerard Lawton | Sterling Heights, Michigan USA | 12/17/2000

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I have to echo the comment sof the last reviewer of this movie. First off, the editting of the bits and pieces of the episodes is terrible. The film jumps from one bit to the next with no apparent order. Secondly, the producer promote this product as being made from remastered prints. That's a laugh! The film looks like it was made to resemble an old Hong Kong martial arts film. The lighting was low and dark and the overall color had a yellosish quality. As for the audio, the editors tripped on this one to! There are scenes with Kato fighting where his yells and kicking sounds are conspicuously missing from the final edit. The Green Hornet is a great TV series! Once and for all, if the distributors of classic tv shows want to please the fans, release this and other great shows in the original broadcast format. Anything less is any insult to the fans!"

Very enjoyable DVD, bad format

Eric Pregosin | New Carrollton, Maryland United States | 03/19/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD (despite it's reference on the cover as a theatrical release in 1974) is actually 4 episodes from the series sandwiched together (including the two parter that actually were the last 2 episodes of the series). I would rather see all the episodes in proper order. By the way, 1 clip from another 2 parter also appears in this disc. This is the dumbest mistake as there is no reference to the particular character. One who hasn't seen the series in 1966 on ABC or the reruns on FX in 1994 would think the Green Hornet just diverted to knock another bad guy down, just for the sake of it, while en route to the real crime. Buy the DVD and it's pending sequel to preserve the series, yes, but know what you're getting first. By the way to the person who quoted the opening above, that opening was done by William Dozier NOT Gary Owens (doesn't anybody watch Batman anymore?)"

"Another Challenge for the DVD Fan"....

Black Beauty | Lawrence, NY | 04/20/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First of all to set the record straight to correct a few common mistakes by reviewers here...This DVD is the first of 2 films originally released to theatres back in 1974 to cash in on BRUCE LEE's death in 1973, & the huge popularity of the film, "ENTER, THE DRAGON". FOX took 4+ episodes of their 1967 half-hour television series, THE GREEN HORNET, & chopped & spliced them together into a 90-minute mishmash, making fans think this was an all-new feature starring BRUCE. "THE GREEN HORNET", as titled, was released in some areas as part of a double bill with some AIP-style BlackSploitation vehicle in 1974(I was one who was dropped off on a saturday afternoon at a now long gone theatre at Beach 20th/Cornaga in Far Rockaway, NY, & sat through it almost twice while my mother was shopping for nearly 4 hours. I have no idea what the other film was except I remember an in-bed naked love scene, tons of cursing & shoot-ups, & being the only lone 10-year-old/kid in the theatre. Most likely it was something along the lines of BLACK CAESAR or SHAFT). About a year later, I saw all "5" PLANET OF THE APES films in this same theatre for a buck! What an amazing time to be a kid! I guess this first "Hornet" film did the job cashwise as the second film was released soon-after, titled: "FURY OF THE DRAGON", which sounds like an all-desperate last attempt title to "cover up" that this film is just more poorly-edited GREEN HORNET episodes, & not some newly discovered major unreleased feature of BRUCE LEE in all his glory like the newspaper ads made it seem.(FURY OF THE DRAGON is about to be released on DVD any day now here in the US,& has been on DVD for some time now in JAPAN & is also available in the UK). It would be great for the original "GH" series to be released on DVD(as well as the 1966 BATMAN TV series), yet it seems that TV shows that only lasted One Season(like the G.H.) & were not syndicated well, were considered flops & losers money-making-wise by the studios. If the show was never officially released on video & never syndicated on Cable or Network TV, these two DVD's of the 1974 films may be the only way we are going to see the 1967 GREEN HORNET for a long, long time. Hopefully not. FOX did such a great job of the 1966 BATMAN Feature film on DVD, that a BATMAN/GREEN HORNET DVD BOX would be amazing, & I am sure would sell very very well. This DVD, though, is very good. For a gooey gumbo of a cash-in, this film is presented here in excellant quality on the DVD, & includes a Widescreen matte(as theatrically released), which cuts the top & bottom off a bit, yet is interesting to see in this format. Being that I have about 10 grey market episodes of the Original series, to see it like this is a-plus, for the quality is far way-superior than any copies of the show available on the grey market. Actually, this is the closest & best way to see the 1967 GREEN HORNET for now. So I recommend this & the FURY DVD when released, to see a so-so representation, yet EXCELLANT audio/visual quality. Again, as someone else corrected here,...it is Producer WILLIAM DOZIER's voice who announces the opening narration..."ANOTHER CHALLENGE FOR THE GREEN HORNET"...Not Gary Owens. Also, it was Car Customizer DEAN JEFFREYS, not GEORGE BARRIS, who created & built the "BLACK BEAUTY" Car for the show. As someone else mentioned, it would be great to find episodes of other late 60's shows that BRUCE LEE appeared in, like LONGSTREET. Now that's a rare treat."

The biggest scam to Bruce Lee fans since "Game Of Death"

Gregory Ronald David Craft | Seattle, WA United States | 12/11/2000

(1 out of 5 stars)

"The fact that this is episodes of the TV series edited into a "movie" is insulting, but not the worst part. The fact that the cover blurbs make it sound like Bruce Lee made a series of "Green Hornet" movies, and never mentions the TV series, is also insulting, but again, not the worst part. The worst part is that they added black bars to the top and bottom of the screen in a lame attempt to make us think that it's in widescreen format. Did they think we wouldn't notice every time somebody's head disappeared off the top of the picture? Additionally, the editing looks like it was done with an axe. The only thing worse than a scam is a poorly-executed scam. Avoid this."