Search - John Wayne in Color (Stolen Goods / GOld Strike River / An Innocent Man) on DVD

Reworked Films

Steven A. Bibb | New York, NY | 12/31/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The three John Wayne movies in this DVD set are not newly discovered John Wayne films, but rather are a trio of public domain films which Legend has renamed, edited slightly, and added music and sound effects in addition to color. The actual films included in this set are BLUE STEEL, THE LUCKY TEXAN and SAGEBRUSH TRAIL. These discs have special features which are all nearly identical on each disc in the set. The only differences are thet the Featurette will be different.

In all fairness the BW verison of the film have been cleaned up a bit. The color versions are not as good as prior Legends films releases, as an example see any of the Shirley Temple films which have been colorized. I am not a fan of someone altering with someone elses work, especially when it comes to editing and adding music and sound effects. These three films have menacing music playing throughout the films, which very quickly becomes annoying."

Like a thief in the night

Gerald Hartman | 01/05/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Ok Lets cut the crap, this is just another rerelease of older movies that they think colorizing makes it sale again. This is a walmart 5.50 bin item that has the duke which of course is nice it is in no way worth more than 10 bucks colorized or not.

Blue steel and mclintock are the 2 most rereleased john wayne fans of all time.

here it comes again blue steel. lol i have this one in 5 different sets.

the lucky texan again

sagebrush trail again

the only reason to buy this set is if u don't already own them or are the kind of collector that must have every think john wayne on dvd.

in closing the quality is subpar if you like to see what they can do with older movies check out errol flynns robin hood or the james bond ultimate collections. these are B movies no amount of tricks is gonna change that in interviews duke himself thought these movies weren't the best.

beware this is false advertising and amazon themselves should ad in subtext under the names the real names of these films"

John Wayne's Lone Star pictures finally get a quality releas

Fred Lamperzi | Springfield, VA | 12/18/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Previous DVD releases of John Wayne's early pictures during his Monogram/Lone Star period have been one of the more frustrating items to obtain a quality DVD release of for Wayne's fans. Those of us who wanted to make the effort to trace back the career one of America's greatest screen heroes have been faced with a glut of his early films on the market, most of which came in the form of super compressed, cut rate quality DVD collections. Many of these rendered these older films near unwatchable, which I've always felt was a shame: The early Wayne films have a certain spirit about them that some of his later works did not, and deserved a proper DVD release.

Fortunately, it seems as if someone has finally decided to do the Wayne Lone Star pictures right. The new release of the John Wayne In Color 3 DVD set has many things going for it:

-It contains the best available release of the original movies (in black and white, despite the title)

-It also contains colorized versions of these movies on the same disc.

-It has bonus features that are actually of interest to fans of John Wayne and Westerns in general.

Surprisingly to me, the colorized versions of the movies are how I prefer to watch them. The set includes "In Color" as part of its title, and with that sort of billing, the color work done had better be pretty good. Well it certainly does not disappoint. If you don't constantly remind yourself that you're watching something that used to be in Black and White, you probably won't realize that it's been colorized. Attention has obviously been paid to minor details, such as the different colors of separate train cars. Overall, the restoration and colorization job is of great quality, something that as I said before, has been missing from these releases in the past.

The other addition that makes this set more fun than others is the Special Features. Special Features have been rare on many of the other cut rate Wayne sets, so it is a surprise that they are included at all, let alone that they prove entertaining. Each DVD has bonus material that features Wayne, including commercials Wayne recorded later in his career as well as a few comedy routines that Wayne and Jimmy Durante did together. These I found especially entertaining as they feature Wayne in a different light than the movies, as he tries not to crack a smile when performing in front of a studio audience. A trivia game, (different questions on each disc) was a fun and interesting diversion, and I learned several things that I didn't even know as a devoted Wayne fan. Other bonus features focus on the Western as a Hollywood institution, with a short narrated by VIncent Price focusing on Western stars and stunts. More nostalgic western commercials are also included and make one nostalgic for the days of cowboys and indians, when toys required actual imagination.

But I'm rambling now...I heartily recommend this DVD set as the best presentation of Wayne's Lone Star films. On the DVD insert it says another set of three films is being released in Spring 2007. Let's hope they are just as good!"

This is NOT your Grandma's Colorization

J. A. Retzer | Phoenix, AZ | 05/28/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I've said this before and I'll say it again: Colorization is NOT evil if it induces someone to watch (or better yet, buy) something they would not otherwise have been inclined to, and more often than not that diversion from their sheltered ways will benefit them -whether artistically, culturally or whatever.

I remember the films in this set when they were released nearly a decade ago on the Nelvana Tech/UAV label as part of The Young Duke Series (you can still find them under the titles The Fugitve and Rodeo Racketeers).
Nelvana Tech was a pioneer at re-cycling and colorizing otherwise un-marketable black and white product and at least breathing some life into them. Once they caught on they also scored a hit with an unfortunately short-lived but pure genius idea of doing the same thing with old science fiction B-movies of the 50's and releasing them to TV (I've never been able to find a DVD of them, but I'm hoping) as Attack of the Killer B's.

It would appear that Legend Films has aquired them and worked their magic on them and again released them under still different titles. Purists will attack the re-editing, colorizing and sound mixing, but even the most dispassionate bystander will have to admit that after 70 years or so, these films were desperately in need of a makeover. I've seen the unaltered versions and they creak badly. The re-edited versions tightened the plot, added some visual interest by way of color and the new soundtracks punched up the dead spots (though the new voice-overs seemed a bit jarring).

I want to repeat again that colorization is NOT a bad thing, particularly if (as Legend does) the original version is also made available. They also go the extra step and include bonus material rather generously.

Legend Films is NOT the old comic book/crayon style colization we all know and hate. The advances in computer and digital technology are literally night-and-day from what they were in the 80's ad in some instances -like in some of the Stooges shorts- it is almost impossible to tell that the films were not originally filmed in color.

No less respected a director that Martin Scorcese (himself an outspoken critic of colorization) has not only praised Legend Films for their efforts, but he has used them -most notably in The Aviator. Special effects maestro Ray Hattyhausen has championed and supported them as he personally supervised their colorization of his own films.

I welcome and applaud Legend Films for breathing life into old films and regret only that the condition of the public domain prints they use limits them from achieving their full potential."