VCI Thoughts
Think I’m on a roll with these titles. I finally got around to getting a copy of Radio Patrol and will hopefully find time to watch it this weekend. As I was putting it into it’s newly appointed slot between Overland Mail and Raiders of Ghost City ( no comments, I’ll get around to a DVD copy of Radar Men From the Moon eventually) and began comparing my DVD titles to my VHS titles and noticed there were several titles not on DVD yet, like Blackhawk and Mystery of the Riverboat. Why is that? VCI put out many more titles on VHS back in the 90’s than they have now on DVD.
Sure Alpha Video has beat up copies of The Great Alakian Mystery and Don Winslow of the Navy, but VCI also released these titles along with Red Barry, Don Winslow of the Coast Guard, The Scarlet Horseman, The Mysterious Mr. M and The Shadow on VHS, so why not DVD (yes I know that many of these titles are available elsewhere on DVD but lets stick to VCI for now).
I’ve looked around their site and have seen no mention of the rest of their catalog getting released, there have been no announcements on In the Balcony either. I can’t think it is because of rights, Alpha only puts out public domain titles. It can’t be due to not having good copies of the films, their release of Return of Chandu looks as crappy as Alpha’s. So what’s the hold up? I’m sure most fans would have snapped up Red Barry just to have all of Buster Crabbe’s Universal serials. The Don Winslows have always been popular in the fandom and are guaranteed to sell. Ditto for The Shadow. And hey, what old movie buff wouldn’t want Mystery of the Riverboat just for Mantan Moreland alone? I think VCI is missing a good bet and some healthy profits by not putting out the rest of their catalog.
I’ve wondered the same thing as well - I do know that more recent VCI DVD Serial releases have been improvements over the VHS ones.
The upcoming BUCK ROGERS is supposed to be fantastic - and an improvement over the last DVD and VHS release.