This review expertly bridges the gap between German moralism and the rise of the Spaghetti Western, providing essential context for a misunderstood genre. Its candid critique of Eureka’s flawed restoration is a vital service to cinephiles who value celluloid integrity over digital over-processing.
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Adventure Calls Karl May At CCC Eureka Masters of Cinema Blu-ray Boxset Review
Added:Hello and welcome back to this damn full idealistic crusade. In this video, I will be discussing and reviewing the new Eureka Blu-ray box set entitled Adventure Calls Carl my at CCC. This brings together these seven films either adapted from or extremely loosely adapted from the works of legendary German author Carl Mai. These films were started by producer Arthur Browner at CCC in direct response to the massive uh countrywide success of the 1962 film Treasure of Silver Lake which starred Lex Barker as Old Shatterhand and the actor Pierre Bryce as Winnitu the Apache Chief who were the most famous characters from Carl Mai's novels but by no means his only heroes. As Mai wrote countless works not just of the American West but of various series of different adventures both serialized and in novel form. totaling to at least somewhere over a hundred published works and some of them with reoccurring characters that form small series. Well, producer Browner decided he wanted in on the action and conceived of a way of actually starting to make his own Carl my films when he realized that Shatterhand and Winu and some of the other characters had actually lapsed into the public domain. So these films started by very loosely adapting the works of Carl Mai and basically avoiding anything to do with the actual stories but using the same characters. And by a series of rather uh complicated uh negotiations, he was actually able to use the stars Lex Marker and Pierre Bryce from Treasure of Silver Lake to start his own series with Old Shatterhand in 1964. and then in the other films would delve into the other characters and stories from the Carl my universe but always retaining Lex Barker in the lead and some of the same supporting cast. So you had this feeling of continuity between the seven films even though it's only the first and last films that are using the Shatterhand and Winnoo characters. Regardless of which studios output you're looking at, the sort of Carl my boom in Germany in the 1960s very much led to the boom of the Italian western in terms of uh making the idea of a European produced western for a European audience actually being bankable and successful. Plus, these were also uh international co-productions, which is why the cast feature a variety of different stars from different countries because of course whenever you had money from another country, they would most obviously want some sort of representation in the cast. So everything that you might know about Italian westerns uh basically was already being done in the German westerns just a few years before. And so basically from Treasure of Silver Lake that Rialto released in 1962 all the way to the end of the cycle around 1968 with the last of the CCC films. That's really the sort of boom period where the Carl my films regardless of which studio it was were insanely popular but primarily only in Germany and some surrounding countries. They really didn't have much export. uh they did get even to the US at some point, but they were typically cut down and of course had to be dubbed into English and would get retitled and in the years since you might only come across them in rather dubious quality from even more dubious sources. And so they don't really have much of a reputation outside of Germany where they're still beloved to this day as generations have continued to view them on, of course, reissues and television and home video. This also ties in to Carl Mai himself who was incredibly prolific and really a character and multiple feature films in and of himself because his life was so fascinating. He claimed to have uh been experienced with a with a lifetime of adventures in the Old West, but in actuality started writing when he was in prison uh more than once for basically being a con man of sorts, but had this incredible knack, it seems, for uh visualizing the American West or uh other countries in the past in what would be termed his oriental adventures being the Far East or Africa or the Middle Um, but he had this incredible ability to tell these wonderful adventures with a a great sense of heart and humanity to them. There's also a striking sense of equality between characters, especially with old Shatterhand and Winnitu, who are blood brothers, and Shatterhand is always fighting for everyone in the cause of not justice, but human equality and just general goodness, which is not something you expect in stories of this kind uh from the early 20th century, but also the adaptations do frequently pick up on all of this and that's what you get part and parcel with these CCC films and why they have such a great sense of heart. That's the direct uh representation of what I gather from the spirit of Carl Mai's work. The problem is I'm having to guess at this like most English speakers because Mai's works have not been really made all that available outside of the original German text. Uh there have been finally some English translations but only few and they are rather hard to come by. And in the process of digging through this box set and experiencing these films for the first time, uh I had heard of Carl Mai and I knew how influential he was in terms of German literature, but I didn't realize just how influential he was. And learning about his fascinating backstory, it makes you very curious to seek out his work. So now I really want to go and track down some of those English translations uh particularly for the Winnu trilogy which is the primary uh series of books the three books telling the story of old Shatterand and Witu. So it's really a shame that uh the works of Carl Mai and the famous 1960s film adaptations don't really travel outside of Germany all that much. So even just trying to do further research or look up further information, you're typically going to run into that as well. But if you're talking to uh a German person of a certain age or anyone who grew up with the film adaptations or the works of Carli, you're you're going to suddenly get a wealth of information and they still have fan conventions and tours of the shooting locations to this day. So it's become a generational thing in Germany. So that's why this set is so wonderful in uh bringing at least some of that experience with the CCC films in particular to a wider global audience.
So unless you're really into German westerns or you're at least somewhat familiar with the works of Carl Mai, you probably won't have seen these films before. And so you may be wondering how much mileage you may get out of 1960s German westerns adapting or very loosely adapting stories and concepts and characters from much earlier that had already been adapted a number of times in various forms of German media. The other thing that complicates this and is also fascinating, but in a very sad way, is that as the extras in the set go over, uh, Carl Mai was essentially the favorite author of Hitler. And apparently Hitler either missed or just ignored all of the sections of Mai's works about uh, human equality and shared humanity between everyone. And so the works of Carl Mai became sort of compulsory reading during the Nazi regime. And so after World War II, uh the works of Carl Mai kind of got stuck with a certain stigma. And it took quite some time really probably until the successful film adaptations of the 1960s for uh them to basically distance themselves from that. So that's another part of this strange fascinating story that uh leads up to the films and I think understanding the history of Carl Mai's life and work and then what happened to his works afterwards and basically getting the backstory to the development of the films and then the fascinating rivalry between Rialto Film and Arto Browner at CCC and the competing films using the same actors that enriches your experience with the actual films and I think without all of that uh you're probably not going to get as much mileage as you should with these films, especially without the context of growing up with them in Germany as part of the shared national uh sense of pop culture that is [snorts] shared almost like legends being passed down from generation to generation. That's another quality that I think you get in the Carl my works and you feel in the films to some degree. Now, CCC made seven films from 1964 to 1968. And you know, that's that's quite a number of films to just cram in a 4-year period. Uh they all had similar productions. They were primarily shot in Yugoslavia. Uh sometimes in Spain, so very much like the Italian western shooting in Spain, particularly in Almaria. So again, you you feel the sense of everything you expect in an Italian western here in these German westerns. The difference is really more in the tone and the flavor because there is always a sense of it having the feel of it being I I would say there's almost a more old-fashioned quality to the storytelling because they're they're very clear-cut between heroes and villains and you have the three primary uh Carl my heroes of old Shatterhand in the westerns of Cara Beny and the Oriental Adventures films and then Dr. Carl Sternow in the two Aztec films or the two Mexico set films and you have Lex Barker playing all of these characters. So there's not much distinction between the three. They're very much variations of the same theme and uh Barker's performances in all seven films are very much your anchor.
Uh Barker was of course most famous for being the first actor to take over the role of Tarzan after Johnny Weism left the series which played out at RKO in the later films. Uh and Barker has an incredible physique. He's very tall, very blonde. So physically he's a very commanding strong presence on screen but what's remarkable is his physicality of course but in particular his conveying of the character's strong sense of moral righteousness and and goodness and how he's compelled into action uh whenever he witnesses any sort of injustice. Uh but what's most striking is how he plays between the lines of dialogue. You can always see the the wheels turning in his head. There's always a sense of intelligence in the performance and at times even a dash of beused cynicism or just worldw weariness from his various experiences. So one could even see Lex Barker uh taking the lead in say an Italian western. Uh that would be a bit grittier obviously and more cynical, but he is ideally suited to playing the Carl my heroes on screen because he can balance uh making the characters more relatable with always playing the stoic tried and trueue ultimate hero character. But the stories again are are very pure in that uh they they are very direct. They are very clear-cut cases of good versus evil. And so I think they actually would remarkably play well for audiences of children which is why uh kids grow up on these films in Germany and carry that love of them uh and then pass it on to the next generation. So it's very easy to understand seeing these uh why they have lasted so long.
But the CCC films in particular, you you will notice very quickly that they are very direct and very simplistic in their storytelling. In some areas, one might even say that uh they have at least some touches of the the storytelling flavor of a classic cliffhanger serial where you can only tell so much story in each of the chapters as you're building up to the next set piece and action set piece for the cliffhanger of that chapter. And so you're getting the story basically parcled out typically over 12 chapters and then getting the finale. And that's at its most notable in the two-part film uh which was split into Treasure of the Aztecs and Pyramid of the Sun God where it was supposed to be one long film but they decided to just split it into two and the first film actually does end on a cliffhanger. The other primary faces you'll see recurring through the films are of course Pierre Bryce's Winnitu who appears in the first film Old Shatterhand and the last film uh Shatterhanded Witu in the Valley of Death as Witu the Apache Chief. Now, the idea of casting a French actor as an Apache chief on paper sounds like a not great idea in terms of uh casting a completely different ethnicity. And the amazing thing is it actually works.
It works beautifully because Bryce is able to so deeply convey the uh emotions but the intelligence of the character, the spirituality of the character and is able to do so much with a lot of times very minimal dialogue.
It's it's a very refined performance and the dynamic between Bryce and Barker is so beautifully realized that it is the highlight of both of the films that book in these seven. The comic relief in all seven films is provided by Ralph Walter who plays basically variations on the same concept of being the comic relief sidekick who teams up with our lead hero. And these were basically characters and concepts derived from the uh Carl my works. But uh once they hit upon this this comic relief concept, you basically have variations of that character through all seven films. But surprisingly, it actually varies a little bit in terms of sometimes uh Valter's character will be comic relief who is more of just a complete buffoon.
Sometimes he's a comic relief character who does display uh signs of bravery and who really tries to support his friends and fight the good crusade even if he's not very good at it. And then there's the characterization of the uh sort of loudmouth comic relief character who says he's great and all powerful but obviously isn't quite that. Uh so that's the other sort of anchor you have throughout all the films as he appears in all seven films along with Lex Barker uh in the same type of role. So again, it's variations on a theme. And then in four of the seven films, you have the wonderful actor Rick Bataglia as either the main villain or one of the side villains who just chews up the scenery and is a joy every time he's on screen.
His villains, again, whether they're the head villain or not, are the type who appear and the audience just immediately starts grinning because you see a villain who clearly enjoys what they're doing. He's never twirling his mustache, but he very easily could and you would love it because it's that type of pure clearcut villain with charmed smile and sadistic gleam in the eye. And again, he just devours the scenery. So to go through each of the films in the set, I'll go through each one at a time, talk a little bit about the film, and then talk about the transfer and supplements. Now, Eureka has packaged the films across multiple discs, uh, basically going by character and series within the seven films. So, you've got the uh two Shatter Hand films on the same disc and then they've got the Orient films grouped together and then they've got the two uh Mexico films or the Dr. Carl Stern films grouped together. That's a logical way to view them, but I prefer going through films and cycles in release order. So, that's what I did. Uh so, I'll be discussing these in the order of their original production and release. So, first is 1964's Old Shatterhand, which again was CCC's first attempt to do a Carl my film, and they were able to actually get the stars of Treasure of Silver Lake away from Rialto. So, this film sees Lex Barker and Pierre Bryce reprise their roles. But, interestingly, Old Shatterhand and most of the CCC films are said to be grittier and darker than a lot of the Rialto films. So, this is basically having the same actors repraise their roles for another company, but in a film that's actually a bit darker. So, it's kind of like an interesting uh branch off point or a really more of an alternate universe, if you will. Old Shatteran deals in classical western themes. The plot sees a family get killed in a striking opening sequence on their ranch. And then it's all about a secret group trying to do a land grab and also spark a war between the Native Americans and the white settlers in the west. So it's it's very much drawn out of traditional western story elements. And looking at it on paper or at first glance, it would seem like nothing you hadn't seen before. Uh the difference is that the that there's again this sense of classical storytelling of classical themes. Everything is very cut and dry.
But what you'll find in all of these films, whether you like all of them or not, is that there's such a sense of heart to all of these films. That's why I think they've attained such longevity.
And Old Shatterhand as a film is really the closest to a traditional American western. This has helped immeasurably by it having a variety of famous names that were attached in the pre-production stage and particularly having a substantial budget. It was said to be the most expensive German film produced up to this point and so the production value is relatively high for a film of this type of this era. It was also filmed in a particular form of 70 mm.
So, it is a large format title, even though when you're looking at it on the video releases, it's pretty much in the scope ratio. All of the films being shot on location outdoors gives them at least some sense of of grandeur and atmosphere, but it's really old Shatterhand where you get at least a bigger sense of grandeur compared to the other six films. So, Old Shatterhand isn't just the strongest and most striking of the seven. It's the one that is most close to what you expect from a modest to bigger budgeted traditional American western. Uh the the difference is that you've got these really striking icons of German literature in Shatterhand and Winnitu who are essentially the final arbitrators of of everything of ensuring that good will triumph over evil even though it's a bit of a struggle. And there is a sense of realism that comes into this film as there are some darker moments in spite of having comic relief sprinkled throughout. And there are moments of darker story elements. And you've also got corruption inside the US cavalry because some of the figures involved in the plot are actually cavalry officers.
Uh the primary one played by American actor Guy Madison uh who had actually appeared in a film with at least some similar themes. If you go and look at the underrated Anthony man cavalry wilderness western the last frontier and of course by having another American actor in the cast that furthers the feeling of of this being the film that feels closest to an American western.
But the most striking thing about this film remains the very progressive aspects of the Shatterhand character and his interactions with everyone. And he's always the central figure who is able to diffuse tensions and bring all of the factions together. actually at one point having the cavalry officers and Winnatu and the other tribal leaders actually sitting for a meeting and sitting uh traditionally on the ground and he's always the one who's able to um not just be a a physical translator but a cultural translator between everyone and it's truly striking that you have the central western hero of the film being such a figure completely devoted to the cause of equality and justice for everyone that uh it it becomes more of a mythical character. There's definitely a degree of what you think of in regards to the lone ranger, the masked rider of the plains writing in the cause of justice and the original uh radio and television incarnations with what you see in old Shatterhand. And Chatterhand is basically the forerunner in that sort of classical mythical western hero figure that is on one hand larger than life but on the other hand still clearly a mortal man. This is most notably brought up in the old Shatterhand film in the climax where Shatterhand is actually tied to a post inside the wonderful cavalry fort set and has to witness the start of what could be a war between everyone with all of the forces led by Winnatu actually attacking the fort being led by the corrupt cavalry officer. And so you've got this big battle sequence at the end where the hero of the film is actually tied to a post inside the fort and is unable to do anything but just look at the onslaught that's happening. So it's really striking for a film of this type that is so traditional in areas to have the hero basically be taken out of the action for the ending climax. and it underlines this at least undercurrent of the film having elements of what used to be termed the thinking man's film. So there's there's greater forces at work in this film and that's why it's the strongest of them. And it is really appreciated that the story has darker elements. There's even some moments of violence sprinkled in that you wouldn't necessarily get in an American western.
There's one in particular that there's no way you would have gotten it in an American western except for the rise of the revisionist westerns in the later 1960s. Another element that truly gives this the flare of an American western is producer Browner's insistence on trying to get any American experienced studio directors he could in particular uh directors originally born in other countries and especially uh German directors who left uh during the rise of Hitler and got successful in Hollywood and so he would try to encourage them to come back. Most notably, he did this with both Fritz Lang and Robert Seadmack. But Old Chatterham was directed by Hugo Fraggonzi, who had a pretty solid career in Hollywood and had also worked at MGM for a number of years. But crucially, he had made a number of American westerns. Uh the most notable of these for me is the 1951 Apache drums which was the amazingly effective small B-western in Technicolor that was produced by the legendary Val Luton and actually employed some of his famous techniques from the iconic masterpiece horror films that he made at RKO in the 1940s. So having a director with American studio experience but also who had experience making American westerns in various forms, that was a perfect person to choose to mount a such a big German western that was so clearly trying to imitate but primarily translate the styles and genre cliches of the American West. all the expected trappings of an American western, you needed somebody who had really actually made some before uh to be able to properly translate that. And that's another element that I think so strongly orients this film uh most closely with the ideal American western that people carry in their heads. So this is the perfect film to start with. Not only is it the strongest of the seven, but it is the one that will be uh most easily approachable uh for an American audience who has never seen any of these films before. Now, to turn to the transfer, uh all of the films in this set are credited as brand new 4K restorations from original negatives and were done apparently in 2025 because that's the date that they carry and then Eureka has licensed those for this particular set. All the films are presented in a scope aspect ratio, but old Shatterhand is credited as being 70 millimeter and was apparently photographed in the super panorama 70 process. So, this is a large format title. Now, overall, the transfers of the different films look pretty consistent among them. So, uh they're they're very much going to have the the same qualities throughout that you'll recognize. So when you're watching the films in close proximity or you're marathoning them going through the box set, there's a a great sense of visual consistency through them. Uh but unfortunately they all share the same uh really not good transfer quirk. And this is the one thing that plagues this set. And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there is some really intensive grain processing going on in all of these transfers. And it's quite unlike any other grain processing I've seen before in terms of just how intensive it gets, how it comes and goes, and the artifacts that it leaves behind. Now the overall restoration work on all seven films is you know very very good overall but it hasn't resulted in an absolutely pristine image for any of the films. So on all of them you need to expect to see some uh spots and little tiny fleeting bits of wear here and there. Sometimes some scratches and lines and things or some hairs visible in the gate that are part of the original photography. So nothing out of the ordinary for a restoration of a European western of the 1960s. And you've also got dupe transitions and other things uh linked to the original elements that are just part of the source. Uh but on all of these you will note that there's this particular issue with how the film grain has been managed that pops up again and again and again. And it's something that's readily apparent from the start of every film because it's also in the opening title sequences around all the lettering. And it looks like what somebody may have tried to do is to tame down the visible film grain particularly in closeups because a lot of these artifacts are visible on faces. So you've got the traditional grain stagnating resulting in the unfortunate frozen grain halos where big swasts of the screen have basically frozen blocks of grain and noise that moves around with moving objects. And you also see this in the title sequences because you'll you'll see everything locked into place around the the actual title letters and the the cast and crew and everything. But in the attempt, it seems to mitigate or tame or reduce the visible grain, there have been some very notable artifacts introduced. So throughout all of the films in this set, all the transfers, you'll notice that where it seems like they tried to manage the grain by either freezing it into place or uh trying to reduce the visible grain. There are bits of what frankly can be only described as noise. And so you get these noise artifacts that pop up consistently throughout every transfer. And so it's not part of the original elements. It doesn't seem to be part of the original scan. And it seems to be directly a a result of the grain management that was done here. And it's truly unfortunate because it mars what is otherwise a series of welldone transfers throughout all the seven films. Now, as I said, it comes and goes, thankfully, but uh when it pops up, the artifacts are quite large and they're very noticeable. And that's why I'm really surprised that in the reviews of this set so far, uh it's been nothing but uh glowing reviews of the picture quality. I have to wonder if if people weren't watching these transfers with their glasses on or something or watching from a great distance away. If you were to watch from a greater distance, it is harder to spot these.
So, if you're someone who pays attention to transfers or someone who notices frozen grain artifacts or notices telltale signs of grain management, then I I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this set is going to drive you crazy. And when I review a disc, I take notes and put in timestamps where certain things happen, whether it's a particularly bad spot of damage or it's a transfer quirk or a particular issue or if I see some frozen grain artifacts.
And I had to start actually abbreviating every time I I spotted these because I was having to stop at some points every two seconds it seemed. and I just got to where I was just writing artifacts over and over and over in my transfer notes and it was a bit of a headache and did detract from the viewing experience when you're having to stop every two seconds.
Um, thankfully some films fare better in the set than others, but it it pops up in all of them. It's the same thing. So, it's obviously the same processing that was used on all of them. I'm not entirely sure, but it seems all of the restoration work was carried out by the Omnimago group because that's what's credited at the end of each of these with a new CCC logo and that's where you see the 2025 date. So, I don't know if it was part of the scanning process or it just at some point apparently someone decided to uh do some grain management and they got really carried away. Uh, I I've never seen grain management look quite like this. It at times when you get the noise artifacts. It makes those areas of the frame almost look more like upscaling DVD on a 4K television. That's how noisy they get. Uh, it's really strange. And you know, it it makes you wonder now that we're in the age of AI enhancements that uh it might be a case that the grain management had some AI involvement or management. So I don't know if that was part of the process, but either way, it is a gigantic flaw in the masters on this set, which is a shame because otherwise these are very healthy presentations. I will say though that here on Old Shatterhand for what's supposed to be a 70mm film, you never get that feeling of it being large format and having the greater visual fidelity, what you get in comparison to the other films is the greater sense of production value and more of some panoramic landscape shots. So, if you go into this set expecting all these transfers to knock your socks off because they're credited as new 4K restorations, you're not really going to get that. nor is there probably all that much visual splendor in the original material. So, I would say go into this set expecting something more along the lines of solid 2K masters on Blu-ray. You know, just basically temper your expectations a little bit. But the big problem here is the grain management. This is not something Eureka had anything to do with. I think they've done an exemplary job of putting this set together and uh building such a comprehensive supplements package that enhance the viewing experience of all of these films and they are to be applauded for even making a box of these films because they're so little known and discussed among English language audiences. It's just that the uh restoration masters they were supplied with have this particular problem baked in and you can't escape it because when these artifacts pop up and they mix with the frozen grain, it is really ugly and they are quite noticeable. Uh you you don't have to look too hard for them and you have to just hope they're going to go away for a while, but sure enough they come back and you still see frozen grain popping up throughout all of these. And then you've got the little bits of damage and wear that that keep popping up. So these uh masters are what they are, but it is truly an unfortunate level of visual artifacts that run through every film in the set. They've all gotten the same treatment. And it's the one thing about this set that I have to throw up a red flag about because it is really bad. And I think these masters need to at least uh be able to have that removed in terms of the grain management that was applied. And that would probably mean just going back to the scans and having to redo the work. And I don't foresee that ever happening again.
This is nothing that Eureka had anything to do with. This is all seemingly baked into the masters that they were given.
And it unfortunately does run through all seven films in the set. Otherwise, as I said, the transfer is very healthy looking. It looks very solid. There's just some occasional scratches, a little bit of frame movement, a little tiny flash of wear here and there, and I think I spotted just one tiny little flash of a of a very brief glue splice.
Uh, so again, nothing out of the ordinary for a film of this vintage and of this particular type of European western. uh it's just the uh grain management and visual processing that was applied is ridiculously heavy-handed. Now, Old Shatterand shares the disc with its later follow-up film.
So, that means the overall encoding and bit rate has to share the space with that. So, most of the discs in the set are two films per disc. So, they're averaging on all of these at around 18 to 22 23 megabits per second. That's a healthy enough bit rate for a feature film on Blu-ray. And there are no encoding issues whatsoever. But of course, had they been on individual discs like the one film that is by itself, the bit rate would be a lot higher. Plus, the discs are sharing the space also with the supplemental features. So, the encoding on all the discs is healthy enough in terms of being healthy for discs with multiple features and extras spread across them.
So, here on Old Shatter, the bit rate averages between about 18 and 22 megabits per second. Now we turn to the audio which is the original German mono mix presented in Lost's PCM. Uh this is a very healthy sounding track and of course it's a dub as these films were pretty much all post-synchronized. It is a little bit thin in places and in some of the louder passages can be a little tiny bit harsh, but that's just pretty much inherent to it being a 1964 German mono dub track. I don't have anything else to compare with in terms of other releases as I haven't seen these films before, but it does sound like a healthy enough presentation of the original mono and there is some natural hiss in there, so it hasn't been overcrubbed to death.
The English subtitles are very good and automatically play when you select the original German track. They seem to be a very good translation of all the dialogue, but I did notice there is one typo in one line of dialogue that um you know, if you're reading the subtitles, it's it's kind of hard to miss because it's a it it throws you a little bit because um of the particular typo making the line seem not only uh very odd, but unintentionally funny in a weird way because it's such a particular typo. So, I did double check with the English dub track, which has the same line, and it doesn't have that problem. So, it is clearly a single unfortunate typo in one line of the subtitles. I hate to point that out because it is only one line, but I just had to mention that because when I do a review, I am as comprehensive as possible. So there is unfortunately one very slight typo in one word of one line of dialogue in the English subtitles but otherwise they are perfectly fine. Now as I said there is an English dub track provided for this film and also for the other films that had an English dub track made. The distinction though is that it is only for a partial version of the film and in very limited quality. So, what Eureka has done is actually mixed the surviving English mono with the German mono for the sections that were never dubbed into English because the English dub was done for a shortened version of the film that got limited distribution. So, it's wonderful that this option is here for people who want the English dubs. Uh, but do keep in mind that the quality is extremely limited. Uh, but Eureka has gone the extra mile and presented this also as PCM and it puts a note on the menu that it will obviously be of limited quality and has to switch to German with subtitles for the sequences that were never dubbed into English. Now to move on to the supplemental features.
All the films in the set feature an introduction by the great Sir Christopher Freeling who is of course most famous for being Sergey Leone's biographer and champion and one of the great film scholars and historians of the world. Uh so who better to talk about the Carl my westerns of the 1960s.
Uh so for each film he gives an introduction. Uh but the menus very nicely state that because he discusses certain plot details that if you're new to these films or haven't seen them before, it's best to probably look at them after having viewed the film. And each of the films give you the option to play it with or without the intro and then also to just select the introduction from the supplements. Here on Old Chatterhand, uh it's not just an introduction, but it's really a 25minute discussion piece about the whole history of the films, their development, the adaptations, and the life and works of Carl Mai himself. So this is Sir Christopher Freiling basically giving you a full, you know, college lecture level uh crash course in the world of Carl Me's life and works and the famous film adaptations of the 60s and thus giving you the full context that you need for these films and then ending by focusing on old Shatterhand in particular. But what's wonderful about everything Freiling does is that it still remains approachable. And even though it's a ton of information at, you know, at least a college level, it's easily digestible. And he always has this wonderful uh ability to talk directly to the viewer with a sense of conversational warmth. And in fact, this looks like it was literally recorded and filmed in his living room. And you see the his own wall of physical media behind him out of focus. So, it feels like Sir Christopher Failing just sat down in his living room to have a chat with you about the world of Carl Mai and Carl my films. And so, this is jam-packed with information. Again, it runs about 25 minutes and is really well put together because it is so nicely direct. And then you get for all the other films basically Freiling talking specifically about those for anywhere between three and five minutes as part of the same sort of camera setup. They obviously just did this session and then they recorded him talking about the other films each for a couple minutes.
So all the films have a Sir Christopher Freiling introduction, but here all the meat of the material is in this one 25minute piece. So that is easily the best of the on disk visual supplements in terms of getting incredible value for your time. The other astounding new supplement is in the audio commentary.
The great film critic and historian David Khaled has done two commentaries for two different films in this set. And they basically form a one-two punch as a further example of why David Khaled is one of the best to ever do it in terms of commentaries. And I think it's no surprise that he chose to do a track for the two best films of this seven film cycle. Uh but his commentary track on Old Shatterhand is absolutely sensational. It is unbelievably approachable for anyone who's just an average viewer who's come to these German westerns and just basically come in cold. Uh he is able to talk about the film's intensively difficult production history and troubles and the long grueling uh development process and talk about all the different names that they went through in terms of just getting the story and the script. But then the different directors they tried and the shooting problems and location problems and how they did the casting and how Arthur Browner was trying to compete with Rialto Films and how they hit upon the idea of oh well these characters are in the public domain so as long as we don't do any of the actual books we can get away with it. It it is so incredibly well researched and detailed that it takes what Freiling has already discussed in his overview and goes into the deep minutia of things. It is a wallto-wall informationpacked track that still remains enjoyable to listen to and incredibly engaging. That's why I say David Khaled is one of the best to ever do it in terms of commentaries. I don't say that lightly. Every commentary I've ever heard from him is worldclass, and this is no exception. This is one of those commentaries that's so good, it's worth purchasing the whole set for. And his other commentary is as well. In fact, these commentaries are so good it'll make you wish he did one for all seven films. That's how good they are.
And even if you wound up not liking the film so much or only thinking that it was maybe okay, I think the commentary will go a long way in increasing either your appreciation of the film or your appreciation of the overall experience because you get such a wealth of additional information and background material about all the key players and the whole production and the journey it took to even get the film made and released and be such a big production.
Uh, this is simply put one of the best commentary tracks I've ever heard.
Absolutely world class. One of the best commentaries of all time and worth purchasing the whole set for. Now, all the other extras seem to be pre-existing legacy materials taken from existing releases of the film in Germany on older formats. So, we have a nicely done making of Old Shatterhand, which runs just under 18 minutes and is, of course, uh, in 4x3 with German audio and English subtitles are provided. This is where you get the traditional sort of making of that has interviews with surviving cast and crew members and there's even some contributions from the producer and you also get to see some glimpses of some of the shooting locations in the modern day and also hear from various representatives of CCC and the Carl Maya estate and you get to hear about the legacy of the film and and the fans. So this is your traditional making of featurette piece that you would expect and it is well done. And it's just of course in German with English subtitles.
Then there's a vintage featureette on the actress Dalia Lavi who plays the lead heroine of Old Shatterhand. This is more of a vintage promo interview where it's interview footage mixed with her giving a performance because she was also a well-known singer. This is in black and white and it's a standard definition upscale of an old file and it looks healthy enough, but it's just basically a short promo piece that only runs two and a half minutes. And then we have the international release trailer for the film. Uh this is unfortunately in very low quality. It's a standard definition upscale. Uh it also carries the title on screen of Apache's Last Battle, but in the voiceover narration, it has the old Shatterhand title. Um there's a lot of wear in this, but we're at least able to look at some vintage trailer in some form [snorts] for the film. Uh, but just keep in mind the quality is very low and the trailer had a lot of wear to begin with and is missing frames. So, you've got, you know, tons of damage and scratches and pops and jumps and things. So, uh, just know that the trailer here and pretty much all the trailers in this set are just a pre-existing standard definition file of the best they could actually source uh, presumably for some of those older video releases of the films. So, this trailer runs about 3 and 1/2 minutes. Interestingly, this trailer actually does have an English voiceover.
So, I assume that's why oncreen you've got the English title instead of the German original. Now, going in release order, we move to the second film, which is Daroot or the Shoot in English. This is the first of the Oriental Adventure films uh featuring the Carl my character Cara Beny also played by Lex Barker. So, these are the films that are obviously not westerns, but they have all the same trappings and tropes as what you see in Old Shatterhand and the actual westerns.
It's just basically translating everything into a different realm. So, it's basically a side series even though it's part of the same series and you've got the same lead actors basically playing variations of the exact same roles that they did in the Shatterhand films. Now, everything I said about Old Chatterhand being a very direct story that didn't necessarily have as much nuance as you might wish for and having an inherent simplicity to the storytelling that uh makes it a film that children can actually watch and enjoy. Um that unfortunately increases in the oriental adventures films. And so of the films in this CCC cycle and the films in this box set, these particular films, the carbeny films are really the ones that have the the least narrative material to get invested in. And so depending on the viewer, your mileage may vary with these films in comparison to the others. I myself found these films to be the ones that unfortunately kind of dragged a bit because uh they were extremely direct and simplistic in their stories and it felt like it was continuing things from the other films because you have a lot of the same cast and crew and you've got the same lead actors in very similar roles but it's just like variations on a theme.
Dershoot deals with Car Beny and his comic relief companion Omar with about 500 names, [laughter] played again by Lex Barker and Ralph Walter, respectively, traveling through the Balkan Peninsula and dealing with a notorious bandit known only as Dershoot or the Chute. That's literally the bandit's name. Uh but he's this bandit chief who basically rules the countryside and has been uh kidnapping various figures as well as laying waste to virtually everything for his own personal gains. That's really the entirety of the plot. Uh it is of course no secret that Darute is played once again by Rick Bataglia who is wonderfully charming when he's on screen, but they try to keep the identity of a villain at least a secret for a while. But it's no surprise as soon as he appears on screen, you know that he is of course going to be Duroot himself. What makes this particular part of the cycle unique though is the insertion of additional comic relief characters. The characters of Sir David Lindseay and his manservant Archabald.
They're played by Deerb Borch and Chris Howland. And they become really the most interesting things in this film because uh the character of Sir Lindsay is basically a riff on uh the sort of um Phineas Fog type of around the world in 80 days. the rich Englishman who just wants to have constant adventures. And he and his manservate go around uh basically living the high life with a variety of all sorts of um costumes and gadgetry and things that they can fit inside oversized suitcases. And so they just wander around and sort of blunder through in and out of the story and also are recurring in the other films in this sort of miniature cycle. So, their inclusion is at least charming and funny in spots, but it is a a little bit odd and bizarre to get used to at first.
Otherwise, this is a very straightforward story that could easily be turned into an adventure serial in chapters if you wanted to do that. Uh, but unfortunately, it doesn't give the viewer much to get engaged with because it is so direct. And so for me, it certainly felt like it it plotted. It was a a film that didn't necessarily hold my interest for its story. It was more of just seeing uh what the actors did with these other characters who were different yet incredibly similar to what the characters in old Shatterand and seeing how they interacted in this particular other cycle within the cycle of CCC films. And the other distinction is that this film was directed by Robert Seodmak who CCC had gotten to come back to Germany and make several films for the company. And so he wound up doing several films for the Carl my cycle of films. Uh Semeck was of course most famous for his Hollywood films particularly his noirs and also he did some in the universal horror cannon and also directed things like the genre classic the spiral staircase. So he was an interesting choice to direct some of these films and I think there is a certain level of polish that you experience in in their shoot in terms of the overall um production to to a certain extent within the boundaries of how it was made and the overall budget.
The problem is just that it can never overcome how basic the actual script is, and you just wish it was better because it seems like there's enough ingredients there to at least make something out of a basic period adventure with a very stoic hero. Uh, but unfortunately for me, it's a film that just sort of plaids along. At points you could think that Dshoot could have been made in in Hollywood actually because it is polished in those areas and you have an experienced director in Seadmak who had come up through the studio system. Uh but then there are certain elements that are clearly more in tone with a European western and it's obviously geared for the German market. I just I I I simply wish that there was more story because it it feels like it plots along and that there's not enough story to actually fulfill the runtime of the film and so it's having to rely on certain moments and set pieces and just adding more um action set pieces and the action never particularly ramps up to a large level.
All the action sequences seem very straightforward in in in the staging as well. And it just there's there's a feeling of simplicity that runs through the film. It's it's perfectly fine, but it just doesn't do anything to really engage you as a viewer all that much. I suppose not being in Germany looking at these films with the cultural context makes it a different sort of experience.
But I I think most people can agree that the oriental adventure films or the car Benmi films are the ones of the seven that are not as engaging as the others.
And I would also say that this is where Ralph Walter's performance as as the primary sidekick comic relief. Uh this time he's playing the character of Hadashi Omar. Again, he's got multiple names and every time he he feels like he's challenged, he has to puff himself up and recite all the names. [laughter] Um this is where the comic relief starts to border on being maybe at least a little bit grading to certain audience members and it does become a bit tiresome. Not because of the performance, just because of the type of character it is. And I do vastly prefer the other Ralph Walter characters in the other films. Uh but eventually you do get used to to the Hadashi character and I do think he is at least a little bit more dialed in and a little bit less grading in the other uh oriental adventure films. Um again it has to be said how amazing Lex Barker is on screen. Just his presence, his reactions and everything. And I think he's absolutely wonderful as this other character even though there's not much to distinguish the three different heroes that he plays across these seven films. Uh but he manages to make it distinct within the world of this film.
So when you're watching the seven films, you can actually tell that it's three different characters, but it's played by the same actor having to do a lot of the same things. There's also some elements of this film that are striking for not necessarily the reasons intended.
Obviously, some of the humor with the uh English gentleman is a little bit odd and quirky. Uh but there's uh one particular sequence involving a bear that they obviously had to um switch to not having the bear on screen to not endanger someone's life. And so there's a um not subtle usage of a guy in a bare suit, which uh you can clearly tell in in this uh new transfer because you're looking at it on at least an HD or 4K television upscaled and yeah, it's definitely a guy in a bear suit. So [laughter] there there there's some um unintentionally funny things here and there. Uh but again for all I can complain about the film's shortcomings, you still feel that sense of great heart that it has. So all of these films I think can at least in that area uh overcome their negatives or shortcomings or production limitations for that reason. And that's why I think they they seem to truly reflect the works of Carl Mai even if they're doing something completely different. Now here with Darute, they are actually adapting Carl my works because the oriental adventures were able to be licensed by CCC because Rialto hadn't gotten the rights to those and the more obscure novels because Mai had written so much that Rialto had just focused primarily on the Winnu and Chatterhand stories and then some of the others. So CCC could use those characters as public domain characters, but they couldn't use any of the actual stories. But they were able to go and license all these other works which is why suddenly they're cranking out these oriental adventure films and then the Dr. Sternell Mexico films which are apparently even more obscure novels. Now let's talk about the transfer. This is another of these 4K restorations and like all the other films it is in the scope aspect ratio with a mono sound mix. Now, just like old Shatter Hands, the overall image looks relatively healthy, but there are still some occasional visual imperfections in terms of some little scratches, specs, marks, things like that. A little bit of frame movement, and of course, dupe transitions that are inherent to the original source. These are relatively minor, though, and overall the the film looks quite good except for the unfortunate grain management once again rearing its ugly head. Just like on old Shatter Hand, it comes and goes, but when it's there, it's not pleasant and results in stagnant grain, frozen grain artifacts, and then the sort of junk noise that's going on in those certain areas. And it again is most notable on the actor's faces, particularly in the closer shots. Um, it is really unfortunate because otherwise this is a fine looking transfer of this film and you just wish that it hadn't been done this way that again it's the one major problem here on Darshoot just like it was on old Shatterhand and it runs through all the transfers and I want to stress once more this is not Eureka's doing. This is merely what's baked into the restoration masters that they were given access to. So there it's not really anything that they could do about it and these restorations are unfortunately not available without this terrible grain management applied. So because the the actual terrain of the locations of Dershoot is different from old Shatterhand and you have less completely open wide vistas where this stuff is more apparent. It does seem like the grain management and artifacts are lessened. But I think that's just because it's kind of covered up by the the trees and the forests and and things like that um more than old Chatterand not having any of that to sort of disguise more of the artifacts that are popping up. Again, because this feature is sharing the disc with another and some supplements, uh the bit rate is a bit lower, but it's still averaging between about 19 and 22 megabits per second, and there's no issues with the encoding. So, that's solid and well done. Again, the only problem is the really terrible grain management and processing that was done in the restoration process. Now, for the audio, we again have the original German mono and lossless PCM. It sounds healthy enough and has some natural hiss, but of course is limited due to the nature of its production. So, it's a little bit thin and of course the dialogue sounds just a little bit canned because it was uh re-recorded and post-sced. Uh, and then also in some of the louder passages, there's obviously a little bit of thinness and distortion just due to the nature of the track, but it sounds healthy enough for what it is. There are of course English subtitles automatically provided and they are good. The film also has a surviving English mono that's been provided, but again, the quality is extremely limited.
It's very thin and noisy and has lower fidelity and was done for a shorter version of the film. So, it's been mixed in with the German mono with English subtitles. And once again, Eureka gives you this option on the menu and puts a note on the actual menu about what the track is, the quality, and how it's for a shorter version. And nicely, even the English dub is also encoded as lossless PCM. For the supplements, we get another frrailing introduction. This runs about three and a half minutes. And again, the menu very nicely states for the new time or firsttime viewer that you'll want to look at the introduction afterwards because Freiling does talk about some of the plot, so it could spoil the film.
And you're also given the option to play the film with or without the introduction or just select the intro from the supplements. So Freiling again in the nice recording session talked specifically about this film, its production, a little bit of the plot and how these Car and Ben Nempy films differ from the Shatteran films and how also that it is a different flavor even though the characters are very similar to the previous film and the actors are the same and also talking about having Robert Semeag as director but also how this film and particularly the Omar character can be a little bit greater.
ing for for some audiences. So, it is a nice little piece talking specifically about this film. Then we have another vintage making up piece, but this is specifically making Carl May's Orient Cycle talking about the Oriental Adventures or Cara Beny films made by CCC. This is another existing legacy extra that's been nicely ported over. It is well done and runs about 21 minutes.
It's of course in German with English subtitles and you've also got some noise in the picture because it's obviously older standard definition footage made for a DVD release being upscaled, but it is well done and uh very pleasantly watchable. And so this is basically an overview and a little bit of a making up about not just this film but the other Cara Beny films. And we have a short uh just under minute clip of news real footage of producer Archer Browner and some of the casting crew winning an award for Dare Shoot. So this is them just on stage accepting the award and seeing the audience applaud. And it's obviously black and white upscaled standard definition footage, but it's a nice little inclusion and uh gives you a further window into the world of the making of these films. Then we have the film's trailer which runs just under 3 minutes. This is another uh old standard definition file that's been included of a very very worn trailer. This one, it's the original scope trailer in German with English subtitles provided, but it's very low quality from a very worn uh color faded trailer that looks quite brown and you know it's it's just heavy wear and the old file is quite noisy because it's upconverting and and and dealing with an old standard definition trailer file. So, it is what it is. One wishes that there was an HD scan of a trailer, but at least there's some representation of an original trailer for the film and the original German one. Then we move to the next film, which is 1965's The Treasure of the Aztecs, which is the first of a two-parter as the follow-up film or the second part of the story would be released a couple months later in the same year, Pyramid of the Sun God. Now, this was originally conceived as one big giant film focusing on the Carl, my hero of Dr. Carl Sternow and set in Mexico with a secret protected Aztec treasure and finding uh Dr. Sternow uh essentially being dispatched by Abraham Lincoln himself to aid forces in Mexico during the uh terrible times of upheavals. So, you've got a secret Aztec treasure complete with a priest and high priestess left to guard it in a secret volcanic chamber. You've got all these people who want to get their hands on it to perhaps fund the forces of Wararez or to fill their own pockets. You've got multiple different subplots going on with uh other characters scheming for their own ends. And it makes sense why this is more than what could be contained in a single average film of an average runtime. Uh, however, it's a ton of different plot lines and the overall splitting into two films doesn't quite serve all of this stuff going on. nor was it very successful at the German box office, particularly having the story split into two films and the audiences not necessarily wanting to come back to a second film and buy another ticket just to get the rest of the story that they paid for the first time. So, it's a strikingly different film, but it's also got a lot of the same cast and crew. And once again, Lex Barker plays the Carl, my hero of Dr. Carl Sternow, who is cut from the same cloth as old Shatterhand and Cara Benmy, but now he's also a doctor and sort of an official uh figure because he is dispatched by President Lincoln to go to Mexico on a diplomatic mission at the start of things. So, it does add a a a sense of official and a little bit of a tinge of urgency to uh why he's actually going to Mexico and that there are greater stakes than uh it just being about the lost gold treasure.
Ralph Falter returns as the sidekick comic relief, but this time he plays cuckoo clock salesman Andreas Hassenfeer. And this comic relief character is probably the most lovable of the three that he plays across the films as he is an average man. Again, a cuckoo clock salesman wandering through Mexico. It's quite a bizarre concept, but he's wonderfully charming and is a character who uh throws himself into action even though he's an over his head. He's a very lovable, endearing character in that way. And so I think the comic relief actually works better here in this film for that. Again, we have Rick Pataglia returning as the wonderful villainous Captain Verdoha who likes to brandish a bullhip as well. And the other villains in the other subplot of this film are best represented by the evil massinations of the villainist Josepha, played by Michelle Girodon, who is one of the highlights of this two-parter film. Now, The Treasure of the Aztecs is easily the stronger of the two films, and I think has more of the dramatic meat of the story. It builds to a a nice enough cliffhanger climax with uh Dr. Sterno in a particular predicament and also involving the lost treasure. The problem is there's so many different things going on and there were so many developmental and production problems that fortunately hold the film back from hitting its full potential across the two parts. It certainly needed to be longer than say about a 100 minutes or so. But at the very least, the story that's being told with all these different characters should have been refined and better focused to perhaps get away with doing it in a single film that was a bit longer, maybe two and a half hours or so. Um because the second part is really a one that feels more like it's it's padded out to feature length. There's not a whole lot that's actually done with the Dr. Stern character for most of the second film.
And so in a lot of ways you kind of wish you could take the ending of the second film and the important parts and put it with this first film. But the treasure of the Aztecs is easily the stronger film of the two and has a lot of admirable qualities to it. CCC and Arthur Browner were uh swinging for the fences again trying to make a more epic scale film like what they did on Old Shatterhand being the most expensive German film made to that point and shooting in 70 mm. So that is admirable.
Um the overall film though is only so effective because it has some scripting issues for sure. It's got a lot of things going on and it needed more narrative focus for sure and I don't know if it necessarily needed to be two films. I think if it was a single film that was longer and the story was more refined, I think that would go a long way to making it play better. They also had a lot of production problems in the shooting. So they wound up having to shoot a lot of the film on sound stages and so there are a number of sequences and even some of the outdoor sequences where they had to shoot it on a stage and so it does have more of a stagy quality to it. I think the direction by Robert Seadme is good overall and it shows a certain level of uh a polished quality like what you would expect from a Hollywood studio film, but ultimately it's about the adventure and the clear-cut themes and the the very direct characterizations. So what makes this film work is that it is carrying on the tradition of these Carl May adaptations and it's it's different from the others because it's a different character. It's in Mexico. You've got a secret Aztec treasure. You know, there's enough to distinguish it from the other films. And overall, I do think Treasure of the Aztecs is the second strongest of these seven films. So, this is the second best behind Old Shatterhand, I would say.
Now, in terms of the transfer and the picture quality, this is a handsome enough scope presentation where you will occasionally see a little bit of wear, some occasional specs, light movement, and dupe transitions. So, nothing out of the ordinary. and it looks healthy enough. And again, the encoding is solid at about 22 megabits per second, but the problem once again is the terrible grain management that's used. It comes and goes, and sometimes some of the sets can obscure it, but it's certainly there and when it rears its ugly head, you can't miss it. So, that is unfortunately the major problem again with this film because it's in all of this set. I will say I did notice that there's a a tiny bit in the opening credits where it looks like there there was some damage or it's an inherent issue perhaps to the opening titles, but when you get to the actual music credit, it's like the frame freezes for a second then and then jumps like either uh it was just done that way in the original credits or they were trying to get around some damaged frames. Overall, if it weren't for the terrible grain management and artifacts it produced, I would say this is a healthy enough transfer with more than a bit of general wear in terms of the scratches and lines and and specks and marks that pop up here and there. So, if it weren't for the grain management, I would say this is relatively solid. But again, the grain management artifacts are really bad when they appear. In terms of the audio, this has the original German mono and lossless PCM and English subtitles. The monot track is of course showing its limitations from the style and manner it was produced. So it is a little bit thin.
The dialogue can sound a little bit canned due to how it was recorded. And in the louder passages, it can sound a little bit harsh. There's also some natural hiss underneath things and occasionally you'll hear some slight ticks and things. So it hasn't been uh overcrubbed thankfully. In terms of the supplements specific to Treasure of the Aztecs, there's another frrailing introduction which runs just over 3 minutes. He talks a little bit about the production and links uh some similarities to the classic western Vera Cruz, but also the uh film Warez because you're dealing with the same historical figure here and also talks about how it was turned into a two-parter film. The major supplement is the second of the two David Khal commentaries and once again he knocks it out of the park. This is a wonderfully informative, jam-packed, entertaining, engaging commentary, and he goes into the absolute minutia about the film's production, which explains everything about the experience of these two films.
So, if you like certain things, but you wish certain things were better, or you didn't like the films at all, and you wish they were better, or you had any questions about why the film was split into two, and why it was done this way and had all these different subplots, or you know, if you had any questions about the film at all, Khaled's commentary answers all of them and more. And again, is the product of an incredible amount of research and it never becomes dry or boring or too academic. It's always extremely approachable and engaging and is such a wonderful joy to listen to and again is one of the best commentaries I've ever heard and is worth purchasing the whole set for. It's a reference work in a commentary track and is just one of the best commentaries ever made. He does this time and time again. If you see David Khaled's name on a release saying that he did the commentary, that track is worth its weight in gold. And again, you have another one of those here for Treasure of the Aztecs. Then we have an interview of Carl Schulz, who I believe is with the Carl Maya estate. This is about the Dr. Sternow adventures in particular, and these two film adaptations. This is an older interview, again, upscale from standard definition in German with English subtitles. It's in the 43 aspect ratio and runs just under 7 minutes, but it's a little bit of extra discussion in this interview, specifically about the Dr. Sternow adventures. And then we get the trailer for Treasure of the Aztecs, which again is an older file, older transfer of a very worn trailer that's in scope, so you'll know what to expect once you've seen some of these trailers. It is in German with English subtitles, and at least there is some version of the original trailer that is presented here, but just keep in mind the quality is limited. Then we move on to the second part of this story, Pyramid of the Sun God, also released in 1965. This is the continuation of the same story. And again, it is definitely the weaker of the two halves. Uh it does feel like most of the runtime you're just going through padding in order to then eventually get to the culmination of the story. And our lead hero of Dr. Sternow doesn't have much to do or just doesn't appear in most of the second half of the film. And it it just feels like this should have been a single film that was just longer. And this bigger story was just reduced to where it actually had more narrative focus and didn't feel like you were having to sit through a whole second film of a lot of other things just sort of going on until we could get to the climax of all the story lines and the final act. So, it is definitely the weaker of the two. It's not bad, but you're just having to wait a while to get to where you know the story is going. you very much can know what to expect essentially because uh these stories are so direct and the characters are so purely drawn that you don't necessarily need a whole second film to sit through just to get to the last 20 or 30 minutes or you know really even just the last 15 minutes or so uh to resolve all the different story threads. Again, this all goes back to the film originally being planned as a big super production where they wanted to shoot the whole thing in Mexico and it was going to be one big single film epic probably about a three-hour film and the decision to split it into two and not being able to shoot it in Mexico and having budgetary limitations, you know, all all this stuff added up. And then Khallet goes into incredible detail in his commentary about the development process and especially the scripting process which was very convoluted and resulted in the script and the overall story not truly being strong enough to support being a big massive film and then being split into two films. So every issue inherent with the film is really explained by the production and development. And so this is a key example of the supplements providing the necessary context. But these two films uh viewed together or separately are still entertaining enough. And I think in particular Treasure of the Aztecs is strong enough on its own. And these films still have such a sense of heart to them that you clearly know what they're getting after and they have their moments in spite of their limitations. So what some people would obviously note as being maybe a little bit hokey in places or you know some elements obviously being uh limited in their budget. The spirit of these films overcomes that and there's a sense of audience goodwill that's generated that will allow for at least a good deal of that. I just think with Pyramid of the Sun God you run into the issues of how the story was developed and then ultimately compromised and then split into two parts. So those are the hurdles that the second part just can't quite get over. In terms of the transfer and picture quality, this is again like Treasure of the Aztecs. It's a fine looking scope transfer with some general wear, some specks, scratches, lines, and dupe transitions. So it's to be expected for a film of this era. The problem once again is the terrible grain management, which comes and goes, but is clearly there and leaves some really bad artifacts in its wake. So, it's the same problem. And so, since this is part two of the same story, it's part two of the same transfer problems, unfortunately.
And also, the whole opening of the film is dupe footage of lower quality because the second film is harmed by having to sit through a whole recap of the events of the first film for several minutes because when this film was released, it was several months afterwards. and so they had to remind the audience of what they had seen several months ago. The audio is the original German mono with English subtitles. It's an overall fine quality with some obvious limitations of the source material and the age. Uh and of course there is some natural hiss in the track, but there are occasionally some light ticks and pops you might hear here and there. So it essentially is what it is and sounds healthy enough.
Now the supplements for this particular film are of course another frailing intro where he talks about the limitations of it being the second film and how it obviously isn't as good as the first part and was not as successful with German audiences because they didn't really want to buy two different tickets and have to see the same story split and of course having the gap between the two films. This intro runs just over four minutes. And he also highlights how the law of diminishing returns was already starting to set in in terms of the box office returns with the Carl my films, which is why the CCC company was trying some different things and why they tried this different character that they could license uh to try and keep the trend going with the Carl my adaptations by doing something a little bit different with the same actors. And also he highlights how the films were starting to also be influenced by other popular things. So where they inspired some of the Italian westerns as the films go along you start to see influences of other films. He highlights here how even uh one of the main musical themes of these two films actually is very reminiscent of the Magnificent 7 theme. And then we have the film's original trailer which runs just over three and a half minutes.
Again, it's an old standard deaf upscale of a very worn trailer and it's got a lot of noise in the image, but at least it's the original German trailer and has English subtitles and we have some version of the trailer on the disc. Then we come to 1965's through Wild Kurdistan, which is the second of the Cara Ben Nemcy films. And this film was both written and directed by France Joseph Gotautle. This sees Lex Barker return again as Cara Beny with Raf Walter as Omar and the further comic adventures of Sir David Lindley and Archabald. And now Cara Beny is trying to save the son of a shake who was captured by an evil governor figure for manufactured charges. And Carbani is trying to get him out of captivity and save his life and thus prevent further bloodshed. So it's a very straightforward story like Darute. still takes its time in getting to the overall point of the story, which is at the end of the day very simple. But I do think it's a more enjoyable film than Dare Shoot. It doesn't plot along as much.
There's still a bit of that quality, but I think it is helped by having uh more striking locations and at least having a little bit more of a drive to its narrative. And you can also tell as Freiling and others will point out that in the later two films in this cycle, there's a bit more of other flavors coming in and particularly an influence from Lawrence of Arabia. I think this film manages to emerge as being a little bit stronger than Dershoot in its storytelling, but still has a lot of the same issues and is at the end of the day a very simple, straightforward heroic adventure story. I I actually think even though they remained simple film narratives, I think the oriental adventure films actually improve as they get along. Not great improvements, but I think each one gets a little bit better.
Even if Daroot is probably more polished as a production than the other two Cara Beny films. What is nice about all three of these films, they are actually interconnected. So, Darshoot is actually mentioned by name in this film and then uh through Kurdistan is actually a direct precursor to the next film which picks up right where this film left off.
So, that film is a direct sequel. So, you get the continuity running through all three films. Now, in terms of the transfer and the picture quality, again, this is a healthy enough scope transfer.
The encoding is solid in the high teens, low 20s. So again, about 18 to 23 24 megabits per second on average with no issues whatsoever. So nothing outside of the ordinary for a film of this era, having some general wear pop up throughout. But once again, from the opening titles onward, the ugly grain management artifacts are right there.
And because you've got a lot of landscape shots, they are clearly visible because there's nothing to block the uh the large skies. and then the figures on the horizon or you know you just you've got more landscape shots and open shots and open location vistas where you can clearly see the junk noise and processing that's going on. So it's unfortunately here throughout the transfer it comes and goes but it's certainly there and when it's there on screen the artifacts are very unpleasant. The audio is the original German mono and losses PCM with English subtitles. The mono is in good enough quality with some natural hiss. There is of course the source limitations and some occasional slight ticks or uh occasionally even a fleeting tiny bit of hum inherent in the track. Nothing out of the ordinary for something of this vintage and the audio sounds healthy enough overall. For the supplements, we have another failing introduction which runs just over 3 minutes. He talks about this film specifically starting to show some of the influence of the Italian westerns but also Lawrence of Arabian other films. But this film actually was shot in Almaria Spain like an Italian western and he started to have some of the cast and crew from Italian westerns get mixed in to these German Carl my films. And then we have the film's original trailer which again is an old SD upscaled file which is of a very worn trailer with missing frames and jumps and lots of damage. So, do be aware that the quality of these trailers are typically very low and this one's very worn. It runs about 3 minutes and 44 seconds and is in German with English subtitles. And interestingly, they also made sure to present the audio here for the trailer itself as PCM. Then we have the direct sequel, In the Kingdom of the Silver Lion, also released in 1965.
This essentially picks up where Through Ral Kurdistan left off with our characters and just continues the action now featuring a group of Christians in the desert protecting a secret treasure and then also dealing with the various factions of locals and uh villainous more bandit type forces all uh out to either preserve their culture or the the secret group's treasure or of course the villains out to simply enrich themselves. So, this basically picks up where the last film left off, but it can still be viewed as a standalone. And actually, in spite of it having a very simple plot and just sort of starting after the aftermath of the last film and also not being as maybe polished as some of the previous films while also having certain elements that seem to be repeating elements of the earlier Carl my films. I think this is actually the strongest of the oriental adventure carabani films. At least it was the one I enjoyed the most. It has a bit more drive and energy to it than even through while Kurdistan did. And this is the film where you definitely have more of the visible Lawrence of Arabia influence and a bit more of the Italian western influence. And you certainly get that connection as one of the highlights of the film is the secondary villain is played by Seagard RP probably most famous for playing Estabbon Rojo in a fistful of dollars and he's wonderful in his appearance in this film and adds a necessary energy to the proceedings. So you basically have more adventures of carbon with Omar in the desert. We have Sir Lindsay and Archerald appearing again to have more comic hy jinks. And there's just a bit more charge to this film than there was even in through Curtisan. And I I guess maybe they just get better as they go along in terms of getting used to things. And you've got the light bits of running continuity. So each film builds a little bit on the one that came before. So I think this is actually the most enjoyable of the three films of this mini cycle. Now in terms of the transfer and picture quality, this is again a solid effort presenting the film in its scope aspect ratio with just some general wear, some line specs and little bits of movement scattered throughout. The one thing that is unique to this film though is you'll note that uh especially because it happens in the opening of the film, but uh it it comes up at certain points throughout the film and even in the ending that some shots or moments in the film have this uh particular effect of where the image almost is wavering like the focus is actually wavering. And so, for example, in the opening when Carbon Nempy or Lex Barker is sitting on the ground, you'll note that it looks like his actual his clothing is actually sort of um distorting on itself. And you'll notice that the the details are sort of pulsating in and out of focus, like the actual focus is wavering. So, I can only assume that's just something inherent to the original photography and production as it doesn't seem to be like an artifact of the actual restoration process. Or I could be wrong. I've just never seen this film before. It's the only one of the films that seems to have something inherent like this. So, it it comes and goes. It's not extremely major, but if you're paying attention to the transfer, you'll certainly notice that there's a couple points scattered throughout the film where it seems like the actual focus of the image itself is a little bit wavering. But once again, the big problem is the terrible grain management that results in stagnant grain, frozen grain halos, and a lot of junk processing noise. Again, it comes and goes, but because there's a lot of landscape shots and open vistas, you're going to notice these artifacts more than the films where there's not so many open landscape shots. So, again, the whole impact of the 4K restoration and new uh transfer presented on Blu-ray is severely limited by the unfortunate decision to use such a degree of grain management processing. Now, in terms of the encoding, this is the one disc of a single film by itself. So the big difference here is that this film has the highest bit rate overall. It's averaging in the high 20s into the 30s.
So obviously because it's not having to share the disc with another feature means that it's got a much higher bit rate, but it's also got additional longer extras that are not necessarily about this particular film. They were just able to use this disc in terms of allotting it to this one film by itself and then using the extra space for some of the longer extras. The audio is the original German mono mix with English subtitles. It sounds healthy enough.
There's still some light hiss in the track underneath things, but you will notice occasionally some source limitations, some thinness and slight distortion, and some age related source defects that are lightly there, but it sounds healthy enough overall. So in terms of the supplements specific to this film, we have another frailing introduction which runs just over 3 minutes. He talks about the film being a direct sequel to Through Wild Kurdistan, how there's definitely the Lawrence of Arabia influence this time which is very strongly felt and then also how this film was made pretty much backtoback and then released very closely to the previous film and how it basically tied off this series of three films. Then we have the film's trailer which runs almost 4 and 1/2 minutes. It's again an old standard F file that's been upscaled, so it's definitely a bit noisy and of a very worn trailer with damage that does cut off at the end. Uh, but at least it's included in some form and has the original German audio with English subtitles. And then we have three other extras on the disc that are about the film's overall or other subjects. So the first is an interview with the daughter of producer Arthur Browner. So Alice Browner talks in an interview called Heroes on Horseback. So, she talks about growing up in the world of her father's productions and uh being a kid on the set of some of the films, but also their importance and longevity and how they've lasted for all of these years and influenced countless generations and about how uh she's very proud to continue her father's legacy and how they've done these new 4K restorations.
So, this is basically an interview piece done to tie in with these new 4K masters. It runs about 15 and a half minutes and is in German with PCM audio and English subtitles throughout the interview. Also, funnily enough, there you can tell that there's some digs at the Rialto competing film still.
[laughter] It's like there's still some rivalry between CCC and Rialto all these years later. Then we get a piece called Prodigal Son, which is Sheldon Hall talking specifically about the life and career of Robert Seodmck. This is an almost 30 minute uh really wonderful piece on Seabmck's career uh tracing it all the way from his early days in Germany and then of course people on Sunday moving to his uh leaving Germany with the rise of Hitler and coming to the US and working his way up through Hollywood eventually becoming known for his very striking uh bee films and coming up out of the horror units particularly making things like son of Dracula and then moving on to his most famous films which are his various noirs like Phantom Lady and of course also The Spiral Staircase and then how eventually his other films and his later films in particular are not often discussed and so he eventually came back to Europe and wound up making these films for CCC. In particular, he talks about the Carl Me films that Seadmack directed. And he ends it by basically making the case that Seadme was a lot more than the handful of films that people focus on like the classic The Killers and that his lesser discussed films and especially his later career films should be uh better discussed or at least re-evaluated. This is a really wonderful extra that gets into a lot of detail.
It's a really wonderful conversation, well edited with a lot of great stills and images, and it's lengthy enough that he's actually able to discuss Codme at a good level of detail and nicely the English audio is also lossless PCM as well, which doesn't often happen on interview pieces. And then finally, we come full circle with the last film in the overall Carl my cycle and also apparently the last of all the CCC and Rialto films, which is Winnoo and Shatterand and the Valley of Death released in 1968. And again seeing Lex Barker and Pierre Bryce as Shatterand and Winnu one last time also with Rick Bataglia returning as the villain. So you get basically one final flourish of the CCC films you've been watching and enjoying. And there is a certain poignency to seeing Shatterhand and Witu one last time and knowing that this was the last of not just the CCC films but also the Rialto films. And it does have a certain poignency. It's also aided by the primary female character being played by Karen Door and actually having a little bit more to do in terms of the plot. But it has been said by critics that this film is basically a reworked version of the original film that sparked the whole cycle of Carl my adaptations Treasure of Silver Lake. I haven't seen that film yet, but from what I can read about it, I can tell where they're getting that from. it does seem like it's uh very much uh working from the same elements. It is nice that this run of films does go out on a higher note and basically comes full circle with the returning to the characters that it started with. And again, you you do feel something by the end of all of these films and uh by saying goodbye to not just these characters, but the world of these films and all of the various personalities of the casting crew and the productions and the characters in the films that you've come to know. I think it is a more effective film than some of the others in this set simply because you're returning to the world of Shatterhand and Winnitu. I would say for me it's probably third best of the films just behind uh Treasure of the Aztecs or it's maybe tied for second best uh with Old Shatteran still being probably the strongest of the seven. But I do appreciate how we basically got one more film for all of these to sort of come full circle and to essentially have our heroes riding off into the sunset. you know, the that's the the sort of feeling that it has and it's nice that you get that. I wish the story was a bit stronger and it does feel like we go through a lot of things very quickly at the end, but it is overall satisfying and it's nice to go out on a higher note. Now, in terms of the transfer and picture quality, again, this is a relatively good-looking transfer in the original scope ratio. There is some general wear scattered throughout, so it's not a pristine restoration, but it is very goodlooking overall. I would say it's one of the best looking in the set, even though it's clearly a film made at the end of the cycle. The problem is, of course, once again, the terrible grain management and the artifacts that it's left. Uh most of the time this film looks better than the others because it doesn't seem to have as many of the artifacts, but when they pop up they're certainly obvious and very much there in your face. So, uh unfortunately, no film escaped the terrible grain management.
But thankfully, this film is at least a little bit better in that regard. But that's not saying much cuz when it pops up, it's really bad. For the audio, we have the original German mono with English subtitles. The German audio sounds quite good for what it is. It's obviously a little bit thin and limited due to the actual source limitations.
And occasionally you hear a little bit of his still in the track, so it hasn't been overcrubbed. Uh there are occasionally some age related bits of wear, but those are relatively minor, so it sounds healthy enough. We also have an optional English dub in PCM as well, but again uh the notes state that the quality is very limited and of course it was done for a different version. But nicely Eureka has included the English dub as an option for whoever wants it.
The Frrailing introduction runs just over five minutes and he talks about how this film is really the last harrah for the whole cycle and you can tell this is the end of the road and he highlights the ending as even having the sort of flavor of the Lone Ranger and Tanto riding off into the sunset as they always do. And so you get that classic legendary image of the two blood brothers and and best friends riding off to have adventure after adventure just things that we won't always necessarily see. And that's exactly what I thought when I saw the ending of this film. That was immediately what I thought of was the Lone Ranger and Tonto riding off into the distance at the end of another adventure. So it's got that timeless quality to it and the poignency of it being the last harrah. Freling also points out how obviously the film is reworking elements of some of the past CCC films as it's the last film, but also how it is very clearly reworking most of Treasure of Silver Lake. So, the irony is the last of all of these films is basically reworking and remaking a lot of the original film that spawned the whole slew of Carl my films. So, I think that's not only fitting for how these films were made, but also very ironic in that way. Then we have the film's original trailer, which is interestingly in a different ratio, more like a 2.0 to1, it seems. This is another standard definition upscale of a noisy file of a very worn source. But at least we have some version of the film's trailer. Just expect it's got a lot of wear. It's got some jumps and things and even some spots of faded color. It runs just over four minutes and has a lot of heavy wear at the end, but at least we have some version of the film's original marketing campaign on the disc. Not to talk about the box set packaging and artwork for Eureka's limited edition set. So, this is presented as spine 350 through 356 in the Masters of Cinema line. And Eureka has nicely used the striking poster image from Pyramid of the Sun God for the actual box set cover. So, this is a hardcase box that is of the sort of slimmer variety. And then it's given not a J card, but actually this little holder tray. So, you've actually got the um printed information in this that slips on the bottom of the box and then the actual J card is the back of it. So, it is obviously one you have to be careful sliding on and off, but it is a nice little touch. Here on the back, we have a basic description and then a listing of all of the supplements. And then you also nicely get the poster images for each of the films that are used for the actual covers on the individual cases.
On the bottom, you have the copyright info and the fact that this is a region A and B locked title. So, you can actually play this set in the US as it is a dual region US and UK release.
We've got the Masters of Cinema spine numbers on the side of the little tray.
And a wonderful touch, you've got Lex Barker and a pose as old Shatterhand on the other side. And here's what it looks like when the box is in. So, this is what you'll see sitting on the shelf.
Here is the box with the beautiful Pyramid of the Sun god art without the cover. And then here is the box spine, which also has the spine numbers. And then on the rear, you have all of the titles in their original font with a nice matching yellow to go with the sort of blood orange background color. Eureka produced a lovely booklet to go with this set which runs about 60 pages. This is on nice thicker card stock, so it has a premium feel and a nice finish to it.
And of course, beautiful reproductions of original stills and some of the uh poster images. So here we have a lovely shot of Ka Benmi and Omar with Cara on the great horse rejumping a gigantic gap as seen in one of the films. Inside we have four fantastic essays plus the credits for the film and the typical Eureka viewing notes. Each of the films gets its own page at the start and nicely they give you the original release date. And this is how you can easily view the films in release order if you want to do it that way like I did uh versus watching the uh pairings of the different series within this cycle.
So the essays range from covering the life and times of Carmi himself to the films and the uh fun stories of the production and the competition between Rialto and CCC but also how they influenced German cinema as a whole.
There's a really fascinating essay here about old Shatterhand himself and how the uh character and the portrayal by Lex Barker is really trying to in some ways if unintentionally reclaim the German archetype of the superheroic stoic tall blonde figure of a perfect physique from what had been done to that sort of concept during the Nazi regime.
And then there's a wonderful essay examining Lex Barker's career in German films and how he became an iconic figure in the 1960s uh but only for a particular period of time centered around the Carl my cycle. And then we close out with the typical Eureka viewing notes telling you that these are all widescreen films and to make sure you have motion smoothing disabled on your television. And then the credits of this release. And then last, we have a wonderful tinted still of one and two and shatter hand on the back. Now for the Digi packs themselves, they are all the slim variety and nicely feature the original poster art for each film. So here we have the first disc with old Shatterhand in the original poster featuring Shatterhand tied in the cavalry fort during the climactic battle. And then the inside has the poster for Winnu and Shatterhand in the Valley of Death. And then the disc tray shows a wonderful still of Winnu in full pose. The disc label has the titles but nicely has a background color that matches the background color and spine that's used for the rear. So here on the rear you've got the titles and the run times and directors for both films. And then the spine which also has the Eureka spine number. For the second disc we have the poster for Dshoot and the inside has the poster for Through Wild Kurdistan and the tray shot is one of Omar with Karabani. The disc label has the same red used for the rear and the spine spine numbers. The third disc is for in the kingdom of the silver lion and so this has the poster on the front and the interior uses some lovely black and white stills. And then we have another black and white production still for the disc tray. The disc label matches the yellow used for the rear and for the spine. And then finally we have the last disc which is the two Aztec films. So, here's the poster for Treasure of the Aztecs and the fantastic poster for Pyramid of the Sun God. The disc tray gives us a wonderful publicity shot of the great Rick Baglia in full villainous mode. The green of the disc label matches the green of the rear cover and of the spine. So, that is the Adventure Calls box set of Carl Myils from CCC released by Eureka as part of their Masters of Cinema line. This is a really lovely box set put together by Eureka. They put in quite a lot of love and care and in particular have produced some really wonderful supplements that not only introduced these films to audiences outside of Germany who maybe don't have experience with them because I certainly didn't. I knew of them but I'd never seen them. So, it was really helpful to have all these wonderful supplements to enhance the experience of watching these films for the first time but also to understand the full context of their production. But it also adds to the longevity of these films because you know more about them and can return to this wonderful set time and time again.
They even went the extra mile and included these surviving English dubs for the films that had them and made a lovely package overall with a wonderful box set and booklet. The films themselves may not appeal to everyone or even every western fan due to them being adaptations or quasi adaptations of Carl my works which aren't necessarily known much outside of Germany particularly here in America but also due to their very straightforward storytelling style and usage of a lot of the same personnel and the same cast there's a a certain connection that runs through all of them. So, if you enjoy one, you will want to see the others. And so, it makes sense to get them as a box set. Um, the simplicity of their stories and having such clearly defined themes might make them seem a little bit simplistic, but I think you certainly get something out of watching these CCC films all together in this way. And especially having these wonderful supplements, I think truly enhances the experience. So I would say that these would be important to look at for any fan of westerns or anyone who is curious about the various film cycles and trends of uh European films in the 1960s. Uh and especially if you love Italian westerns, then you really should see these at some point because they very much inform where Italian westerns went and they continued alongside them.
And if you just love classic adventure stories, then you're certainly going to get something out of these. They are certainly old-fashioned in a particular sense, but in the best way, that term is used. I don't say that they're old-fashioned stories in a bad way.
They're old-fashioned stories due to their purity, really. And that seems to be the core of what the Carl my works still retain, and why I'm really curious to finally go and read some of those and the few that have been translated to English. The only issue with this set is the grain management that was used in the restoration process. That is the only thing that I have to say uh keeps me from giving this my full recommendation. Again, it is nothing that Eureka had anything to do with and they were stuck using these restoration masters. It's simply something that was done in the process by someone at some point. And it leaves some really notable artifacts through all the transfers of all seven films. And that's the issue I have with this set. That's what you run into throughout all the films time and time again. And it's unmistakably there because the artifacts are quite large and also add a bunch of noise where there shouldn't be any. It's really a shame because this set has been really well produced and lovingly put together and Eureka didn't cut any corners putting this set together. So, your hard-earned money is very well earned on this set and especially due to the fantastic supplements. So I would say that the cost is very much earned by having an entire series of films to dig into and a lovely package, lovely supplemental booklet, a nice box set to contain all of them that is also very shelf accommodating and having such a wonderful amount of onis supplements that truly enhance the experience of everything. And you've even got Sir Christopher Freiling giving background and an introduction to all seven films.
And if you're at all a western film aficionado or a fan of Sergio Leone's work, you know when Sir Christopher Freiling appears to talk about westerns, you know that they're truly important works or works of meaning because he is one of the preeminent film scholars we have. And most of all, this set is warranted for having not one but two absolutely astounding top tier best of all time commentary tracks from David Khallet who once again manages to give us more fantastic worldclass audio commentaries. And they are so enjoyable and information-packed that I think you get your money's worth just from the two commentary tracks alone. Again, they are absolutely sensational and must listen commentaries. So, I just have to say that the one giant drawback of this set is the unfortunate grain processing used in the restoration process and that is just a shame because otherwise this is a fantastic set. So, I have to recommend this set for the importance of these films, for the uh charms they still contain, for the great sense of heart that each one has, uh, for just how iconic Lex Barker is in his appearances in all of these films and how important they were for German cinema and remain to this day in Germany as they are loved by countless generations. So hopefully this set will allow these films to gain a greater appreciation outside Germany.
That's really what I hope for with this set and why I'm so glad Eureka has put this together. It's just the grain management is just it's really bad in in these transfers and you have to just try and look past it because otherwise this is such a great set and these films are very important for how impactful they were in the 1960s. So I have to recommend this set. but with the gigantic caveat of uh just prepare yourself for how severe the grain management is and how big and prevalent the artifacts are throughout all the films. It really makes me sad to to have to say that, but it is really heavy and it's the one thing that mars this otherwise outstanding set. And again, I want to stress this is nothing Eureka had anything to do with. They did an exemplary job with this set and all the efforts they put in and the box set packaging and the extras and the supplements. You know, it's a beautiful set. Well worth your hard-earned money.
Just understand that the grain management done in the restoration process of making these masters is severely going to limit your enjoyment factor with the overall visual experience. But of course, some may be able to look past it or some may not notice it at all depending on your setup or if you pay attention to transfers.
But I had to stress how prevalent the grain management issues are in these transfers because they are very very noticeable when they pop up. So, as always, I hope my babblings about classic films has been at least somewhat fun and informative. Uh, please do check out this Eureka release if you're at all interested. Again, I think this is important for any western fan or any fan of European westerns and especially any fan of Italian westerns and the Leone films to take a look at as these are truly important works that should have a greater recognition outside of Germany due to how influential and important and successful they were in the 1960s.
Please do keep supporting the efforts of studio and boutique labels by buying films on disc. As with every purchase, you are ensuring the continued efforts of both film preservation and physical media itself. And as always, thank you ever so much for watching.
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