Kino Lorber has announced their first volume of Western Classics for June — When The Daltons Rode (1940), The Virginian (1946) and Whispering Smith (1948).
When The Daltons Rode offers up about 30 minutes of constant riding, shooting and just general mayhem in its last reels, all courtesy of the great Yakima Canutt. Amazing stuff. Whispering Smith was tailor-made for Alan Ladd — his first Western and his first color film. The Virginian puts a couple of my favorites in the same movie — Joel McCrea and William Frawley.
Working on the commentary notes for When The Daltons Rode has been a lot of fun, especially watching all the stunts again and again.
I love the first volume of sets like this, since it comes with the promise of more!
50 Westerns From The 50s. 
Looking forward to another one of your commentaries (just finished Canyon Passage and Night Passage— both are terrific). Just curious what the the transfer of When the Daltons Rode looks like.
Thanks, Terry. I really appreciate it. Doesn’t Night Passage look terrific? That Technirama was really something.
The file I got from KL to work from, which is before the cleanup, looks a lot better than the old DVD does. And boy, I love the last half of that movie!
The cover art for this collection looks terrific ,but I don’t know if I’ll be doubling up as I already have these 3 films.Good to see that Kino are releasing the classic westerns that we all love ,but I hope they release some unreleased ones.
Are we talking separate discs here?
Barry,the picture on Kino’s Facebook page and also the picture that Texican posted on the previous post about CURSE OF THE UNDEAD shows 3 BLU RAY cases in a cardboard slipcase.
Thank you.
Hi Graham,
I think the deal that Kino have with Universal is that they only release
previously released films,mostly which have been available on DVD only.
I agree some unreleased titles would be great-I still live in hope that
someday SADDLE TRAMP might get released,so far it’s never even had
a DVD release.
I agree that the artwork looks terrific.
Someone on Kino’s Facebook page asked if films in their three part sets
will be available as stand alone single discs.
Kino,somewhat arrogantly,I thought stated that their single discs normally
retail at $30 whereas their sets retail at $50…you do the maths they say.
The plain fact is what Kino would like to get for their discs and what
they actually get is a different matter the likes of ebay and Amazon usually
sell Kino titles far cheaper.
Furthermore when these three part sets have been available for some time
the price devalues considerably.. The fairly recent 3 disc Mamie Van Doren
Noir set can be picked up at quiet a reasonable price on ebay now.
This might be an odd thing to post here but I’m far more excited about
Kino’s brand new Noir set as it contains two great films that I don’t
have (ABANDONED,THE SLEEPING CITY) and furthermore one I’ve never
seen (THE LADY GAMBLES)
I’m on a real Noir kick at the moment…been spending too much time over
at Margot’s I guess.
John k,Kino does put out some excellent but they can be arrogant at times .I remember me and another guy inquiring about THE EARTHLING saying we hoped it was better then the Umbrella release .Their response was “what part of a brand new 2 K restoration don’t you guys understand?”They could do with a lesson in PR relations.
John ,I just seen you like you give me for the western comp.Glen Carter is my son and he lets me use an old login of his as I don’t have a Facebook Account.
“Glen Carter” a great name for a country singer….I’ll know in future. 🙂
I posted on Kino’s Facebook page that I hoped that their version of
THE LAST SUNSET would be better than the various Euro Blu Ray’s
available which have met with negative response,.they deleted my post.
If they use the same master they will not do their reputation any good.
I cannot believe that Universal have not produced a new 4K restoration
of THE LAST SUNSET after all it has two major stars and an A list
director.
As far as Universal Westerns go I’m pretty well covered Koch Germany
have given us lovely Blu Ray’s of great programmer fare like THE MAN
FROM BITTER RIDGE,RAW EDGE,A DAY OF FURY and STAR IN THE
DUST among others.
There are several Universal Westerns that I’d love a Blu Ray upgrade of
especially two essential Murphy’s WALK THE PROUD LAND and
HELL BENT FOR LEATHER.
Apart from the elusive SADDLE TRAMP I’m pretty much covered and
am not willing to double dip for financial reasons plus the fact there
is just so much to buy these days.
Going further back I’d buy TOMBSTONE,THE TOWN TOO TOUGH TO
DIE in a heartbeat (Paramount title owned by Universal) and the Ford
Beebe special FRONTIER BADMAN.
Universal Noir on the other hand is not so well represented but times they
are a changing. Hopefully it will not be too long before great titles like
UNDERTOW,UNDER THE GUN,JOHNNY STOOLPIDGEON,and
ONE WAY STREET make it to Blu Ray.
One still lives in hope that the “lost” Universal CinemaScope Westerns will
surface one day. DAY OF THE BADMEN,SAGA OF HEMP BROWN and
WILD AND THE INNOCENT.