Captain Midnight

Starring:Dave O'Brien, Dorothy Short, James Craven, Sam Edwards, Guy Wilkerson, Bryant Washburn, Luana Walters, Joseph W. Girard, Ray Teal, George Pembroke, Chuck Hamilton, Al Ferguson, Lee Shumway, Ted Mapes, Slim Whitaker, John Elliott, Charles McMurphy, Franklyn Farnum, Charles Sullivan, Dick Botiller
Director: James W. Horne
Studio: Vci Video
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

"VCI Entertainment King of the Serial DVD's present ~ Captain Midnight
Ridiculous but fun serial!
Add 1 star for hero and villain, add 2 stars for Chapter 10
The Bell Tolls for Captain Midnight....

Captain Midnight
Starring: Dave O'Brien , Dorothy Short , James Craven , Sam Edwards , and Guy Wilkerson
Director: James W. Horne
Manufacturer: Vci Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Classics | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

The Phantom - Serial
Adventures of Captain Marvel
The Green Archer
Mandrake the Magician
Terry and the Pirates

ASIN: B0001WTWLU
Release Date: 2004-05-25

Description

In this exciting 15-chapter adventure, spawned by the enormously popular radio show, Ivan Shark is after a secret range finder that will enable his bombers to engage in a furious reign of terror. Blazing guns, car chases, aerial dogfights, kidnappings, fights and numerous other thrills all take place before Captain Midnight brings the threat to a satisfying conclusion and once again makes the world safe for Democracy. Bonus Features: Bonus Original Serial Trailers| Actor Bios| Photo Gallery| VCI Serial Promo| Chapter Selection Menu. Specs: 1-DVD5 + 1-DVD9; Dolby Digital Mono; 270 minutes; B&W; 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio; MPAA - NR; Year - 1941; SRP - $19.99.

Customer Reviews:

"VCI Entertainment King of the Serial DVD's present ~ Captain Midnight.......2005-10-01

VCI Entertainment and Columbia Pictures present "Captain Midnight " (1942) (Dolby digitally remastered), based upon the radio serial featuring 15 Chapters of cliffhangers loaded with all the excitement you would ever want and more...story line has our best fighting hero "Captain Midnight" in the skies leaping from the radio waves up onto the big screen...tracking down spies searching for some secret plans of loyal American John Edwards who has been kidnapped by fiendish enemy plotters at every turn...will Captain Midnight stop Ivan Shark leader of the gang of thugs from stealing the plans....can the we ever have a good nights sleep knowing that at Midnight some thing terrible will happen...well keep drinking your Ovaltine because this rousing adventure on the serial screen is not over...15 Chapters with great action sequences in a thrill crammed fight to the finish against criminals and spies...don't miss any exciting episode...and keep that dial tuned to our favorite hero of radio "Captain Midnight"...just the way we remember!

Under director James W. Horne with screenplay by Basil Dickey, George H. Plympton, Wyndham Gittens, Jack Stanley, original music by Lee Zahler...the cast include Dave O'Brien (Captain Albright, aka Captain Midnight), Dorothy Short (Joyce Edwards), James Craven (Ivan Shark), Sam Edwards ( Chuck Ramsey), Guy Wilkerson (chabod 'Icky' Mudd), Bryant Washburn ( John Edwards), Luana Walters (Fury Shark), Joseph W. Girard (Maj. Steel), Ray Teal (Borgman - Henchman), Ted Mapes ( Slim - Henchman), George Pembroke (Dr. James Jordan)...watch for some fine veteran character actors like James Craven (who always was one of the villianious of villians on the Columbia Pictures lot), Guy Wilkerson and Ray Teal great character actors

CHAPTER TITLES: (Disc One)
1. Mysterious Pilot
2. The Stolen Range Finder
3. The Captured Plane
4. Mistaken Identity
5. Ambushed Ambulance
6. Weird Waters
7. Menacing Fates
8. Shells of Evil
9. The Drop to Doom
10.The Hidden Bomb

SPECIAL FEATURES: (Disc One)
BIOS:
1. Dave O'Brien (birth name: David Barclay) (1912-1969)
2. Dorothy Short (1915-1963) (married to Dave O'Brien)
3. James W. Horne (Director) (1880-1942)

VCI CLIFFHANGER TRAILERS: (Disc One)
1. The Green Archer (Victor Jory)
2. The Secret Code (Paul Kelly & Ann Nagel)
3. The Vigilante (Ralph Byrd & Lyle Talbot)
4. The Iron Claw (Charles Quigle & Joyce Bryant)

CHAPTER TITLES: (Disc Two)
11.Sky Terror
12.Burning Bomber
13.Death in the Cockpit
14.Scourge of Revenge
15.The Fatal Hour

VCI CLIFFHANGER TRAILERS: (Disc Two)
1. Adventures of Red Ryder (Don "Red" Barry)
2. Zorro Cliffhanger Collection (Reed Hadley, John Carroll, Linda Stirling)
3. Dick Tracy's G-Men (Ralph Byrd)
4. Adventures of the Flying Cadets (Bobby Jordan)
5. Buck Rogers (Buster Crabbe)
6. Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (Buster Crabbe )
7. Jungle Girl (Frannces Gifford),
8. Jungle Jim (Grant Withers & Raymond Hatton)
9. Mandrake the Magician (Warren Hull)
10.Zane Grey's "King of the Royal Mounted" (Allan "Rocky" Lane)
11.Miracle Rider (Tom Mix & Tony Jr)
12.Secret Agent X-9 (1937) (Scott Kolk Henry Brandon & Monte Blue)
13.The Phantom (Tom Tyler)
14.Secret Agent X-9 (1945) (Lloyd Bridges & Key Luke)

If you crave action, drama and plenty of adventure then this is the place for all of the above...if you enjoyed this serial check out another release from VCI Entertainment and Columbia Pictures present "Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere" (1951) (digitally remastered), 15 Chapters.finally for the first time on video the really great Columbia Serial that broke the mold...we have everything a serial fan would want...the tinted sequences by Cinecolor and unique inventions that were unlike any other serial out there in the '50s...get out there as they're going fast, this is the one you've been waiting for.

Great job by VCI Entertainment for releasing the digital transfere with a clean, clear and crisp print...looking forward to more of the same from the '40s vintage serial era...order your copy now from Amazon or VCI Entertainment, stay tuned once again with a top notch serial from VCI...just the way we like 'em!

Total Time: 270 mins on 2 DVD's ~ VCI Entertainment 8376 ~ (5/25/2004)

Ridiculous but fun serial!.......2005-07-30

This is a ridiculous serial (What do you expect? James W. Horne is the director!) but it's a lot of fun. I particularly enjoyed the short fused master villain Ivan Shark and his inept henchmen. Dave O'Brien is fine as the Captain and the supporting cast is fine. The print quality is not quite as good as it is on some of the other VCI DVD serials but it's more than adequate. 15 chapters on 2 discs with some bonus serial trailers. Highly recommended for serial fans!

Add 1 star for hero and villain, add 2 stars for Chapter 10.......2005-02-07

CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT is a) a Columbia serial, and b) directed by James W. Horne. That's two strikes on it right there, according to some serial purists who don't care for Columbia's illogical, six-against-one fight scenes and Horne's exaggerated, tongue-in-cheek approach. But this writer likes both Horne and Columbia, and this 15-chapter cliffhanger is about par for both.

Dave O'Brien, hero of Monogram East Side Kids melodramas, PRC Westerns, and M-G-M Pete Smith comedies, has to be the most authoritative serial hero on DVD. As Midnight he speaks very quickly! and urgently! and you MOVE when he tells you! O'Brien should have done more of these serials; he does his own stunts, too. James Craven, magnificent in Columbia serials as an easily exasperated villain, plays a master of disguise here. The script has too many "great impersonations" where Character A poses as Character B (you don't buy these at all because it's obviously the same actor twice) but at least it keeps the story interesting.

The cliffhangers are standard perils except for Chapter 10, which has a doozie: Craven traps Midnight in a sealed room, then he makes the floor revolve rapidly, then he removes the walls, THEN he sets the floor on fire, and THEN he lowers a stone block on his victim! This jaw-dropping overkill looks like James Horne at work, and must have sent Saturday-matinee audiences into ecstasies.

The supporting cast is adequate. Sam Edwards is good as Midnight's teenaged pal, Joseph Girard is wooden as O'Brien's superior officer, and ingenue Dorothy Short screams too much (but since she was Mrs. Dave O'Brien, we can understand the casting).

Fun for serial fans, but not as enjoyably satirical as the Columbia/Horne "The Green Archer" and "Terry and the Pirates." Print quality is excellent throughout.

The Bell Tolls for Captain Midnight...........2004-05-29

Dave O'Brien leaps into battle against evildoers as the famous radio adventurer Captain Midnight. Midnight seeks to protect a scientist and his daughter from invention-stealing bad guys out to wreck America's defense effort. The bad guys, lead by Ivan Shark and his daughter Fury, stoop to new lows as they battle the Captain and plot to destroy our war effort.

O'Brien fills the role of Midnight well, despite looking and sounding a bit like a young Richard Anderson (Oscar Goldman from "The Six Million Dollar Man").

Dorothy Short as the scientist's daughter, Joyce Edwards, is mostly suitable as a sort of love interest for Midnight, but mostly useless in every other capacity. She brings the helpless-girl-who-gets-in-trouble-in-almost-every-chapter to heights never dreamed of by Noel Neill, who played Lois Lane in the classic Superman TV series. Short's continual screaming and helpless antics drag the serial down a bit. Far better (and a better choice for the Joyce character!), is the evil daughter of Ivan Shark, Fury, played by Luana Walters.

Joseph W. Girard plays the gruff but concerned Major Steele, who lets Cap walk all over him (apparently, in Midnight's army, being a "mystery man" means a captain outranks his commanding officer). Guy Wilkerson and Sam Edwards lend a hand as Captain Midnight's pals, who, like Captain Midnight and all the crooks, share the strange inabillity to retain their firearms when they get their foes cornered.

Ivan Shark, played by James Craven, is a great villain. He is a master of disguise, and has a fabulous secret lair. Several things fail Craven however, as his personal "Arab" outfit to hide his features is discarded about half-way through the story. Also dropped is the gang members going by numbers and not names. Worst of all, Shark's purpose and motivation for trying to wreck America's defense plants is never very clearly explained. As he sneers his evil way through confrontations with Midnight, all the while operating his dubious death traps, there never seems to be any connection with the Germans or Japanese, an element that would have added to the believability of Shark as an anti-American fifth-columnist villian.

One gets the sense that this serial (released in early 1942) had originally been more about a gang of rogue, criminal aviators who are after the scientist's new bombsight to serve their own ends. That would make sense, seeing as how the oft mentioned but never seen defense plant attacks were probably incorporated into the story post-Pearl Harbor.

Amazon.com

Is Ed Wood the worst director who ever lived? His films are campy, clumsy, and hysterically inept, but their enthusiasm and good humor overcome incoherent scripts and wooden performances with heart, soul, and an infectious sense of fun. The jaw-dropping "documentary" Glen or Glenda? is a bizarre confessional starring Wood himself as a misunderstood transvestite and Bela Lugosi as a smirking godlike narrator. "Pull ze string!" shouts Lugosi as Wood reveals his angora fetish and love of women's underwear to the world. Lugosi returns as a mad scientist revenging himself on the world ("Home? I have no home!") in Bride of the Monster, a howler of a horror picture. Tor Johnson, the hulking Swedish wrestler turned B-movie icon, made his first Wood appearance as the lumbering beast Lobo (he almost knocks over the set in one scene!) tamed by the touch of angora. Finally there's Wood's "masterpiece," the clumsy, nearly incoherent, and ridiculously cheap Plan 9 from Outer Space. A tall, skinny, blond chiropractor subs for short, raven-haired Bela Lugosi (who died after a few days of shooting), cardboard gravestones wobble as the actors walk by, and night and day randomly come and go within the same scene. --Sean Axmaker

Description

He loved women so much, he dared to dress like one! Ed Wood strikes again. The true story of a man whose lust for women drove him to be as close to a woman as he could by trying to become one. The first film based on the strange tastes of legendary filmmaker Ed Wood, Jr., and a sordid plea for acceptance in the world of bondage and the sexually confused, decades before "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and TV's "Ellen." "Glen or Glenda?" stars famous horror icon Bela Lugosi as the "puppet master" and Ed himself in the role of Glen/Glenda. It also marks the screen debut of Wood's main squeeze at the time, Dolores Fuller, who went on to become one of Elvis's star songwriters. An important film document about the early career of a man years ahead of his time. Wildly entertaining!

Customer Reviews:

Pull the string!.......2007-06-11

"Write what you know," goes the adage.

Applying that sage admonition to heart, noir B-cinema savant Ed Wood concocted his sole masterpiece, a crossdressing confession / fantasy that remains, half a century later, the supremest TS call-to-arms.

Employing a disciplined narrative not discerned in his freakier (and more notoriously renowned) fare, Wood kicks off with high transtragic drama, then aims his ideological agenda sharply at God and mankind, then proceeds to dramatize the anguish - and humanity - of the TS experience. "Mistakes are made [in nature]" and technology (SRS) can correct this particular one, Wood first states - then muses that surgery would not be necessary if society would simply loosen up. Very modern!

The ensuing "dream sequence" - a pseudoballet of opium poetry spiced up with crowdpleasing sex kicks - leads to the film's denouement, and what a hotter it is! To Wood's credit, the theatrical tension is so sublime that anticipating the payoff is neigh impossible. (Actually, two very different endings were filmed.)

Crude, cheap, didactic - sure - but right on, and uncannily beautiful, too.

SIZE 18 FROM OUTER SPACE (*A Haiku Review).......2007-05-08

Ed's pink angora
IN GLORIOUS BLACK AND WHITE.
"Oooh, that's scary, kids!"

~ Stephen or Stephanie T. McCarthy
<"As a dog returns to his own vomit, so a fool repeats his folly."
~ Proverbs 26:11>

Bad, But I Recommend It.......2007-01-17

This is a painful yet highly effective introduction to the world of incredibly bad movies. The best tape out of these three is something that will make you say, "Is this a movie?? It can't be. No movie can be this bad. This must be something else."

But no, these are real movies. It's just that you don't hear much about their theatrical release history, which makes sense, because they're so bad.

Let's start with oldest of these three movies, Glen or Glenda. This is a movie that attempts to grab your attention with the first-ever sex change operation (which was a current event at that time) before it segways into a movie about transvestites. Why a transvestite movie? Because Ed Wood, the man responsible for the movie, was a transvestite himself. He wanted people to understand why he was the way he was. The movie does accomplish Wood's desire in a way, but it's so bad that going any more than halfway through the final print is darn near impossible. The story just stops in the middle and random music and footage arise to combine in such a wrecthed manner that the audience is hypnotized to instantly press the nearest "off" button they can find. So only half of what Ed Wood wanted to show actually comes across.

Fortunately, Ed's films do get better. Bride of the Monster can actually be viewed all the way through, but just barely. Not much happens in it. I think it's supposed to be one of those movies that shows us how taking science too far is ultimately destructive. Also, it seems to put a lot of emphasis on the unsurpassed danger of lying on top of a completely immobile fake octopus.

Plan 9 From Outer Space can actually be watched more than once. That doesn't mean it's good, but it's actually not PAINFUL painful like the others. It's just mildly painful. It takes the destructive science theme from Bride of the Monster and brings it a step further, saying man will destroy the universe by finding a way to explode rays of light. The "Plan 9" of the title is actually an attempt by outer space aliens to stop man before this explosive carnage happens. But all that doesn't seem to grab your attention when Ed won't even bother doing a second take after a man nearly falls over trying to pick up a freaking newspaper.

I highly recommend this as a supplement to Tim Burton's 1994 biography of Ed Wood. Why? Because you actually get to see the REAL footage that Johnny Depp acts out in the Burton movie. So this set of tapes is very educational, but gosh, the movies are ever so bad.

"15 Frightful Horror Films ... Bela Lugosi ... Passport Video".......2006-10-15

Passport Video presents "The Bela Lugosi Box - 15 Frightful Films" (1942) --- (Dolby digitally remastered) --- Béla Lugosi was the stage name of actor Béla Ferenc Dezs Blaskó (October 20, 1882 - August 16, 1956) --- Lugosi was born in Lugos, Hungary, at the time part of Austria-Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania), the youngest of four children of a baker --- best known for his portrayal of "Dracula" in the American Broadway stage production, and subsequent film, of Bram Stoker's classic vampire story.

Late in his life, he again received star billing in movies when filmmaker Edward D. Wood, Jr., a fan of Lugosi, found him living in obscurity and near-poverty and offered him roles in his films, such as "GLEN OR GLENDA?" (1953) (in which his role made no more sense than the rest of the movie) and as a Dr. Frankenstein-like mad scientist in "BRIDE OF THE MONSTER" (1955), during post-production of the latter, Lugosi entered treatment for his addiction, and the premier of the film was ostensibly intended to help pay for his treatment expenses. The extras on an early DVD release of "PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE" (1959) include an impromptu interview with Lugosi upon his exit from the treatment center, which provide some rare personal insights into the man --- this was one of Lugosi's most infamous roles was released after he was dead. Ed Wood (Director) features footage of Lugosi interspersed with a double --- Wood had taken a few minutes of silent footage of Lugosi, in his Dracula cape, for a planned vampire picture but was unable to find financing for the project --- Wood later conceived of Plan 9, Wood wrote the script to incorporate the Lugosi footage and hired his wife's chiropractor to double for Lugosi in additional shots --- notice however the "double" is thinner than Lugosi, and covers the lower half of his face with his cape in every shot --- Leonard Maltin (Famous Film Critic) was quoted - "Lugosi died during production, and it shows."

Lugosi died of a heart attack on August 16, 1956 while lying in bed in his Los Angeles home. He was 73 --- Bela Lugosi was buried wearing one of the many capes from the Dracula stageplay, as per the request of his son and fifth wife, in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California --- Contrary to popular belief, Lugosi never requested to be buried in his famous cloak; Bela Lugosi, Jr. has confirmed on numerous occasions that he and his mother, Lillian, arrived at their decision independently.

BIOS:
1. Bela Lugosi (aka: Béla Ferenc Dezsõ Blaskó)
Date of birth: 20 October 1882 - Lugos, Austria-Hungary. [now Lugoj, Romania]
Date of death: 16 August 1956 - Los Angeles, California
2. Edward D. Wood Jr. (Director, Writer and Producer)
Date of birth: 10 October 1924 - Poughkeepsie, New York
Date of death: 10 December 1978 - North Hollywood, California

This collection of "The Bela Lugosi Box - 15 Frightful Films" (1942) --- still has the magic that we remember from those bygone years --- but as long as we have the labels and networks who play and show these wonderful films of yesteryear, they will never be forgotten ... Plus the half-hour tribute "100 Years of Horror: Bela Lugosi", hosted by Christopher Lee --- and a great job by Passport Video for this release --- looking forward to more of the same from the '20s and '50s vintage...order your copy now from Amazon or Passport Video, stay tuned once again for more remarkable films from the vaults of classic television and Hollywood during the Golden Era of Entertaiment.

Total Time: 1034 mins on DVD ~ Passport Video #5260 ~ (9/05/2006)

cult classic??.......2006-07-21

not the best film ever made and probably only bought and viewed by fans of ed,still quite a brave subject to explore on celluloid and ed obviously had his heart in this flick;not must see material but a curiosity none the less,good transfer as well!

Average customer rating:

On the Air Live With Captain Midnight
Starring: Tracy Sebastian , John Ireland , Dena Dietrich , Ted Gehring , and Mia Kovacs
Director: Beverly Sebastian , and Ferd Sebastian
Manufacturer: Jef Films
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

( O ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B0006N2ESW
Release Date: 2005-01-25

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

Sesame Street - Let's Eat

Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe

Erotica (REGION 1) (NTSC)

DVD: Bala Perdida

Al Bela