Classic Westerns, 10-Movie Collection: When Daltons Rode / The Virginian / Whispering Smith / The Spoilers / Comanche Territory / Sierra / Kansas Raiders / Tomahawk / Albuquerque / Texas Rangers Ride Again

As advertised
Dad loves it so I love it. Came in exactly as advertised!

B Movies That Get an ‘A’
I purchased this 3-disc collection to get Whispering Smith, an Alan Ladd film. For $10 I picked up that film and nine more. I’ve watched the first 3 on Disc 1 and have to say that, regardless of where they fall in the Hollywood production caste system, each one of those first films has been really satisfying. Akim Tamiroff’s Mio Pio alone is worth the small price of admission. That man could flat out steal a scene! He has abundant successful opportunities to do so in Texas Rangers Ride Again, a film that also features a very early in the career unbilled ‘performance’ by Robert Ryan, no less. Broderick Crawford? I love the guy!Why I’m picking on TRRA, it’s because I really got into the scene set-up and pacing of this 67 minute gem. You can really feel the difference when you don’t have a 7th, 8th or 9th reel to work with. But I thought they did a masterful job with this one. I have to believe this was a film Ernest Hemingway would have enjoyed.But, the other two of the first three have been terrific, too. I just finished watching The Spoilers before sitting down to blather a bit here. Loved it. And loved When The Daltons Rode.Bottom line is for $10 you’re going to really like what you get; even if you only find one or two to like.I think you’ll find more than one or two, though. Try it!

Classic Westerns: 10-Movie Collection
Universal did an awesome job on these movies and putting them in a wonderful collection. There isn’t any special features and there is only English audio and no other language and subtitles. There are three disks with four on the first and three each on the last two disks. All movies are in Full frame format. Four of these films were also released as DVD-R and now you can get them as straight DVD with no MOD. All movies quality are great and I did compare to the other releases and I can’t see any difference. “Sierra” and “The Virginian” were part of a TCM Vault box sets.UPDATE-03/16/15 Universal has just released a 8-Movie Western Collection exclusively for Walmart and contains three Universal Vault movies and I would recommend that two, this way Universal can see their Western sales go up and hopefully make more.Here are the movies included:When the Daltons Rode (1940/B&W/81mins)-Randolph Scott, Kay Francis, Brian Donlevy, George Bancroft, Broderick Crawford, Andy Devine; Directed by George MarshallTexas Rangers Ride Again (1940/B&W/68mins)-John Howard, Ellen Drew, Akim Tamiroff, May Robson, Broderick Crawford; Directed by James HoganThe Spoilers (1942/B&W/87mins)-Marlene Dietrich, Randolph Scott, John Wayne, Margaret Lindsay, Harrey Carey; Directed by Ray EnrightThe Virginian (1948/color/90mins)-Joel McCrea, Brian Donlevy, Sonny Tufts, Barbara Britton, Tom Tully, Fay Bainter; Directed by Stuart GilmoreAlbuquerque (1948/color/90mins)-Randolph Scott, Barbara Britton, George “Gabby” Hayes, Lon Chaney Jr., George Cleveland; Directed by Ray EnrightWhispering Smith (1949/color/88mins)Alan Ladd, Robert Preston, Brenda Marshall, Donald Crisp, Fay Holden, Frank Faylen; Directed by Leslie FentonComanche Territory (1950/color/76mins)-Maureen O’Hara, MacDonald Carey, Will Geer, Charles Drake; Directed by George ShermanSierra (1950/color/83mins)-Audie Murphy, Wanda Hendrix, Burl Ives, Dean Jagger; Directed by Alfred E. GreenKansas Raiders (1950/color/80mins)-Audie Murphy, Brian Donlevy, Marguerite Chapman, Scott Brady, Tony Curtis; Directed by Ray EnrightTomahawk (1951/color/82mins)-Van Heflin, Yvonne DeCarlo, Alex Nicol; Directed by George ShermanOverall this is an excellent of Westerns to add to your collection and if you have any of these already this is a great item to free up some DVD space. I would and I have recommended this. Universal did a great job that I wish they would do another one.

Do yourself a favor Western fans, buy this DVD
Take my advice if you enjoy westerns of the 40’s and 50’s (B westerns included) and buy this dvd collection from Universal. I make this recommendation based on:1) You get ten westerns, many shot on location, with Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico representing the American West. The location shooting provides splendid scenery for the stories these films tell.2) You get a mix of B program westerns and some “top of the bill” films like “The Spoilers”, “Whispering Smith”, and “The Virginian”. In my opinion, all the movies are entertaining, relatively fast paced (none of the films are over 90 minutes long), and fun!3) Most important to me, Universal’s Home Entertainment division has used excellent source material. These dvds are superior to other bargain films in their visual and audio presentations. No pops and hisses on the sound tracks and no washed out black and white or faded color presentations. In my opinion (again), the films have got to look and sound as good (if not better) than they did in theatrical runs (and that was 70 years ago for some of these films). I was mesmerized by even the least of these movies (for me, “When the Daltons Rode”/”Texas Rangers Ride Again) by the quality of the images and and sound. The dvd gives these westerns an immediacy that was startling. (I viewed these films on a Samsung 2010, 46” television and an Opp 83 Blu Ray/DVD Player)4) Finally, these 10 very entertaining, top flight presentations cost 10 DOLLARS!!! One buck a movie. One film has been released on the previous Western Classics, Vol.2 Universal 4 film dvd (Kansas Raiders) and “Whispering Smith” and “Albuqerque” were released as stand alone dvds back about 10 years ago. I had purchased those dvds. I still feel I got one of the best dvd deals ever and I began buying the little discs in 1998!Thanks for reading

Have watched the first nine of the set. Almost all great. The eye-wateringly awful depiction of native Americans in Comanche Territory will either make you cry or laugh out loud. Apart from that they are all rarely seen classics. Well worth the investment.

This is an amazingly good set of well restored tip-top Westerns, seven in glorious colour and three in good black and white. I’ve already watched the two that I especially wanted and taken a look through the others and am very pleased with what I see. The two I’ve watched are:WHISPERING SMITH – this is in superb colour, with Alan Ladd looking particularly young and handsome, (a bit like his famous Shane character), playing a quietly spoken railroad detective on the trail of robbers, including his former friend, played sturdily by Robert Preston. It has a good storyline and direction, with terrific outdoor shots and some exquisite sets. A real joy!TOMAHAWK – This one is directed by George Sherman with impressive acting from Van Heflin as an army scout trying to unite the white settlers with the Sioux. Alex Nicol is equally impressive as a blood thirsty ‘pretty-boy’ cavalry officer doing just the opposite. The Montana scenery is particularly gorgeous, with lots of wide open spaces consisting of lush green plains, broken up by small inland cliffs, which makes for some skilled and intricate riding scenes. It’s based on the true story of the Battle for Powder River which took place in 1876.UPDATE: I’ve watched all the films now, and they range from pretty good to excellent.