Blake of Scotland Yard

Great item!!!! I've been looking for these serials everywhere... best price I've found! - thanks for carrying them!

I realize it's a very old serial and probably hasn't been taken very good care of but the picture can be very shaky and no audio in some places. This should have been in the ad

While I no longer find it on VCI's website, their "Vault Classics" edition of the feature version of the serial, "Blake of Scotland Yard" has far better video quality than the one issued years ago by Alpha. But the main problem remains the film itself, cut down to 70 minutes from the 15 chapter serial produced by Sam Katzman's Victory pictures in 1937. The serial involves a "Death Ray" that can destroy objects, such as ships, several hundred miles away, being developed by Jerry Sheehan (Ralph Byrd) and Hope Mason (Joan Barclay), financed by Hope's uncle, Sir James Blake (Herbert Rawlinson), former Scotland Yard inspector. The device, if made available to all through the League of Nations, would make warfare obsolete. But munitions dealer, Count Basil Segaloff (William Farrel) tries to prevent it from reaching Geneva, and works with a mysterious figure in traditional serial-movie arch-villain black cloak and hat, masked, and with a large claw for a hand, known as "The Lobster"...oops, sorry, "The Scorpion," who with his gang steals the machine, and for 15 mind-numbing chapters there is a lot of chasing about, disguises, fist fights and related perils until the gang is captured and the identity of "The Scorpion" revealed. Unfortunately the "feature" has so little of the original that it is impossible to follow the plot for those who haven't seen the WHOLE thing. The opening chapter, where the "Death Ray" is demonstrated is fairly complete and makes some sense, but then it is off to Paris, in a cafe where Count Segaloff is to have some dealings with The Scorpion, but exactly what happens isn't quite clear. Then it all jumps back to London, a dozen chapters later, in a rooming house where after a fight most of the gang is rounded up, followed by another jump to the unmasking of The Scorpion. So about the best that can be said for this release, on a single DVD-R, is that the transfer is fairly good. . The print isn't ideal, but the gray scale and sharpness are adequate, and there are only a couple minor splices, not interrupting the dialogue. Some scenes "flicker" possibly due to film processing issues, and the outdoor scenes, when not intentionally foggy, show a lot of film grain. But detail, even in the darker scenes isn't lost, and the sound is at least clear enough to understand the dialogue, if the pitch wavers a bit in the music. Worth a 3-star "OK" and maybe more for those wanting to see things not obvious in releases of the entire serial.

I did not do my research on this movie before I bought it, so I have myself to blame. First of all, it is put out by Sinister Cinema, and I have had problems with the quality of their DVDs - no attempt at re-mastering here. Secondly, it was a 300 minute serial which was put out in the 'old days' in installments with cliff-hangers so that movie theater-goers would come back each week for the next installment. So this, at 70 minutes? - no wonder it doesn't make any sense. Thirdly, the good guys and the bad guys all look alike (suits, ties, hats), so you don't know who you are rooting for - everyone wears a suit, hat and tie. And it is so dark in most scenes, probably so you won't know they are using the same sets over and over. I couldn't wait for it to end and more fool me for not just shutting it off. Alpha is selling a DVD of this, also at 70 minutes, and I never thought I'd recommend Alpha! But I guess no matter how bad it is, it can always get worse.

Great series, Love Ralph Byrd, and he rocks, in this low budget serial. He was also in Dick Tracy and SOS Coast Guard while working on this great story..

This is a good movie; but when I ordered it I thought that it would be another one, other than the one I have on DVD already. But, this is a good movie to watch. I really did enjoy it and will again when I watch it.

The quality of this print is pathetic. The picture quality changes from reel to reel and the sound quality is off, too. Surely there must be a good print somewhere in the world, but this DVD wasn't made from it.

This is another fine serial from the haydays of matinee shows. This was an era when film producers did a fine job of great family entertainment... an era long gone.