Posts: 54
From: Champaign, IL 61820
Registered: Feb 2010
posted May 04, 2010 03:29 AM
Unfortunately when the Derann company chose to edit down and release a couple of Ken Maynard films, they picked two 'stinkers' from late in his career—DEATH RIDES THE RANGE and FLAMING LEAD. The real corker is that they look so great that one is inclined to just watch them anyway...even over and over again. Let me say at this point that I have Ken Maynard's hat hanging in my theater room. I am a die-hard fan and I know that he made many, many excellent B-westerns; some among the best B-westerns ever filmed. So I am writing this rather schizophrenic review to give a thumbs up to Derann's continuing high-quality production work, at the same time wishing they would have looked abeit further when selecting their source material, and to encourage anyone who likes B-westerns to pick up Maynard's TOMBSTONE CANYON or IN OLD SANTA FE, both of which are available in Super 8mm sound but lack the superb Derann picture quality.
posted May 05, 2010 04:41 PM
DEATH RIDES THE RANGE, FLAMING LEAD, as well as THE PHANTOM RIDES THE TRAIL (edited from THE PHANTOM RANCHER) and SECRET ASSIGNMENT (edited from LIGHTNING STRIKES WEST) , were released by Walton in two reel versions.
Posts: 54
From: Champaign, IL 61820
Registered: Feb 2010
posted May 07, 2010 01:56 AM
The 400 foot two reelers DEATH RIDES THE RANGE and FLAMING LEAD both were released by Derann as I indicated in the review. They came in original Derann boxes with artwork and printed graphics stating they are licensed to and released by Derann.These titles certainly could have been released by other companies as well. It seems like many of the 8mm features and condensations were released by a variety of companies featuring a variety of picture and sound quality as well.
Posts: 453
From: Barking, Essex, UK
Registered: Mar 2006
posted May 08, 2010 07:54 AM
When Walton and Mountain ceased trading Derann bought the negs and re released the titles with their own packaging. Most were ok but I think that the original Walton releases looked better.