Daredevils of the West

[MemphisFFAdmin]

Festival attendees will be in for a very special treat next summer - the Memphis Film Festival is proud to announce there will be a screening of the once-thought-to-be-lost western serial, "Daredevils of the West".

This classic serial was described by Alan Barbour in his book "Cliffhanger" as "one of Republic's all-time best action serials" which starred two of their greatest stars, Allan Lane and Kay Aldridge.

For many years, it was believed that only 4 chapters of this exciting serial were in existence but a full version was recently found. The Memphis Film Festival is pleased to present one of the first public screenings of this memorable film.

The rare presentation will be made in the hotel's amphitheatre and is made available courtesy of Brigham Young University.

There will be an additional $5 admission for this festival event.

[bigd]

From what I can tell, this will be only the third time this serial has been presented since it's recovery!

This is wonderful news!

[jayworld]

How was the series recovered? Any background story on that? Also, is it available on DVD commercially? Finally, that's a great image of the original poster. Do you have that in your own collection?

Thanks.

[MemphisFFAdmin]

Again, sorry for the dealy in response to your question. From what I know, and I don't claim to be an expert on this, "Daredevils of the West" has never been released commercially nor likely will be because the negative is flawed. There are certain chapters which have missing sound. The late Jack Mathis, who was a well-known Republic serial buff, had a 16mm print of the serial which was in the same shape as the negative. Upon his death, he willed it to Brigham Young University in Utah. The University subsequently got permission from the copyright holder to strike a dvd from Mathis' print. Since then, the serial has only been publicly screened twice; once at a serial fest in the northeast and last October at the Lone Pine Film Festival. In order for us to show it as Memphis, we had to gain permission from both BYU and the copyright holder. This was done at some expense. We are thrilled at the prospect of having it screened for the first time in America's heartland. It will be done over a two-day period in our hotel's 120-seat amphitheatre. The first six chapters will be shown Friday afternoon and the last six on Saturday morning.

[jayworld]

Thanks for the update. That is very good information. Hopefully the film can be restored to some sort of usable fashion for DVD release.

[MemphisFFAdmin]

I've obviously NOT seen "Daredevils of the West" because it's never been released commercially. A handful of chapters somehow got out there some time back, and people have commented about them. Then there were the two public screenings; the one at a serialfest back East and at the Lone Pine Festival this past October. I found some comments from people who've apparently seen the serial at one of those screenings. They're posted on the site movieserialmessageboards. I'm reprinting edited versions of some of them here for those who are interested:

"This has to be one of the top serials produced. The wonderful locations at Lone Pine and elsewhere made this an impressive picture. While the cast--also a good one--makes the film, the action is the real star of this serial. The chases, the fights, and the gunplay are all edited to a very tight standard, zipping from one action sequence to another in every chapter."

"It is every bit as great as we hoped. One of the reasons was the location work at Lone Pine, which was not only incredibly scenic, but was open enough to allow panoramic views. Chapter 2 was the first chapter I ever saw of "Daredevils of the West", and I immediately ranked it as one of the top five episodes ever. Seeing the entire serial, I now think Chapter 1 was even better."

"I was very pleased and enjoyed "Daredevils of the West" very much. After so much anticipation, I was not let down nor disappointed. It was a fast-moving, action packed Western with great cliffhangers and fights and wonderful stunts."