VCI Entertainment / 1942 / 240 min. / NR

THE FILM:
Don Winslow was a comic book creation of World War I veteran Lieutenant Commander Frank V. Martinek USNR back in the mid 1930’s. While Winslow was originally created specifically as a recruitment and publicity tool for the US Navy (their numbers had dropped considerably since the end of WWI), Martinek’s stories were thrilling adventures filled with colorful spies and heroic naval officers that captured the imagination of the country making it a very popular strip in its own right. Martinek even had a US Navy consultant help him make sure Winslow and his friends stayed true to the strictest letter of the naval code making him the epitome of the flag waving, true blue, red blooded all American hero long before G. I. Joe came along. Winslow had his girlfriend, Mercedes Colby (who had two Naval Admirals in her family!) and sidekick Lt. Red Pennington to help him battle such villains as The Crocodile and Dr. Q. In one of the most perfectly timed releases in the history of cinema, Don Winslow and his friends made their big screen debut in the serial DON WINSLOW OF THE NAVY just a few weeks before the attacks on Pearl Harbor. Needless to say, the serial was a gigantic hit and Winslow did a great service for the war effort.

With DON WINSLOW OF THE NAVY a smash success, a sequel was quickly commissioned though one with a significantly lower budget. The following year saw America fully involved in World War II and Commander Winslow and friends sailing back into action in DON WINSLOW OF THE COAST GUARD. As we pick up the adventures of our heroes, they are returning to base after defending Pearl Harbor. Intelligence learns of an impending attack on the Pacific coast and Winslow (Don Terry) and Red (Walter Sande) are transferred to the Coast Guard to specifically bring down this threat. When ships carrying wounded soldiers and tankers filled with fuel for our boys are attacked by Japanese submarines, Winslow just knows that his old enemy The Scorpion (Nestor Paiva) is behind it all. What we have next are 12 chapters of over the top patriotic thrills as Winslow, Red and Mercedes (Elyse Knox) constantly defend our coast and stop The Scorpion at every turn.

While DON WINSLOW OF THE COAST GUARD is a ton of fun in the way only serials can be, it will always be the poor cousin to the original DON WINSLOW OF THE NAVY serial for one big reason: this serial relies a tremendous amount on stock footage. It is not uncommon to get a solid two minutes of nothing but grainy, scratched up stock footage of torpedoes being shot, soldiers manning the big guns, ships blowing up, etc. etc. I don’t know if this was evident back in the 1940’s but it stands out like a sore thumb today. However, the cast more than makes up for this rather small drawback. Terry is great at being such an obvious promotional character. He delivers a chest pounding, “we’re gonna absolutely destroy the enemy” speech at least twice a chapter, complete with a soaring militaristic march musical accompaniment. You can’t help but love it. So fly Old Glory from your highest flag pole, bake an apple pie and have a blast with this rollicking fun adventure from yesteryear.

THE DISC:
VCI worked at restoring DON WINSLOW OF THE COAST GUARD (see the supplements), but it looks like they were working from a print of the film rather than original negatives and soundtracks. Given that it looks like they had a decent but clearly used print of the film to work with, what we have here is a good transfer of a slightly worn print. Speckles, dirt, debris, scratches are all present but kept under control. Blacks are on the light side with some scenes looking almost polarized due to their brightness (for example the first time we see The Scorpion’s island fortress.) Detail is mediocre and the loads of stock footage used are in even worse shape. No, this isn’t a crisp and clear image but given that serials have been given no real attention on the home video scene and this one in particular isn’t a name grabbing title like FLASH GORDON or BATMAN, this release is a cause for serial fans to celebrate.

The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack has its own problem and the name of that problem is hissing. Big Time Hissing. While dialogue is clear and the loads of patriotic music in each episode is acceptable, whenever things quiet down in the slightest the hissing shoots straight to the forefront of the soundscape.

There is only so much restoration that can be done to a print, especially if you are not working from original elements. If you are a small company like VCI or Kino, you are even more limited. Any restoration work they do gets major kudos in my book and I hope they continue the love and attention they have been giving to these great classic titles.

THE EXTRAS:
We get two supplements:

A GREAT trailer to the previous serial DON WINSLOW OF THE NAVY (but not one to this serial, sadly) and

A poor “Restoration Demo” that is silent and shows a brief before and after scene side-by-side. No narration, no introduction, just the same side-by-side scene shown twice.

MY SAY:
Even though DON WINSLOW OF THE COAST GUARD isn’t one of the great serials of all time and relies far too much on stock footage, it is LOADS of fun. Here’s hoping VCI dips into the serial well many more times and keeps bringing these great chapter plays out on home video! Recommended!

Reviewed by Jeff Allen