Beware of Warner's Trail of '98

[gordonovitch]

I ordered The Trail of '98 about a month ago with a couple other titles, and Trail showed up with the correct wrap-around cover and label, but with the wrong film recorded on the disc: Trail Street, a 1947 Joel McCrea western that also features Gabby Hayes spouting frontier gibberish throughout. I now have two copies of Trail Street, since the replacement copy promptly sent by Warners was the same goof. Having just spoken to customer service, they swear they're gonna get it right this time, but if I were you, I'd wait until I sound the all-clear before ordering The Trail of '98. Trail Street is one of the collection's newer titles, so earlier orders of Trail of '98 may have gone through correctly, but now it's a question of mixed up files, or whatever.

Gordon Thomas

[Harold Aherne]

My copy of The Trail of '98 came through fine, although the keepcase was cracked (first time I've ever gotten one like that--makes you wonder whether human hands play a role in their manufacture-on-demand system or it's all automated). I didn't watch all of it, but I saw enough to get a general idea of the print quality: the print used for the transfer source has probably seen better days, but I really don't know the calibre of survivng material on this title, so I'm not going to criticise too much. It's perfectly watchable; white clothing and objects appear a little bright in some scenes and the sub-titles are a bit dim although quite legible. I'm rather grateful to WB for making this one available, since it was never on VHS as far as I know and probably was never a prime candidate for full-scale DVD release.

-Harold

[George O'Brien]

I saw it on TCM a few years ago and the print was pretty deplorable.

[Derwiddian]

My copy arrived with the correct film. No complaints. If the print quality was not up to par, at least it was not bad enough to cause me to notice. I enjoyed the DVD.

Warner is burning these discs to order. Receiving the wrong disc means human error on a particular order, which certainly would not be specific to the Trail of '98.

[silentscreen]

My copy arrived with the correct film. No complaints. If the print quality was not up to par, at least it was not bad enough to cause me to notice. I enjoyed the DVD.

Warner is burning these discs to order. Receiving the wrong disc means human error on a particular order, which certainly would not be specific to the Trail of '98.

Agreed. I didn't notice the print quality as being particularlly bad either.I got to see it thanks to a friend who purchased it. Wasn't this the film mentioned in the "Hollywood" series where several stunt men were drowned?

[Richard P. May]

Warner Bros. should be given some leeway in the element quality on some of these late silents.
Often the pre-print nitrate elements went to "nitrate heaven" many years ago, and when MGM did the copying to safety film all that was left was a fairly well used studio projection print.
It was either that or nothing, so be glad they did the preservation work.

[Danny Burk]

I doubt that better elements exist, and it's perfectly watchable. It also includes the original soundtrack. It's a terrific film and anyone who'd like to have it shouldn't avoid buying it for quality issues.

[gordonovitch]

Not that anybody was holding their breath, but on the third try, after several phone calls to customer service, Warner corrected this snit, which, actually, was specific to this title. Earlier orders went through OK, but when they added Trail Street, Trail of 98 became confused with this newer title. To correct, they had to grab the supervisor in charge of "burning" and have her disentangle the two titles with her bare hands. God knows what happens if you order Trail Street, but if anybody wants a copy, I've got two of 'em!

Gordon Thomas