To follow up a recent chat discussion:

the new DVD of The Trap DOES have the mysterious visitor during the opening credits at around the 37 second mark. My prior copy of this film (a 16mm dub) does not have this.


Do we know for certain what this visitor is? I tried freeze framing but the object goes by so fast it's hard to tell for sure. At first I thought it might be a person but it could also be some equipment used by the camera crew that fell over. Either way, it's a sign of how cheap Monogram was that they let this stay in the finished print. :)

Hi Steve:

Just watched my copy this morning and noticed the figure walking across the screen in the opening credits at apprx. :38 in. Appears to be a man in a white t-shirt to me - perhaps a stage hand that didn't realize the camera was on (LOL).

I gree with Roy that it appears to be a man wearing a white t-shirt. It was possibly someone walking along the beech or, perhaps, part of the Monogram crew, who happened to walk in front ot he camera while they were filming a static shot of Malibu Beach.

I do have a question for you and others who watched "The Trap" on the new Warner Brothers/TCM release. About halfway through the film, my copy had wavy lines appear. It seemed that these were on the original print and were not a defect on the copy. Does anyone else see the same thing?

Sincerely,
Rush Glick

Yes, I noticed the scratches/lines, too. But I was surely impressed by the quality of the set as a whole--what a difference the studio negatives make! (Gone are the "scuzzy" looking edges, echoing soundtrack ("The Chinese Ring"), and other distracting fading, scratches (for the majority;>), etc.

I wonder if they, WB, got their copies from the British,
Anglo-Amalgamated(?) vaults? Weren't they the British arm of Monogram?

Well, as I said in a previous post, WB, bring on the rest, please!!! void(0);

Yes, there appears to be some print damage to this title. Are you referring to the scene where Jimmy makes his first appearance in the house? There are light scratches that run across the picture for the balance of the scene. The online reviews made these sound worse than what they really are.

I agree with the post about Chinese Ring..this was a major upgrade for me. The print for this film was perhaps the best of the 4. It's great to be able to view and enjoy a movie without being distracted by a bad print.

Bring on Vol 2! :)

Thank you, gentlemen, for your comments about the scratches seen in the scene mentioned by Steve. As I have not had the chance to read any other reviews, yet, I was curious as to how those appeared to others. As I mentioned before, I didn't think that had anything to do with the quality of the DVD itself. Definitely a flaw in the original print.

My understanding is that Warner Brothers searched literally everywhere to obtain the best quality examples to use in this DVD set. Hopefully, the remaining seven films will appear in a subsequent set or sets. Sales numbers will be key, I understand, in their final decision.

I have yet to see "The Chinese Ring," and, from what you have said, it sounds wonderful! Yes, it will be nice not to hear the echoing, etc. present in the copies we used to watch!

Thank you, again, gentlemen...

Sincerely,
Rush