Rider on the Rain (1970)

Good Movie, Terrible Transfer

I had been anticipating the release of this movie on DVD for a long time, but what a disappointment it turned out to be. The picture is about the same as my old Star VHS tape, but the sound is a disaster. The Francis Lai score sounds like an old tape recorder in its death throes. This appears to be a bootleg item. Judging from the reviews here, Amazon should pull this item and return all copies to the distributor -- if they can be found. Save your money until a better release comes out. May 5, 2008

FLY BY NIGHT DVD RELEASER AT IT AGAIN

The movie is fairly good, this DVD release is not. Trinity Home Entertainment, (AKA 905 ENTERTAINMENT) released another DVD which I unfortunately purchased. Beware this releaser. This release suffers from VHS video quality and horrible wow on the audio track, rendering the background music unlistenable. I have to wonder if Trinity has legally gained the reights to release these movies on DVD as the quality is so poor. Someone should investigate them. A web search does not produce much in the way of an address or location, or otherwise who these people are. Amazon should investigate just who they are buying from. The products from this releaser are worse than anything I have seen from any other source. Beware "The Next Man" on DVD starring Sean Connerly. The original source had to be a slow speed VHS recording of a TV broadcast of the movie, there were obvious reception distortion problems plus the run time was shortened to that allowable by a 2 hour broadcast, ie; 93 minutes or so. June 27, 2007

Masterpiece Needs Better DVD Quality

Director Rene Clement's top quality thriller, "Rider on the Rain" (1969) (I don't know where this "Rider in the Rain" keeps popping up!), is based on a Sebastien Japrisot story, probably one of his best if they all are not ("Trap for Cinderella" (never filmed) and "Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun" with Samantha Eggar (NOT on video) were exceptional) and should be viewed as the re-start of his career as we all sat back in 1969 and waited for his "next film" which turned out to be "The Deadly Trap" with Faye Dunaway and Frank Langella, also very good and not available on video. The old pro, Clement ("Purple Noon," "Joy House" and "Forbidden Games" (just a few)) had become a new "auteur" with "Rider ON the Rain" never mistaken for "in the rain" as with this DVD pressing the movie sounds like it is "under water." Marlene Jobert as "Melancoly" steals the film from Charles Bronson in this his comeback picture. It ceases to amaze me "what people will do" and this DVD printing is one of the worst I've ever bought. (I have a feeling "Rider in the Rain" is a catch-all for the relentlessly poor DVD pressing and they wouldn't even bother to make the title certain). Am I supposed to be thankful for such a poor quality DVD pressing? Is it asking too much? Actually, the picture is a masterpiece. It makes the blending of the Hitchcock/Japrisot that there will never be as close as possible. Honors to Clement, Jobert for the exquisite performance as "Melancoly" and Bronson.
November 28, 2006

Theory OK But

This movie has a very good plot, however the distorted background sound, particularly the music takes away from this movie. October 27, 2006

Surprizingly good film

Some poor sound... really just the music and at times a little unclear picture. But the film has a great plot and Bronson is at his best as a tough but caring hero, well worth having for any Bronson fan......... September 21, 2006

More reviews at Amazon.com ...