The Mysterious Mr. M Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

The Mysterious Mr. M Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 17, 2020

"Uneducated" or at least previously unaware viewers may react to The Mysterious Mr. M's copyright date of 1946 and think, as I did, "Wow, that seems kind of late for a weekly 'cliffhanger' serial," and in fact, this uneducated and/or previously unaware viewer discovered in doing some background research in preparation for writing this review that The Mysterious Mr. M was evidently the last weekly serial produced by Universal. By 1946, viewing habits had changed enough (and were about to change even further with the wider advent of televisions in many homes) that Universal evidently deemed it a losing proposition to keep churning out these adventures which were actually rather like a weekly television drama. I'm also kind of curious if viewership for this type of often kid centered entertainment may have encountered at least a bit of an ebb around 1946 since the glut of kids born before World War II had arguably largely "aged out" of such offerings, and the Baby Boom was just beginning to explode in the first full post-war year.

The Mysterious Mr. M fits pretty snugly into well worn tropes of serials that promulgated during the 1930s and early 1940s, with an inventor’s defense themed work in danger of falling into “the wrong hands”. There are a couple of problems which keep this serial from ever really achieving much momentum or suspense, however. Despite a kind of fun “hypnotism” (or something like that) subplot which at least occasionally makes good guys into quasi-bad guys, there are even more villains afoot, to the point that it becomes confusing as to who is controlling (in more ways than one) whom. This is also a relentlessly talky serial, so much so that the supposed “cliffhangers” just kind of seemed tacked on to endless “Moishe the Explainer” scenes that become almost hilariously labyrinthine as the serial progresses.

The Mysterious Mr. M Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Mysterious Mr. M is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of VCI Entertainment and MVD Visual with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. While this commendably doesn't offer any of the sometimes problematic encoding issues that have cropped up on various VCI Blu-ray releases, it does show two of the label's tendencies, namely a filtered appearance that can tend to erase a natural looking grain field, and contrast that is often a bit hazy, so that blacks tend more toward gray territory. Detail levels are at least decent, and occasionally winning in some close-ups. There's quite a bit of stock footage here (as well as some other footage reportedly culled from Republic serials, as funny as that may be), and some of that can look decidedly rough. There is noticeable age related wear and tear throughout the presentation, with nicks and scratches and even occasional slight warping in evidence.

The Mysterious Mr. M Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Mysterious Mr. M features a decent sounding LPCM 2.0 mono mix that adequately supports the film's pretty extended dialogue sequences, along with occasional effects work like crackling electric waves, or several rather large explosions. Some of the more "mundane" sound effects, like fists hitting flesh, can sound a bit boxy at times. In fact the entire track has a pretty narrow sound, but dialogue makes it through the gauntlet rather well, all things considered.

The Mysterious Mr. M Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements of any kind on this Blu-ray disc.

The Mysterious Mr. M Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Universal never really championed serials the way some other studios, notably Republic, did, and unfortunately the studio's relationship with this form of entertainment goes out with more of a whimper than a bang, despite several explosions which pop up (literally and figuratively) here. This is pretty rote stuff all the way around, certainly done professionally and with occasional moments of excitement, but The Mysterious Mr. M probably should be accepted as more of a historical curio than anything really very memorable. Technical merits are middling for those considering a purchase.