The Green Hornet Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

The Green Hornet Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 6, 2023

The Green Hornet may be an outlier in the annals of either big screen or small screen adaptations of ostensible comic book superheroes because this character actually began "life" on the radio, and only later matriculated to the (illustrated) printed page. That seeming connection to comic book franchises was no doubt strengthened by the short-lived 1966-67 The Green Hornet television series, which followed in what was then the immense wake of Batman, though the relatively quick demise of The Green Hornet on tv, despite the involvement of Bruce Lee as Kato, may have been a kind of writing on the wall for Batman itself, which saw its fortunes skyrocket only to falter rather speedily, ultimately lasting only a trimmed down to one episode per week season past The Green Hornet's exit. And in fact this character has never really seemed to ignite audience interest in the same way that some either the DC or Marvel superstars have, as evidenced both by lackluster feature films like The Green Hornet 3D and perhaps even by this very serial. Rather interestingly, this 1939-40 effort predated the serial versions of both Batman and Superman, and also kind of interestingly, all three of these properties ended up producing only two serials each.

The television version of The Green Hornet probably was doomed from the beginning, relegated to the veritable shadow of Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, but also due to the fact that the television version never quite played up the "camp" aspect like the Adam West - Burt Ward property did. The tone of the serial is also pretty resolutely serious, though there's a bit of banter at times between newspaper publisher Britt Reid (Gordon Jones) and his cheeky secretary Leonore Case (Anne Nagel). The serial probably fails spectacularly as an "origin story", despite being the first big screen introduction to the character, and in fact there are kind of gaping plot holes in the depiction of Reid transforming himself into The Green Hornet. While Reid and his trusty acolyte Kato (Keye Luke) are shown tooling around a secret lair early in the first episode, it's suggested that this is (initially at least) a kind of shop for Reid's souped up car, just one of many examples of Kato's handiwork, since Kato in this version is almost like Q in the James Bond franchise, in that Kato is a rather skilled inventor, crafting everything from The Green Hornet's trademark mask to a "gas gun" for his boss.

Before addressing the ins and outs of what is a fairly standard plot, Kato's presumed nationality has been noticeably tweaked in this version, no doubt because of rising tensions with Japan when the serial was being produced. While Kato would ultimately be transformed into a Filipino, here he's overtly identified as a Korean, which apparently struck Universal as a problem free way to keep the character generically Asian without inviting any jingoistic umbrage. It's rather interesting to note that this change is offered almost immediately in the first episode, as if to put any lingering doubts at rest right off the bat.

The story here plays rather like a videogame in one way, in that each episode finds The Green Hornet and Kato going after a bad guy, of course triumphing, but then needing to move up to the "next level" of villainy in the subsequent episode. The serial plies the same conceit over and over (and over and over) in that virtually every gang member the two heroes encounter gets offed before he's able to impart much information about a wide ranging conspiracy that involves everything from shoddy public works construction efforts to a really gonzo sidebar involving a flying school and an insurance scam.

As with many (maybe all?) serials from this general era, the cliffhangers are often resolutely silly, and watching the episodes one after the other can point out any number of continuity and/or editing gambits that make the supposedly disastrous ending of one episode suddenly morph into at least a temporary "happily ever after" when the next one starts up. The serial is also chock full of at times kind of comical stock footage, involving everything from a failing dam to failing plane flights. The "special effects" are resolutely lo-fi, which may be a kind of quaint calling card for some viewers. Performances are okay, if never really thrilling, and in fact both The Green Hornet and even Kato come off as somewhat wooden, leaving the most visceral histrionics to supporting characters like the litany of criminals or some of the supporting characters surrounding Reid in his "mild mannered" guise.

The Green Hornet Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Green Hornet is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of VCI Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.41:1. Aside from their generic "digitally restored" text card at disc boot up I didn't see any other technical information imparted. VCI's compression and authoring have improved through the years, but this is another effort where they may not have found quite the right balance between "restoring" and overly zealous digital scrubbing. Interestingly, there's still quite a bit of damage that can be spotted throughout virtually every episode, including some pretty noticeable scratches (see screenshot 18), along with other issues like warped frames and even jumpy edit points, and as I've mentioned in other reviews of VCI's releases, there's something approaching a grain field on display, though grain tends to only be visible in parts of the frame at time, which, along with the general appearance here, points to some fairly aggressive filtering. Blacks and contrast are also inconsistent. There's quite a bit of crush on display, as can probably easily be seen in some of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review, but alternatively there are several sequences where blacks are pretty milky looking. As mentioned above in the main body of the review, there's a lot of stock footage, some of it almost hilariously intercut with the "new" footage, and a lot of the stock material can look pretty ragged.

The Green Hornet Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Green Hornet features LPCM 2.0 Mono audio that shows signs of its age, especially with regard to some pretty omnipresent background hiss, but which still manages to deliver a reasonably energetic presentation. It's always struck me as just slightly funny that The Green Hornet's theme song is Flight of the Bumblebee, which might be a salient example of "close enough for jazz", but unlike Al Hirt's more pop inflected rendition for the television series, you get the full out orchestral treatment here, albeit with some really bad editing in the credits sequence to make it fit the timing. While the entire track has a boxy sound, dialogue and effects are rendered without any major issues. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Green Hornet Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• I Am. . .The Green Hornet (HD; 7:59) is an audio supplement featuring Clifford Weimer along with Don Blair and Chris Rowe of VCI.


• The Parking Lot Racket Radio Episode (HD; 29:43) plays to a static image with some information on the site which provided the audio.


• The Highway That Graft Wrote Radio Episode (HD; 27:39) plays to a static image with some information on the site which provided the audio.


• Trivia and Photo Gallery (HD; 6:51)

Additionally, an insert booklet features an essay Martin Grams, Jr. and Terry Salomonson, which is rather peculiarly listed as "due for publication. . .early 2010", which suggests this may have also been part of VCI's DVD release of the serial. Additionally, packaging features a reversible cover insert.

The Green Hornet Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Considering the similarly lackluster fate of Green Lantern, maybe superheroes with a color in their name, or at least that color in their name, are just fated to bad luck. This serial is undercut by an undeveloped narrative involving its very title character, as well as the too often repeated conceit of a bad guy meeting his fate toward the end of each and every episode. Still, some of the supporting characters in particular are fun. VCI is improving its Blu-ray quality, but I personally wish they'd trust in a more organic appearance, even if that means a "warts and all" look.