Winnetou and Old Shatterhand in the Valley of Death Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Winnetou and Old Shatterhand in the Valley of Death Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 9, 2026

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of the Adventure Calls! Karl May at CCC set from Eureka! Entertainment.

Eureka! Entertainment has been releasing box sets with an unusual tether: Germany's Central Cinema Compagnie-Film GmbH, otherwise known under its acronym CCC, a studio founded by Artur Brauner in 1946. Brauner had just survived the Holocaust and desperately wanted to make films depicting the horrendous Nazi era, but post World War II Germany was simply not in the mood for such fare, and early Brauner efforts like Morituri (not the Brando - Brynner spy opus from years later) bombed pretty spectacularly, leaving Brauner not just seriously in debt but perilously close to declaring bankruptcy almost as soon as his studio had been founded. That resulted in a rejiggering of sorts where Brauner realized he had to appeal to the "unwashed masses" before moving on to so-called "message films". While Brauner did in fact offer some Nazi adjacent material in the 1950s with films like 1955's The Plot to Assassinate Hitler, he also significantly broadened the studio's output, ending the decade by offering a Fritz Lang "two fer", The Tiger of Eschnapur and The Indian Tomb. Brauner continued to coax legendary expat German directors back to Germany to work for him at CCC, and he also started to produce what might be called "franchises", though rather interestingly some of these perceived series were built around authors rather than characters, including the films Eureka! released in its Terror in the Fog: Wallace Krimi at CCC set in 2025. That said, there was at least one franchise built around a memorable character who is in fact at the center of the other CCC related set Eureka! has offered home media enthusiasts, Mabuse Lives! Dr. Mabuse at CCC: 1960-1964. This third CCC set from Eureka! returns to "author territory", highlighting the work of Karl May, a man many in the United States may not be overly familiar with, but who was evidently pretty much required reading for German schoolchildren. As some of the supplements on this set get into, many of Brauner's May adaptations were marketed as big "family films" which were released during the holiday season to help maximize attendance. That said, several of these films do in fact feature some recurring characters, and all of them star Lex Barker, in several cases playing the same supposed character May more or less claimed was based on himself, though offered in the various films under a couple of different aliases.

Did Tonto ever get billing over the Lone Ranger? This last of the May Shatterhand cycle may surprise some with the order of characters in the title, but considering that fact that neither character made it into the title of the first Shatterhand film (done by Rialto), Treasure of Silver Lake (Der Schatz im Silbersee), which this film is more or less a remake of, might put any qualms to rest. This is basically a treasure hunt story, as the first film version's title probably makes clear, but perhaps because it's so late in the cycle it has a somewhat lethargic feeling, though interestingly perhaps due to the intervening Sergio Leone Spaghetti Westerns and what might be called the nascent zeitgeist that would ultimately result in Sam Peckinpah's then imminent The Wild Bunch, there's a surprisingly dark, violent streak running through this version of the tale that might seem to be at odds with that above mentioned "family film" marketing ploy.

Here, damsel in distress Mabel Kingsley (Karin Dor) is out to clear the name of her father, a soldier who supposedly absconded with a horde of gold. Shatterhand of course offers to help her, and Winnetou, who actually knows more about what actually happened than either Mabel or Shatterhand himself, ultimately joins the fray as well. As with the other CCC May adaptations, there's a lot of scenery here, and some patently goofy supporting performances, but you can almost feel the writing on the wall (and/or mountainside) that the cycle, whether from Rialto or CCC, had come to its end.

Winnetou and Old Shatterhand in the Valley of Death Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Winnetou and Old Shatterhand in the Valley of Death is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka! Entertainment's Masters of Cinema imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. As tends to be the case with the Masters of Cinema line, Eureka! really doesn't provide any substantial technical information, though kind of weirdly (at least from a marketing perspective) their website does mention 4K scans of the original negatives for all of the films in this set. This film's follow up in the set, The Shoot, has a somewhat confusing title that is supposedly referring to a yellow quality of the villain, but it might be joked that it's actually this film's transfer that has a yellow quality, as I found the color timing to be just slightly jaundiced quite a bit of the time, something that's especially noticeable with regard to some of the flesh tones, though it can also pervade to the background scenery. This is another nicely produced effort and the period appropriate costumes and sets feature generally nice looking fine detail levels. Grain can be quite heavy as with the preceding film, especially against brighter outdoor backgrounds, but resolves without any issues. My score is 3.75.

Winnetou and Old Shatterhand in the Valley of Death Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Winnetou and Old Shatterhand in the Valley of Death features LPCM 2.0 Mono options in either German or English (see above for a disclaimer on the English track). Once again even though you're obviously getting massive amounts of dubbing, the German track is probably the way to go, as it's much healthier sounding overall, and has a noticeably fuller midrange and upper end than the English track. The English track in this instance is probably not as widely variant in quality as the one on Old Shatterhand. Dialogue, effects and score are all intact without any major issues other than some arguable minor distortion in some of the louder cues. Optional English subtitles are available.

Winnetou and Old Shatterhand in the Valley of Death Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: Eureka! has packaged Old Shatterhand and Winnetou and Old Shatterhand in the Valley of Death together on one disc with the following supplements, some of which are accessible via the Main Menu, and others of which are accessible once an individual film has been chosen:

Main Menu

• Old Shatterhand and the Works of Karl May Introduction by Sir Christopher Frayling (HD; 25:05) is accessible here as a standalone supplement. It's also available under the film's Play Menu, as seen below.


• Winnetou and Shatterhand in the Valley of Death Introduction by Sir Christopher Frayling (HD; 5:20) is accessible here as a standalone supplement. It's also available under the film's Play Menu, as seen below.


• Making Old Shatterhand (HD; 17:44) is an archival documentary in German with English subtitles.


• Daliah Lavi Featurette (HD; 2:26) is a brief promotional piece touting Lavi's singing career. In German with English subtitles.


• Old Shatterhand International Release Trailer (HD; 3:34)


• Winnetou and Shatterhand in the Valley of Death Trailer (HD; 4:08)

Old Shatterhand

• Introduction by Sir Christopher Frayling (HD; 25:05) is authored to proceed on to the main feature.


• Audio Commentary by David Kalat


• With Optional English Dubbed Audio comes with the following disclaimer:

  The optional English dubbed audio had to be put together from multiple sources. Audio quality will vary. The dubbed version was created for a shorter cut of the film so some scenes will briefly switch to German audio.

Winnetou and Shatterhand in the Valley of Death

• Introduction by Sir Christopher Frayling (HD; 5:20) is authored to proceed on to the main feature.


• With Optional English Dubbed Audio comes with the following disclaimer:

  The optional English dubbed audio was created for a shorter cut of the film so some scenes will briefly switch to German audio.

Winnetou and Old Shatterhand in the Valley of Death Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Despite the fact that this is the putative "second" Shatterhand and Winnetou outing from CCC, it's probably salient to note that there was a rather long four year period in between the films, and this ostensible sequel just doesn't have the energy of the first film. Technical merits are generally solid, and the overall supplements on the disc appealing. With caveats noted, Recommended.