Ride the High Wind (AKA African Gold, 1965) (1 Viewer)

[cineescape]

I discovered this gem in the long ago in my teens when asthmatic attacks had me up watching late night TV. This one appeared often and I quickly became enchanted by the jazzy score and Nambian desert scenes. Action/War movies were never my thing but Adventure movies like “Ride the High Wind” and other classics like “Flight of the Phoenix” (1965) and “Bad Day at Black Rock” (1957) was always the exceptions. It’s no coincidence that all three movies were filmed on desert terrains; fantasy retirement locations.

I was able to dub it to VHS and really treasured that tape. But the real find came years later when I found that this South African media company had acquired the DVD rights https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-Net I ordered two copies of the DVD from an online South African book store. Very high quality and backed them up.

Sadly, they eventually phased out their home video business.
https://teeveetee.blogspot.com/2020/07/multichoice-and-m-net-reducing-and.html

I think the video rights to the film may have reverted back to the South African government from whence they came, in any case they probably have the original a/v elements. A shame that a BD release has yet to happen, and unfortunately director David Millin had no budget for widescreen filming. But at at least some kind soul had provided this. Enjoy!

 

[Keith Cobby]

Good African set adventure film. I thought it must have originally been made for television, the framing is a little tight in places and I did wonder whether the AR should be 1.66:1. As a Maria Perschy fan, I would buy this on blu ray.