NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (July2024): As #16 of their 'Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation' series, Kino have transferred both 1935's The Cocaine Fiends and silent era version The Pace That Kills, made in 1928, to Blu-ray. These Willis Kent productions are exploitation films, thinly disguised as cautionary tales. It is cited as being from "4K restorations, from archival 35mm elements preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Library of Congress." Both have visible damage (see below.) Otherwise they looks quite good - consistent grain visible and appealing detail / sharpness. Really quite good beyond the obvious warts. Both transfers have max'ed out bitrates.

NOTE: We have added 42 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel tracks (24-bit) with The Cocaine Fiends in the original English language. There is only gunfire and cars in the manner of aggressive sound effects - and no notable score but a belly dance sequences, All I Want Is You performed by Nona Lee at the night club and Towsee Mongalay by Frank Collins. It is all mostly clean (minor crackles) in the lossless transfer. Kino offer optional English subtitles for the 1935 version, and English intertitles for the silent, on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a new commentaries; on the 1935 version, The Cocaine Fiends, by Eric Schaefer, author of Bold! Daring! Shocking! True!: A History of Exploitation Films and for the 1928 silent version, The Pace That Kills, by film historian Anthony Slide (author of Hollywood Unknowns: A History of Extras, Bit Players, and Stand-Ins). Anthony is always good and talks about the serious subject matter of the film; drug usage. He discusses the actors, their careers, Willis Kent and much more. Schaefer talks about the 1935-37 reissue version title names, the cost saving measure with the rehashed footage in spots etc. Both commentaries are informative getting down to the granularity of the core elements of these exploitation films. Kino also include an alternate opening for Cocaine Fiends and a 1973 re-release trailer for that film. There are also trailers for other exploitation genre films in the Forbidden Fruit series; Reefer Madness, Marihuana, Narcotic and The Devil's Sleep.

The Kino Blu-ray, #16, follows their Forbidden Fruit series with two similar exploitation genre film versions. The Pace That Kills was directed by Norton S. Parker and William O'Connor and the 1935 film directed solely by O'Connor (Playthings of Hollywood.)  They involve a drug dealer foisting "headache powder" and turning innocents into opium/cocaine addicts. This series is always filled with fascinating time capsule features utilizing the disguise of being 'a cautionary tale'. Aside from drugs there are themes involving morality with prostitution and mobster activity as sub-plots. The cinematographer on the silent version was Hungarian-American Ernest Laszlo (Logan's Run, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, Judgment at Nuremberg, Inherit the Wind) known for his frequent collaborations with directors Robert Aldrich and Stanley Kramer. The Silent version, The Pace That Kills, was released and distributed via "State Rights", where local sales agents would then sell rights to individual theaters. The theater operators were then encouraged to play the film often in an attempt to increase profit. The Kino Blu-ray is recommended to fans of the rest of this unusual and historically relevant genre like, a favorite, She Should Have Said No. Enjoy!

Gary Tooze