Studio One Collection Boxed Set (TV)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C     Programs: A-

 

 

We hear so much about the great days of early live television, but so much of it is lost and what does survive goes too unseen.  One of the greatest of all these shows was one sponsored by Westinghouse Electric.  Studio One ran from 1948 – 1958, migrating quickly from radio to the newly established medium of television.  It has always had the reputation as possibly the greatest live program in early television.  After watching through this set thoroughly, I can confirm how true that is and add that it is shocking how excellent these programs still are.  They hold up unbelievably well and the epitome of excellent in TV’s Golden Age.

 

The three DVDs offered here include the following shows, which we split into two sections to show you how great they are, starting with the cast and crew for:

 

The Defender by Reginald Rose, with Ralph Bellamy, Martin Balsam, Steven (Steve) McQueen, and William Shatner.  Directed by Robert Mulligan.

 

Sentence Of Death by Adrian Spies, from a story by Thomas Walsh, with Gene Lyons, Betsy Palmer, Virginia Vincent and James Dean as Joe Palica.  Directed by Matt Harlib.

 

The Night America Trembled by Nelson Bond, hosted by Edward R. Murrow, with Alexander Scourby as “Host” (aka Orson Welles), Edward Asner, Vincent Gardenia, Jim (James) Coburn, Warren Beatty, and Warren Oates.  Directed by Tom Donovan.

 

The Laughmaker by A.J. Russell, with Jackie Gleason as Jerry Giles (Gleason did the entire score for the show), Art Carney as Bill Berkson, Rita Morley as Peggy Trent, Marian Seldes as Belle Giles, Sally Gracie as Flo Stevens, Carl Frank as Tom Warner, and Mischa Auer as Cosmo.  Directed by Paul Nickell.

 

The Square Peg by George Malcolm-Smith, with Thomas Mitchell, Orson Bean as Harvey B. Hines, Hildy Parks as Mabel Prentice, Howard Smith, and Donald Keyes.  Directed by Paul Nickell.

 

Now that is some great casting, made more interesting by the fact that many of the familiar names were unknowns at the time.  Now read the storylines on each:

 

The Defender – A young man (McQueen) is arrested and tried for a murder that he vehemently claims he did not commit, but a fair trial may be more in his hands of his attorneys than the certain witnesses and evidence as the father and son team representing him (Bellamy & Shatner) clash.  Bellamy wants to get the trial over with and send him away, but Shatner disagrees and believes he should be tried fairly.  This is excellent and in two parts, the longest work in the set.

 

Sentence Of Death – At a drug store with a soda fountain, one of the owners is shot to death, and young Joe Palica (James Dean, in an outstanding performance) cannot believe he is the accused.  An upscale young lady (Palmer) was in the phone booth at the time and did not get the best look, hiding inside for her life, but she starts to believe and realize the arrestee is the wrong man when she has a strange encounter at a bar.  An outstanding drama laced with solid police procedural writing.

 

The Night America Trembled – This is a recreation of the night Orson Welles and his Mercury Theater broadcast a version of H.G. Wells classic War Of The Worlds in 1938 that was so good, too many people thought it was real!  This is even more interesting than it sounds and Scourby is really good at capturing Welles’ mannerisms.  Excellent.

 

The Laughmaker – Gleason is perfectly cast as a great comic performer who has spent so much time hiding behind his talent that it starts backfiring and starts hurting his career, but not before very badly affecting the people around him.  Some may have trouble with Gleason & Carney at odds with each other in a darker work, but this is great, risk-taking television at its best.

 

The Square Peg – Orson Bean is so great as a very naïve psychiatrist who does not realize he has taken a job in a front for a criminal organization, which pays well, until it turns out he has walked unknowingly into a sting operation by the IRS!  This is both very serious and very funny.  Just amazing.

 

In speaking of fronts, we know many such shows at the time were written by blacklisted talents who used “fronts” other real life persons, as if they were the writers, to sell their work and make a living.  The excellent Martin Ritt film The Front (1976) with Woody Allen & Zero Mostel (among other greats) is also on DVD.  That the show was so great and made under that dark cloud explains further what a triumph the show was.

 

The full frame image is all in the kinescope format, where the video image was “burned” onto film stock, though I do not want to over-simplify it.  They are in decent shape and nicely transferred under the circumstances, though not reconfigured to get the TV tube stretch out of them that the “Lost Episodes” of The Honeymooners would eventually have done to their prints.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is also good under the circumstances.  Robert Allen, Jerry Goldsmith, Bernard Herrmann and Bernhard Kaun were among the composers for the show, though all are not represented on this set.

 

The only extra on all three DVDs is a too-brief documentary on the show that lasts only 10:45, which does not begin to cover the greatness of this show.  Future directing legend John Frankenheimer, Cloris Leachman and Charlton Heston are among the interviewees.  This could have went on for a few hours, especially when you consider the other talents involved on the show.  Other directors included Yul Brynner, Sidney Lumet, Daniel Petrie and Franklin J. Schaffner.  The writers were also amazing, including a pre-Twilight Zone Rod Serling.  There is obviously plenty of more great material to continue issuing DVDs that could run on as long as MPI’s Dark Shadows sets.  Several previews happen to be on the prints offered here in this set.  My vote is for First Prize For Murder by Phil Reisman Jr., based on a story by John D. MacDonald starring Darren McGavin looks great.  I hope we get more of them.  Find out more at www.goldhil.com where you can order this and other excellent DVD titles, and even ask when more Studio One DVDs are due.  The more interest expressed, the more likely the titles will get released.  This is one of the best TV boxed sets on the market, though the titles are sold separately.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo