This
Is Your Life – Volume One
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: C Episodes: B+
One of the early television classics that has endured and
even appreciated is Ralph Edwards’ This Is Your Life, which is finally
out on DVD, getting the deluxe treatment from R2 Entertainment. Volume One has 18 shows over three
DVDs, but they are exceptional choices and only the beginning of the amazing
archive Edwards created in the course of one of the strongest, greatest runs in
TV history. Including a few from his
1980s revival and all with updates, the shows here are:
1)
Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy
2)
Lou Costello
3)
Bette Davis
4)
Jayne Mansfield
5)
Roy Rogers
6)
Johnny Cash
7)
Milton Berle
8)
Betty White
9)
Rear Admiral Samuel G. Fuqua (Pearl Harbor)
10)
Hanna Bloch Kohner
(Holocaust survivor)
11)
Bobby Darin
12)
Dick Clark
13)
Richard &
Karen Carpenter
14)
Shirley Jones
15)
Jesse Owens
16)
Duke Kahanamoko
17)
Boris Karloff
18)
Vincent Price
With a list like that, there has to be someone you want to
see, and every show offers some classic moments in each case. For Laurel & Hardy, it was their first
live action TV appearance meant for the tube and is a great show. The same goes for Lou Costello, caught off
guard while doing TV. Bette Davis is at
her best, caught working on the telefilm Madame Sin including producer
Robert Wagner, while we see a very human side of Jayne Mansfield in her
show. With recent biopics of Johnny
Cash and Bobby Darin, you can see how close Joaquin Phoenix and Kevin Spacey
came to doing it right. There are
important historical figures, a sports legend who made history and some of our
greatest comic and music talent.
Milton Berle, Mr. Television himself, HAD to be the
subject of one of these shows or Edwards would have come up short. The Bette White segment is from the 1980s as
Edwards interrupts a stills shoot for The Golden Girls. In the cases of Darin and Karen Carpenter,
it is sad to watch and know some great talents were gone long before they
should have been. Then there are the
segments on Boris Karloff and Vincent Price that Horror fans will want to own,
though I will not ruin any surprises.
Little did Edwards know what a vital record of some of the
most important names of the 20th Century he was capturing and in the
most natural way. This is the real
reality TV, capturing some great people whose contributions to society are key
even beyond the pop culture many of them are celebrated for. In a sea of massive TV on DVD releases for
2005, This Is Your Life - Volume One is one of the best releases of the
year we are not hearing enough about, and that goes beyond TV.
The 1.33 X 1 image is varied in formats, from film to NTSC
analog video, to early black & white film, to color and black and white
videotape. In all cases the best
possible transfer has been made from all the available materials, making this
more of a pleasure to watch than it would have been if handled with a lower
budget. The Dolby Digital 2.0 is from
mostly monophonic sources, but is as clean and clear as possible, with the sound
better, the newer the show. The only
extra are stills of the shows behind the scenes and memorabilia on each DVD,
plus a great 32-page booklet that comes with the set. We can’t wait for Volume Two, but this gives us plenty to
enjoy until then. Don’t miss it!
- Nicholas Sheffo
