My Three Sons - The First Season, Volume One (1960/CBS DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes: C+
One of
the most successful family TV shows was one about a widowed father called My Three Sons and featured Fred
MacMurray (who had started as a serious actor in Film Noir before becoming a
family guy) as Steve Douglas. Starting
out in 1960 in black and white, the show has the three sons played by Tim
Considine, Stanley Livingston and Don Grady.
Unlike later seasons, the supporting “second father” was played by
William Frawley (I Love Lucy) as
their grandfather, but he would soon leave the show and was succeeded by
William Demarest as the boy’s uncle.
Like
early Andy Griffith Shows, the early
episodes are quieter, softer, a little more dramatic, understated and does not
have the outright comedy the show and its later seasons would have. It is still a very intelligent, well-written
show and the cast has chemistry that would help it become the minor classic it
is today. It is also funny to see the
sons so young, as the later shows (usually the full color ones) were the shows
that landed up being syndicated more often before the show disappeared for a
while. Now it is finally coming out on
DVD and that is a good thing.
Yes, the
show is a little formulaic, but now more than ever, it has appreciated in
interesting ways and should find a new following. Fans will be happy and this set features new
transfers of the material.
The 1.33
X 1 picture image is clean and as sharp as the DVD format can deliver, while
the Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono sound is good for its age. It could sound a bit better, but the
combination’s clarity and the consistency between the 18 half-hour episodes
here over 3 DVDs will surprise and impress all.
There are sadly no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
