The Best Of Password – The CBS Years: 1962 - 1967 (BCI Eclipse DVD)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: D     Episodes: B

 

 

Though game shows do not always get the respect they deserve, in part because people think after you win the prize, the show is disposable.  Their recent comeback a few years ago, an entire cable network devoted to them, the constantly high ratings the best ones get and a new wave of classics on DVD are starting to show all how wrong that initial assumption is.  Beginning in 1962 on CBS, Allen Ludden became the host of Password, a big hit that had the distinction of successful daytime and nighttime versions.  The Best Of Password – The CBS Years: 1962 - 1967 is a fine 4-DVD set of those shows now available from BCI Eclipse.

 

TV was so new still and still black and white, with videotape even newer, just replacing kinescopes for the shows that were not shot on film.  Of course, the game show began on old network radio in the 1920s, but TV would take it to new heights and Password was one of the first shows to do so.  Between the big names that were still around from film, new ones on the rise, plus stars from great hit TV shows and other personalities and you get a show with more going for it that just its very fun word clue game.  Here is the unbelievable list of star players:

 

 

DVD 1

 

Carol Burnett (a riot here)/Gary Moore

Betsy Palmer/Dick Van Dyke (just before his hit show)

Pat Carroll/Johnny Carson (when he still had a show on CBS)

James Mason/Jane Fonda (very young and still-unknown here)

Joan Benny/Jack Benny

Anne Bancroft/Robert Goulet (without a mustache)

Joan Crawford (enjoying Baby Jane success)/Barry Nelson (the first James Bond!)

Olivia de Havilland/Anthony Perkins (post-Psycho, plugging Welles’ The Trial)

 

 

DVD 2

 

Betty White (Ludden’s wife)/Jack Parr

Janet Leigh/Polly Bergen/Peter Lawford/Sammy Davis Jr.

Carol Burnett/Robert Preston

Lucille Ball/Gary Morton/Lucy Arnaz/Desi Arnaz Jr.

Betty White/Paul Anka (still as a teen heartthrob and funny here)

Georgia Brown/Laurence Harvey

Edie Gorme/Bob Newhart (just before huge stardom, very funny here)

Marty Allen/Steve Rossi

 

 

DVD 3

 

Lucille Ball/Gary Morton/Peter Lawford/Vivian Vance

James Stewart/Gloria Stewart/Judy Stewart/Kelly Stewart

Angie Dickenson/Pat Carroll/Peter Lawford/Otto Preminger

Jayne Meadows/Steve Allen

Barbara Rush/Gene Kelly

Lauren Bacall/Jack Palance

Betty White/Arlene Francis

Nancy Sinatra/Woody Allen (a real classic show!)

 

 

DVD 4

 

Barbara Bain (plugging Mission: Impossible’s debut)/Brian Keith

Bea Benedaret/Eddie Albert (plugging Petticoat Junction & Green Acres)

Nancy Kulp/Frank Sutton (another all time classic show!)

Carol Welles/Bob Denver

Irene Ryan/Bob Crane/Donna Douglas (a must see riot of a show!)

Audrey Meadows/Jerry Lewis

Betty White/Frank Gifford

Elizabeth Montgomery/Martin Landau (plugging Bewitched & M: I)

 

 

And this is just a compilation!  The humor, wit, words chosen, mistakes, laughs and even suspense make the show always worth revisiting and Ludden really is one of the best game show hosts of all time.  The game is not as easy as it looks and from episode one, he has a total grasp of what had to happen to win and even though later revivals upped the money (to the current nighttime version with Regis Philbin, one of the best shows of which had Betty White), the original still has a charm and cleverness that only a more intimately played version could offer.  Of course, this original version was too played out by the time it was first revived, but it is one of the classics and along with The Price Is Right and even Jeopardy, one of the only survivors left of the classics.

 

The 1.33 x 1 looks good for videotape its age, whether you are watching the black and white from the first three DVDs or color shows on DVD four, but the black and white shows its age; which is no fault of these fine transfers that make the show look as good as it ever will.  The color shows look the best.  Beyond their fine color, the technology improved with some more detail.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is good across all the discs and on average is better than the picture, but those responsible for this set did a great job and we are lucky these even still exist.  There are no extras, save a paper pullout, but maybe they can add something on the next volume.

 

 

For more of these great game show sets on DVD, try these links:

 

Family Feud (Richard Dawson All Star Shows)

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6698/All+Star+Family+Feud+(Richard

 

Match Game (Best Of/Gene Rayburn version)

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5382/The+Best+Of+Match+Game+(BCI

 

Price Is Right (Best Of with Bob Barker)

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6895/The+Best+Of+The+Price+Is+Right

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo