Father Knows Best Season Four (1957 - 1958/Shout! Factory DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Episodes: B-
A few
seasons alter and Father Knows Best continued
to be a hit and even became a smoother, more energetic show hitting its prime and
stride. We covered the debut season, so
if you want to know more about the show and its historic place in TV and sitcom
history, try this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6769/Father+Knows+Best+%E2%80%93+Se
This time
out, the teens character development shows true growth in the series, the
actors and the family cast fitting in so well together. You could easily believe this is a real
family and the writing itself continued to be amusing and smarter than the show
gets credit for these days. All 33
half-hours are here uncut in broadcast order over five DVDs and despite their
age, they are fresher than you would expect and very entertaining, intentionally
and sometimes unintentionally. This DVD
set joins the others is showing how well done this really was.
The 1.33
X 1 black and white image can be soft in places, but the overall copy quality
from episode to episode looks better than the first set and some shots are
remarkably detailed with fine depth to them.
This was all shot in 35mm film and the benefits of that really show
here. Nice to see so much of the
footage was preserved well enough over the years. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono can have its share
of noise and distortion depending on the print, but overall sounds a little
better than that first set. The
combination makes me believe that this is one of the best 1950s TV series and
first that ought to be issued in Blu-ray.
Extras
include episodes of Robert Youngs follow-up sitcom Window On Main Street that is not bad, with DVD 1 offering The Boy Who Got It Made and The Haunted House on DVD 5. There are also three episodes of the radio
version of the series that was edgier, less politically correct than the TV
version could ever hope to be and a very interesting show in it own right. On DVDs 2, 3 and 4, we get the shows A New Housekeeper, New Arrangements and Vocation Arrives. Those are all a very pleasant surprise and it
will be fun to see if the next sets can add on to that.
- Nicholas Sheffo
