Marcus Welby, M.D. – Season One (1969 – 1970/Shout! Factory DVD)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C-*     Episodes: B

 

 

The good doctor was a fixture of dramatic fiction since the earliest days of film when medicine was considered a new hope and doctors still did house calls.  Dr. Kildare and Ben Casey were among the big successes in this cycle, especially on television.  David Victor was behind the TV success of Kildare and lightning struck twice when he created Marcus Welby, M.D. for Universal and Robert Young.  After a successful pilot telefilm entitled A Matter Of Humanities, the show debuted in 1969 and was a huge hit.

 

Welby first shows up not for certain his future in medicine having his own health problems, but has an ally in fellow Doctor Steven Kiley (James Brolin) who becomes his business partner in private practice by the end of the film.  The studio launched it as a series and the rest is history.  Larry Linville, Anne Baxter, Susan Strasberg, Lew Ayers, Penny Santon and Tom Bosley also star.

 

I was surprised how well the show held up despite its age, how it tackled items like LSD and abortion in its own way and how melodramatic it could be.  Steven Spielberg directed one of the last episodes of the season (and yes, one of the better ones) and as you watch, the culture shock of a good doctor devoted to helping people instead of being a wheel in the machine of an HMO reminds us of how good health care once was in this country before it became a greed game playing with people’s lives with total disregard.  I could even imagine HMOs not wanting this show on DVD, but here it is.

 

And once again, Young proved to be one of the biggest gentlemen stars of his generation, carrying the show with ease and giving his character a depth and empathy that proved what a good actor he really was.  All 26 hour-long episodes are here too and it is definitely worth revisiting Marcus Welby, M.D., especially in the face of so many medical dramas today.  It may be older, but it is often still smarter than many of the shows like it that have followed.

 

 

The 1.33 X 1 image was shot in 35mm from the pilot to all the episodes for all seven seasons.  These copies have good color and the prints are clean, but the transfers are slightly faint and on the watered down side in detail, sometimes affecting the color.  Otherwise, these look good.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono also is fine for its age and as clean as the old Dolby codec can deliver.  Both could be better, but you can see the trouble and money that was put into the show just the same.  *A booklet with episode guide is the only extra unless you count the pilot telefilm, but we will not since we believe any pilot should always be included.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo