Jan 20 2009
Classic Suspense (Review)
CLASSIC SUSPENSE
9 Classic TV Series Episodes
Are you finding yourself overwhelmed at the choices of cheap public domain 1950’s TV series? Thankfully, the good faceless people at Digiview Entertainment have made a dollar DVD that gives you a sample of nine television shows. And they all involve suspense!
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1954)
Episode: The Case of the Texas Cowgirl
Not a half-bad interpretation of Sherlock Holmes especially for such an early TV series. The writing is decent and the comedy is usually effective. The acting is okay from the main characters, but the side characters range from amateur to awful. The episode on this disc is probably one of the worst episodes of the show considering it has stereotypical dialogue of cowgirls and Native-American Indians. And with stereotypes of Native-Americans, expect to see tomahawks, peace-pipes and jokes about scalping.
Dragnet (1951)
Episode: The Big Crime
This is probably the most popular show on the DVD. The episode is a pretty good story about missing children, but there is one big catch about the show being on this set. The main theme is replaced with this horrible electronic music that is poorly edited into the show! What a horrible destruction of such a classic show. If you can’t afford to show Dragnet in it’s entirety with the music, don’t show it all.
Gang Busters (1952)
Episode: The O’Dell-Griffin Case
A pretty decent crime show with good narration and a crazy opening sequence involving a poorly designed revolver pointing at the screen. I find it interesting how this show is based on actual events. Along the introductions, the show feel like America’s Most Wanted with dialogue. The episode involves jewel robbery and murder.
My Hero (1952)
Episode: Beauty and the Beast
My Hero is a detective comedy show with studio audience laughter. Bob S. Beanblossom (Bob Cummings) makes nice-nice with a movie director’s wife. Hilarity ensues. The comedy isn’t half-bad but I could I see how this show only lasted one season.
Lock Up (1959)
Episode: The Case of Tom Fuller
Another crime movie based on real-life events. This show is based is based on the life of LA attorney Herbert L. Maris who defended unjustly convicted individuals. This is a pretty good episode involving a hostage situation.
Decoy (1957)
Episode: Shadow of Van Gogh
The late Beverly Garland plays a police woman who takes on dangerous cases. The episode focuses on an artist making illegal copies of Van Gogh paintings. This is a show very ahead of it’s time, but, sadly, it’s easy to understand why it was cut after one season.
Lights Out (1946)
Episode: Curtain Call
This is one of the earliest classic horror shows that would later inspire The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. The show opens with a disembodied head talking, a candle blows out and an organ screeches. The episode involves a man hearing voices that he is a murderer. The acting is really good, but the video and audio quality is very poor on the disc.
Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion (1955)
Episode: The Buried Box
Focusing on the French army in North Africa, Captain Gallant defends from bandit tribes while impressing his son. It’s a decent adventure show, but definitely not politically correct or true to real life events. In other words, its severely dated.
One Step Beyond (1959)
Episode: Emergency Only
While The Twilight Zone was a ‘what-if’ show, One Step Beyond is based on human record making it more of a ‘what-could’ show. This episode involves some army men in a 1915 European battleground who see a glowing beam of light in the sky that makes them feel at peace and not want to fight. There is some very nice acting and the story is well-written. Easily the best show on the disc.
