Primetime Suspense: Here is a cheap dollar DVD I picked up at Wal*Mart as an impulse item in line at the checkout. I was staying with Mandi for the weekend and we ended up at Wal*Mart and I looked through the dollar discs there. So while it may not be the best DVD, it does have an interesting story behind it.

What we have here is a mishmash of public domain prints of old TV shows with new music put in. Since it is just a dollar release, I will be brief.

Sherlock Holmes: In this corny episode the great detective solves a murder involving a wild west show.

Dragnet: This is one of the more infamous episodes of Dragnet centers around a child molester. If you can't stomach that sort of thing, don't watch it. If you do, watch for the criminal at the end. If he looks familiar he ended up playing many roles including that of Uncle Jesse's grandfather on Full House. The music in this one has been replaced with annoying synthesizer music which totally ruins the episode. Where oh where are season sets of this classic show?

Gang Busters: Another old cop show. This one isn't really that special and is the sort of Hollywood style show that Dragnet tried to distance itself from.

My Hero: Now here's a change of pace! Here is a comedy starring Robert Cummings that has a sort of crime backdrop. This is the prize of the disc in my opinion. I have never seen this show on another Public Domain disc but here's hoping more episodes show up. What's unfortunate is while the episode is good, the video quality is horrendous and reminds me of a misused VHS tape.

Lock Up: This show is about an attorney who devoted his life to freeing the innocent from jail. The quality of the video was quite poor and was a bit of a strain to watch. It was pretty boring to me as well.

Decoy: This classic if not somewhat typical TV show was offset from the dozens of others due to the hero being a policewoman. It helps that she is played by the lovely Beverly Garland. The episode centered around an artist who copied a Van Gogh original and find out who made it as a fraud.

Lights Out: A rather dull show from early television. This one is almost unwatchable due to its boring narrative and kinescoped picture making it a strain on the eyes. The only real delight that was found in this was the advertisement for the then new 20 inch Admiral television. It's hard to imagine that people would trade in their 7 inch sets towards the purchase of a 20 inch but it happened.

Captain Gallant: This was a rather boring episode of a show about the French Foreign legion. I'm sure my brother would like this but I just could not get into it to save myself. For what it's worth, it had Buster Crabbe.

Labels: Dollar DVD