DVD Release Date: July 11, 2006 (CBS DVD/Paramount Home Entertainment)
B&W / 1957-1958
MSRP: $49.99
Number of Discs: 5
Running Time: 1000 minutes
Languages, Subtitles, Closed Captioning:
Closed-captioned
Special Features: None
Introduction:
You've been charged with one of the most horrific
crimes ever--murder--and all of the evidence points in
your direction. With nothing else to do, you've given
up all hope and expect to be convicted and spending
the rest of your life in prison, or worse, right? Not
if you have Perry Mason as your attorney!
And now the first half (19 episodes) of the first
season of the classic courtroom drama, where the
seemingly guilty are actually innocent, is available
on DVD from CBS DVD! Perry Mason: Season 1/Volume 1
includes the first 19 episodes of the classic series
where Perry Mason (Raymond Burr), aided by his own
secretary Della Street (Barbara Hale) and private eye
Paul Drake (William Hopper), defends the citizens that
are very clearly guilty of murder, even though they
didn't do it. And he always (well, almost always,
there is an exception to this rule) helps the
defendant get off the hook for the crime that they
didn't commit, often by causing a third party to
incriminate themselves. All of that is frustrating for
the district attorney, Hamilton Burger (William
Talman), who always seems to think he can beat Perry
Mason in court--and always comes out a loser.
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
The series begins with "The Case of the Restless
Redhead," where a woman claims she is being stalked by
a hooded man in a car. But when he suddenly shows up
dead, who will be charged with his murder? And how
will Perry Mason help her?
In "The Case of the Sulky Girl," a girl wants to get
married and to have her trust fund to be released from
her uncle and wants Perry's help--but her boyfriend
may need Perry's help when the girl's uncle is
murdered. Barbara Eden (I Dream of Jeannie) and Sylvia
Field (Dennis the Menace) play a daughter and mother
(respectively, of course) in "The Case of the Angry
Mourner," where Field's character is accused of
murdering a man that just won't leave Eden's character
alone. Francis Bavier (The Andy Griffith Show) guest
stars in "The Case of the Crimson Kiss," where she
plays an aunt of a woman that is accused of murder.
In "The Case of the Runaway Corpse," a man has decided
to fake his own death and create evidence that would
accuse his wife of doing it. But when he really IS
murdered and the evidence that she did it still
exists, how can she defend herself? In "The Case of
the Crooked Candle," two women show up at a beauty
parlor and realize they have the same last name,
address, and husband! And when the husband dies, you
know one of them will be accused of the murder!
A woman admits that she killed her uncle and gives a
taped confession in "The Case of the Demure
Defendant," but did she really kill him, and with
evidence like that, how can Perry prove she was wrong?
A woman comes to Perry wanting help finding a trailer
that was stolen from her in "The Case of the Sun
Bather's Diary," but she may need even more help from
Perry.
Packaging:
The packaging is very simple, with a blue outer box
featuring Perry and smaller color pictures along the
top with other cast members of the show. The back of
the box has a brief description of the series, as well
as some black and white photos from the show. Inside
the box, there are three slim cases: two double slim
cases and one single slim case. The front of each slim
case is white, with different pictures of Perry on
each one and the back of each slim case has
descriptions of each of the episodes on the discs
inside that particular slim case.
The disc art is pretty basic, with each disc being
white and having the same Perry Mason logo that is on
the box art (which, by the way, is nothing like the
plain logo that actually appears on the series), and
each disc has a listing of the episodes on that disc.
Discs 1-4 each have four episodes on them, while Disc
5 has 3 episodes.
Menu Design and Navigation:
Just like the packaging, this is pretty simple too.
When you put the disc in, you get a menu that lists
the episodes on the disc, with a picture of Perry on
the right side of the screen and the theme music
playing in the background. And that is really all
there is to the menus. Nothing else. You select the
episode you want, and it plays right away, without any
scene selection menus or anything like that.
The simplicity is actually pretty nice. There is no
Play All option on the menu. And even though there are
no scene selection menus, there are plenty of
appropriately placed chapters within the episodes,
with each episode containing 7 or 8 (it varies by
episode).
Video and Audio Quality:
I don't review these old shows very often, but I
remember a few months ago when I reviewed Alfred
Hitchcock Presents, I was very disappointed in the
video and audio quality, and assumed it had a lot to
do with the age of the show. However, this set kind of
throws that theory out of the window--because the
video quality on this set is EXCELLENT, much better
than I expected. You'll find some grain here and
there, but it is very minor, and seems to be about the
only video problem. Clearly, this show was well
preserved. The audio is pretty good too, although the
audio level does vary slightly from episode to
episode. It is nothing of major concern, however.
There aren't any subtitles, but each episode is
closed-captioned.
The episodes themselves look to be unedited, running
at roughly 52-53 minutes per episode! That means
(although I'm sure the networks are probably speeding
them up some), about 8 or 9 minutes are missing per
episode--by the 44 minute standard, which is longer
than things are in syndication now! So I'm guessing
that in syndication, you are only getting about 80% of
the episodes--which makes these DVDs even more
valuable to have. And if that isn't enough, some
(though not most, in fact, not even half) have the
original sponsorship logos on the closing credits,
although most of the products on there don't even seem
to exist anymore!
Special Features:
Not a single special feature is included on this
set--a little disappointing! I'm not sure exactly what
they could include considering how old the show is,
but surely they can dig up something, because this
show is a true classic. Of course, there are still
MANY more sets that will need to be released to
complete the series, so maybe some of those will have
special features.
Final Comments:
This really is the greatest legal drama of all time,
no matter what anybody says, and the show is just such
a classic that it is hard to pass up. Buying these
sets would be setting yourself up for a HUGE
commitment (if they continue doing half seasons like
this, and I assume they will, we are talking about 17
more sets to go!), but for those into the true
television classics, this show is one of the most
important ones. Hopefully they'll release these at a
fast rate (I'm hoping for about 4 sets per year, it
would still take over 4 years to finish up the series
at that rate though!) They really do need to offer
some special features on future sets though. So if
you're a fan of legal dramas or just these older shows
from the 50s, this is the show for you!
