Search - Police TV - 29 Episodes on DVD

The long arm of the law stretches from the 1950s

Annie Van Auken | Planet Earth | 08/14/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

""RACKET SQUAD" was an early crime drama produced by Hal Roach Jr. It was twice nominated for a "Best Mystery" Emmy. The criminals pursued by this branch of law enforcement take advantage of a victim's confidence in them (thus: "con" men).

"DRAGNET" was created, written, produced and directed by Jack Webb, from its late-1940s radio days through an 8 season TV run in the '50s. The show was revived in 1967 (with several co-star changes) and continued another three years.

Like the two above programs, THE MAN BEHIND THE BADGE was based on actual police case files. The show aired on the CBS network for a single season, then went into syndication for one more. Norman Rose was the original host; Charles Bickford taking over duties for year #2. The selections here are all from the second season.

Comic strip character DICK TRACY got his cinematic start in 1937, in a series of low-budget hour-long movies starring Ralph Byrd. Byrd would reprise the role with this TV series, from 1950 to '52.

With its famous Henry Mancini-composed soundtrack music, PETER GUNN was one of the most stylish shows on television. As created by Blake Edwards, Gunn was a "cool" jazz-loving dapper detective who frequented a waterfront club called "Mother's." His girlfriend (played by Lola Albright) was a singer there.

The guest cast of the lone example of BURKE'S LAW in this set includes one of Hitchcock's favorite actors (Homolka), TV Batman's bird-like nemesis (Meredith), and the son of a pioneering radio comedian (Wynn). Gene Barry portrayed Capt. Amos Burke in this series that was revived for a single season 30 years after it left the air in 1965.

TV GUIDE: THE 50s POLICE SHOWS is another fine collection worthy of consideration.

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The following program list includes episode numbers, season, original airdates and guest actors.

DISC 1:
DRAGNET
Jack Webb (Joe Friday)/Ben Alexander (Frank Smith)/Barton Yarborough (Ben Romero)
(#51) The Big Betty (S.3, 9/24/53) - Gloria Saunders/Charlotte Lawrence/Jack Carol
(#33) The Big Break (S.2, 3/19/53) - Art Gilmore/Eddie Firestone/Adrienne Marden
(_#5) The Big Cast (S.1, 2/14/52) - Lee Marvin
(#86) The Big False Make (S.3, 5/27/54) - Frances Bavier/Robert Crosson
(#40) The Big Frank (S.2, 5/7/53) - Hy Averback/Ralph Moody
(#76) The Big Hit-Run Killer (S.3, 3/18/54) - James Anderson/Mary Shipp
(#12) The Big Phone Call (S.1, 5/22/52) - Vic Perrin
(#11) The Big September Man (S.1, 5/8/52) - Eddie Firestone

DICK TRACY
Ralph Byrd (Dick Tracy)/Joe Devlin (Sam Catchem)/William Woodson (narrator)
(???) Shakey's Secret Treasure (Dick Tracy) (S.2, ?/?/52) - Dabbs Greer
(???) BB Eyes (S.2, ?) - Richard Keen


DISC 2: -
PETER GUNN
Craig Stevens (Peter Gunn)/Herschel Bernardi (Lieutenant Jacoby)
(#16) The Fuse (S.1, 1/5/59) - Ross Martin/Frank Gerstle
(#18) Let's Kill Timothy (S.1, 1/19/59) - Mel Leonard/Henry Corden

THE MAN BEHIND THE BADGE
Charles Bickford (host)
(#61) Case of the Wholesale Buglaries (S.2, 3/12/55) - Claude Akins/Strother Martin/William Schallert
(#69) Case of the Imperfect Crime (S.2, 4/30/55) - Roy Barcroft/Dabbs Greer
(#60) Case of the Priceless Passport (S.2, 2/26/55) - Claude Akins
(#55) Case of the Wild Wind (S.2, 1/22/55) - Tristam Coffin/Mel Ford/Milburn Stone
(#77) Case of the Hot Stock (S.2, 6/25/55)
(#85) Case of the Hunted Hobo (S.2, 8/20/55) - Frank Jenks
(#58) Case of the Dying Past (S.2, 2/12/55) - Wendell Holmes/Gene Reynolds
(#67) Case of the Unknown Man (S.2, 4/16/55) - Tyler McVey/Mary Beth Hughes


DISC 3:
BURKE'S LAW
Gene Barry (Amos Burke)/Gary Conway (Tom Tilson)/Regis Toomey (Les Hart)
(#15) Who Killed Jason Shaw? (S.1, 1/3/64) - Keenan Wynn/Tammy Grimes/Burgess Meredith/Oskar Homolka

RACKET SQUAD
Reed Hadley (John Braddock)/Hugh Beaumont (narrator)
(#31) Accidentally on Purpose (S.2, 1/3/52) - Billy Halop/John Doucette/Archie Twitchell
(#59) Anyone Can Be a Sucker (S.2, 7/31/52) - Nancy Valentine/James Flavin
(#81) The Case of the Dancing Lady (S.3, 2/12/53) - Hugh Beaumont/Jan Clayton
(_#5) Heaven for Sale (S.1, 7/5/51) - John Hoyt/Edit Angold
(#97) Sting of Fate (S.3, 8/31/53) - Steve Brodie/Ed Brendel
(#16) Case of the Miracle Mud (S.2, 9/20/51) - Will Geer
(#39) The Case of the Hearse Chasers (S.2, 2/28/52) - Betty Blythe/Helen Holm
(#79) The System (S.3, 1/1/53) - Lola Albright/William Ching


BONUS FEATURES--
DISC 1: Dick Tracy radio show - "The Black Pearl of Osiris" (2/8/38)
DISC 2: Peter Gunn - TV With Style
DISC 3: Confidence Games"

29 Episodes of Public Domain Goodness

Charles J. Rector | Woodstock, IL United States | 11/13/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Police TV is a collection of 29 episodes from 6 different police TV shows from the golden years of TV. I paid $9.98 for my set and considering that you can pay $5 and higher for just 4 episodes of one of these shows, you cannot complain about the price. The reason why you can get so many episodes for such a low price is that all of these shows are in the public domain. The quality of the prints used in this collection vary, but overall you will get a fairly decent picture on your screen.

The really great thing about this collection is that it is not limited to the usual suspects, that is shows such as Dragnet & Peter Gunn that are quite easy to find and obtain. The collection also includes such harder to find shows as Burke's Law, Dick Tracy & Racket Squad. Of special note is the presence of 8 episodes of The Man Behind the Badge a truly obscure, 1950's TV show that is very hard to find information on. As far as this writer is aware, this show was never on DVD until this collection.
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