Frontier Circus (1961-62)

Re: Frontier Circus (1961-62)

I found Frontier Circus on sale at Sam's Club for $19.88 (same price as for The Oregon Trail, and even the same Sam's product lot number on the price tag.)

After checking out each DVD, the quality is about standard for a Timeless release, similar to Wagon Train S1.  And Wagon Train is the appropriate comparison, because this show has very much the same feel.  It's as if someone said, "Wagon Train is one of the most popular shows on TV.  I want something just like it... but different."  The result -- Circus Wagon Train!

Here is a list of the contents.  Note that the two underrunning episodes are highlighted in red.

And a piece of advice for Timeless:  please have someone proofread your packaging before you send it off for printing! 

But they did do something right.  They listed the guest stars on the back of the slipcase (even if they omitted Mickey Rooney from "Calamity Circus".)  Seeing all those familiar names helped me decide to make a blind buy on this. 

Cheers for the episode info, Tim - you convinced me to pick this up!

I'm guessing they used 16mm prints sourced from collectors AGAIN?
 

My Sam,s club still havn't got the latest Timeless releases . Whispering Smith, Frontier Circus or Oregon Trail. I just checked on Tuesday .I'll have to recheck tomorrow when i'm in the area .Thanks for the heads up.

You never know what you are going to get with Timeless.

I have yet to pick up 'Frontier Circus' but will at some stage.

I did get their 'Alias Smith & Jones' . Prints are reasonable but whatever possesed them to cram 35 episodes onto 3 discs. As I feared ,there is a lot of over compression causing faces to "wobble" particularly in close up. I find this so distracting it is difficult to watch.

Their Wagon Train S1 is better, although not all prints are from the NBC vaults as they claim.A few are copied from tape from the 90's screenings here in the UK. I can tell by the cue marks & the shorter (Pal speedup) of these episodes.

I have both Frontier Circus and Whispering Smith, and they look pretty good to me.  Certainly better than some of the Wagon Train episodes, and much better than the M Squad (which we know is pretty much bottom of the barrel).  I've yet to get Alias Smith & Jones.  It's not a high priority for me personally. 

I believe I could heartily recommend FC & WS to anyone wanting or needing a western fix.

Gary "wish Timeless would release Seasons 2 & 3 of Wagon Train - then I'd be set with all I want from that series" O.

I have Whispering Smith (which I enjoyed) and have been keeping an eye on Frontier Circus. Thanks, Tim, for the list of contents to Frontier Circus. It looks like a fairly complete set, which with Timeless is not always a certainty.

I guess I have to accept some flaws with an older show such as this (although I am never happy about it) and will eventually pick this up.

For anyone who bought this Frontier Circus complete DVD set ,were they remastered, restored from original studio 35 mm prints or were they the best unrestored 16 mm prints they could get from collectors?

Also what kind if any extras were included?

Larry Tate :)

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Tucker 

I found Frontier Circus on sale at Sam's Club for $19.88 (same price as for The Oregon Trail, and even the same Sam's product lot number on the price tag.)

 

After checking out each DVD, the quality is about standard for a Timeless release, similar to Wagon Train S1.  And Wagon Train is the appropriate comparison, because this show has very much the same feel.  It's as if someone said, "Wagon Train is one of the most popular shows on TV.  I want something just like it... but different."  The result -- Circus Wagon Train!

 

Here is a list of the contents.  Note that the two underrunning episodes are highlighted in red.

  

Title	Airdate	Length	Comments
Depths of Fear	5 Oct 1961	49:45
The Smallest Target	12 Oct 1961	49:56	missing title card and opening credits
Lippizan	19 Oct 1961	49:46
Dr. Sam	26 Oct 1961	50:11
The Hunter and the Hunted	2 Nov 1961	50:17
Karina	9 Nov 1961	50:18
Journey from Hannibal	16 Nov 1961	49:38
Winter Quarters	23 Nov 1961	50:22
Patriarch of Purgatory	30 Nov 1961	50:05
The Shaggy Kings	7 Dec 1961	50:10
Coals of Fire	4 Jan 1962	49:58
The Balloon Girl	11 Jan 1962	50:22
Mr. Grady Regrets	25 Jan 1962	50:18
Quick Shuffle	1 Feb 1962	47:52
The Courtship	15 Feb 1962	50:29
Stopover in Paradise	22 Feb 1962	50:19
Calamity Circus	8 Mar 1962	50:20
The Inheritance	15 Mar 1962	49:43
Naomi Champagne	29 Mar 1962	48:07
Mighty Like Rogues	5 Apr 1962	50:05
Never Won Fair Lady	12 Apr 1962	49:58
The Good Fight	19 Apr 1962	50:15
The Clan MacDuff	26 Apr 1962	50:25
The Race	3 May 1962	50:12
The Daring Durandos	17 May 1962	50:13
Incident at Pawnee Gun	6 Sep 1962	50:19

 

And a piece of advice for Timeless:  please have someone proofread your packaging before you send it off for printing! 

 

But they did do something right.  They listed the guest stars on the back of the slipcase (even if they omitted Mickey Rooney from "Calamity Circus".)  Seeing all those familiar names helped me decide to make a blind buy on this. 

They are collectors prints.    I think we knew from the very beginning this was how it was going to be for a series that never would have had any syndication afterlife where tape transfers would exist.

I think again, we need to approach Timeless releases of Universal with the *total understanding* that no 35mm remastering is going to be taking place.       Universal is apt to do that only for a title they plan on releasing themselves (as the remastered S6 of "Emergency!" reveals) in the post-fire period, but with Timeless the best you can hope for (just like with Universal releases farmed out to Shout! and other companies) is that the show had tape transfers done off the 35mm masters that are still to be had.     If they did, you'll get shows like "The Virginian" and "Laredo" that look much better by comparison, but if not, it'll always be 16mm.

Has it ever occured to you that the Revue Studios 'sliding filmstrips' logo bumper was tacked on to the closing credits of each of the 26 Frontier Circus episodes? Maybe perhaps some of those prints were missing the closing logo, buy I also found out that Revue had Richard Irving as an uncredited producer of the series, just so you'll know, because I checked out some sources like the Classic TV Archive on that show..

I read an interview In Classic Images with Jimmy Lyndon, the teenage actor who became a producer in the 60's & 70's with William Conrad.  In the interview he stated he was working for the production company of Frontier Circus and said that he had learned a valuable lesson with one episode.  It seems that when they wrapped up shooting one episode they started shooting another and the episode they wrapped ended up being about 2 minutes short.  He said that from that moment on he learned to time the scripts better for they could not go back and add anything for they had used up the budget and gave the episode to CBS as it was.  I guess that episode is Quick Shuffle.