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SAM BENEDICT: Warner Archive Nov. 22, 2016 (1 Viewer)

Bob Gu

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SAM BENEDICT, a one season, 1962-63, lawyer show is up for preorder at the WBSHOP. The show starred Edmond O'Brien, Richard Rust and Joan Tomkins. It was a MGM show based on a real lawyer, Jacob Erlich, and set in San Francisco. It lasted 28 episodes, against The Jackie Gleason Show and a short lived Roy Rogers and Dale Evans variety show, on Saturdays.

I am not familiar with the show. It is said to have comic and crime solving mystery elements along with the dramatic lawyer stuff.
 
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Flashgear

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Thanks, Bob for that news...very happy that Warner Archive is giving us Sam Benedict...I was close to giving up on them for more b + w TV...
 

Randy Korstick

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Warner archive made a post recently on FB where they made it clear that they have not given up on classic TV. We have just been in a down period. They have so many different types of releases, all genres and all decades that they go through cycles on different things. I'm sure we will get several classic TV releases next year.
 

Flashgear

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The few episodes I have are pretty good..."The Boiling Point" with Gary Merrill and Elizabeth MaCrae..."Nor Practice make Perfect" with Claude Rains...the show of course features Edmund O'Brien's signature crusading bluster...I see from IMDB that other episodes featured Brian Keith, Leonard Nimoy, Audrey Meadows, Vera Miles, Yvonne Craig, Hazel Court, Robert Lansing...old Hollywood pros like Ida Lupino, (acting here, she was a prodigious director of tv during this period) Eddie Albert, Everett Sloane and George Tobias ...Howard Duff, Larry Blyden, Paul Newlan (One Step Beyond), Beverly Garland, Gloria Grahame, Geraldine Brooks... Harvey Korman...a very young Kurt Russell...and Frank Sinatra Jr., during the same year he was later kidnapped for ransom...
 
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Flashgear

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There is also some good period footage of San Francisco on Sam Benedict...though not on the superb scale of The Lineup (wish that was available on dvd) or Harbor Command (which Timeless thankfully released)...
 

Jack P

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I'm not inclined to get this but am glad its finally making it on DVD. Jake Ehrlich, the model for this show appeared on the Tonight Show on April 22, 1964 and this portion of his appearance is the oldest circulating extant footage of the Carson show in original color videotape format.

 

Neil Brock

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There is also some good period footage of San Francisco on Sam Benedict...though not on the superb scale of The Lineup (wish that was available on dvd) or Harbor Command (which Timeless thankfully released)...

A few years back I transferred a bunch of episodes for the grandson of Jacob Ehrlich, who was the attorney that the show was based on. Ehrlich has a cameo in the hallway of Hannigan, the pilot episode. Its a good show, not great, and was remade a few years later as Judd For The Defense. Also, as per the custom for NBC at that time, one of the episodes was shot and ran in color.
 

Jack P

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The great book "The Studio" has a whole scene of Judd's producer Paul Monash meeting with the former producer of "Sam Benedict" and asking permission to steal some scripts he can repackage for his show with just a change here and there (mentioning that he also did that with "Defenders" scripts).
 

ANTHONYFSMITH

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SAM BENEDICT was available for a period through the Warner Archive streaming site, as were other shows that were then released as dvds. Currently streaming is CAIN'S HUNDRED, which suggests it will be available later for purchase.
 

Neil Brock

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SAM BENEDICT was available for a period through the Warner Archive streaming site, as were other shows that were then released as dvds. Currently streaming is CAIN'S HUNDRED, which suggests it will be available later for purchase.

Good news about Cain's Hundred. Are all 30 episodes streaming? Interesting show, kind of like a poor man's Untouchables set in the present. The drawback of the show is perennial villain, Mark Richman, is an unlikable lead.

MGM 60s shows still in the vaults:

The Thin Man
The Islanders
Asphalt Jungle
National Velvet
Mr. Novak
Then Came Bronson
Travels of Jamie McPheeters
The Rounders
A Man Called Shenandoah
Many Happy Returns
Hondo
Father of the Bride
Harry's Girls
Please Don't Eat The Daisies

Of those, National Velvet, Jamie McPheeters, Hondo, Bronson and Novak all ran, some repeatedly, on TNT.
 

Jack P

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I've wanted to see "Cain's Hundred" make it to DVD only because the music from the series was released by Film Score Monthly and I have yet to play it because I need to see the programs first before I can properly enjoy the music (getting the CD was a "hedging my bet" purchase. I was eventually vindicated with this approach when Kildare made it to DVD after many scores from the series had also been released by FSM).
 

Bert Greene

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I'm a bit burned-out on legal-drama fare, one of my least favorite genres. But I'll be getting "Sam Benedict" nevertheless. Have a couple of episodes on tape, and they were admittedly pretty decent. I'd love to see more of "Cain's Hundred.". I recall making a good effort to catch it, when the TNT network aired some of the episodes, usually as filler, back when the network was still rather new.
 

maskedmala

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A question here. Is Sam Benedict similar to Perry Mason, one of my favorite TV show ?

Thanks
 

ANTHONYFSMITH

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Good news about Cain's Hundred. Are all 30 episodes streaming? Interesting show, kind of like a poor man's Untouchables set in the present. The drawback of the show is perennial villain, Mark Richman, is an unlikable lead.

MGM 60s shows still in the vaults:

The Thin Man
The Islanders
Asphalt Jungle
National Velvet
Mr. Novak
Then Came Bronson
Travels of Jamie McPheeters
The Rounders
A Man Called Shenandoah
Many Happy Returns
Hondo
Father of the Bride
Harry's Girls
Please Don't Eat The Daisies

Of those, National Velvet, Jamie McPheeters, Hondo, Bronson and Novak all ran, some repeatedly, on TNT.
Yes, they are streaming all 30 episodes.
 

ToddR2

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No, they aren't. Missing is "Blues for a Junkman", with Dorothy Dandridge. I guess that her musical performances in this episode couldn't be cleared. This must be what's preventing a DVD release.
 

Bert Greene

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As I mentioned, the legal drama tends to be one of my least favorite genres, so I wasn't entirely enthusiastic about the prospects of "Sam Benedict.". But with the first four episodes behind me, I'm generally quite pleased with the series. The show has a lot of texture, when it comes to both characterization and atmosphere. So far, the episodes seem to juggle two or three plotlines, which makes it seem a bit more manic and breathless, compared to a lot of the other hour dramas of the era. Haven't really decided if I like that aspect or not. But overall, I've found the proceedings to be pretty engaging, and peppered with nice little moments, which effectively balances out O'Brien's brusque (but realistic) manner, befitting such a high-power character.

Anyway, this series appeals far more to my tastes (so far) than "The Defenders," whose self-consciously issue-laden stories and fetishizing of the law always made me feel like I was being condescendingly lectured to by smug superiors in a cold college auditorium. "Sam Benedict" strikes me as more real-life, more down-to-earth. As always, I enjoy seeing the old-time Hollywood crowd in guest-roles, already seeing Otto Kruger, Claude Rains, and Gene Raymond (the latter playing a real scuzzy all, quite unlike his breezy leads he was known for in the 30s). The fourth episode guest-starred Nancy Kelly, who had co-starred with O'Brien two decades earlier in RKO's "Parachute Battalion" (1941). I was surprised to see this episode was filmed in color.
 

Flashgear

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Thank you Bert for your Sam Benedict overview...I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive, and previously have only seen 5 episodes derived from 16mm sources...I've been watching the promotional clips that WA has put up on FB...Claude Rains, Ida Lupino, Gloria Grahame, Burgess Meredith (playing yet another "charmingly" deranged eccentric...much like his turn on Eleventh Hour?)... I absolutely Love the period San Francisco locations beyond the studio sets...wow...these Warner Archive releases sure look great with the beautiful remastering...I know that not all of the prospective WA releases would require such a comprehensive and new remastering to yield better than acceptable home video editions (Mr. Novak? Thin Man)...and that aspect of Warner Archive's modus operandi sometimes contributes to further delays in getting them out there, beyond the ancillary music, literary source and estate rights...but when you see the results, wow...Glad to hear that the 1962 - 63 "Color Week" episode is likely as nicely presented as the Dr. Kildare season 2 color episode...but I Love Black and White TV from the 1955 - 1965 era...absolutely my favorite and most desired television era for collecting and enjoyment...

These WA releases are some of the most treasured in my collection...The Lieutenant, Gallant Men, Dr. Kildare, The Dakotas, Maverick, Sugarfoot, Cheyenne, etc...
 

Ian K McLachlan

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Thank you Bert for your Sam Benedict overview...I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive, and previously have only seen 5 episodes derived from 16mm sources...I've been watching the promotional clips that WA has put up on FB...Claude Rains, Ida Lupino, Gloria Grahame, Burgess Meredith (playing yet another "charmingly" deranged eccentric...much like his turn on Eleventh Hour?)... I absolutely Love the period San Francisco locations beyond the studio sets...wow...these Warner Archive releases sure look great with the beautiful remastering...I know that not all of the prospective WA releases would require such a comprehensive and new remastering to yield better than acceptable home video editions (Mr. Novak? Thin Man)...and that aspect of Warner Archive's modus operandi sometimes contributes to further delays in getting them out there, beyond the ancillary music, literary source and estate rights...but when you see the results, wow...Glad to hear that the 1962 - 63 "Color Week" episode is likely as nicely presented as the Dr. Kildare season 2 color episode...but I Love Black and White TV from the 1955 - 1965 era...absolutely my favorite and most desired television era for collecting and enjoyment...

These WA releases are some of the most treasured in my collection...The Lieutenant, Gallant Men, Dr. Kildare, The Dakotas, Maverick, Sugarfoot, Cheyenne, etc...
 

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