Dan August – The Complete Collection (1 Viewer)

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

In addition to The Trouble with Women, do the titles of these other re-edited TV movies related to this series ring a bell for you? They too first aired in this form in 1980, and done so to capitalize on the success of Burt Reynolds being a hit in that year's big-screen release, Smokey and the Bandit.

The list:
Double Jeopardy (aka Once is Never Enough) (edited from "Death Chain" and "Prognosis: Homicide")
The Jealousy Factor (edited from "Murder by Proxy" and "The King is Dead")
The Lady Killers (edited from "When the Shouting Dies" and "The Worst Crime")
The Relative Solution (edited from "Dead Witness to a Killing" and "Days of Rage")
The Killing Affairs (edited from "The Manufactured Man" and "The Assassin")

~Ben

 

[Flashgear]

Some screen caps I took from the new VEI Dan August set...man, I love to see Burt skid up the church aisle with that demented grimace on his face...his natural athleticism is very much in evidence in the action scenes...what a talent he was...



Quadrangle of Death (Dec. 16, 1970)...filmed at John Marshall High in Los Feliz, the very same high school setting as seen in the James Franciscus / Dean Jagger series Mr. Novak, where it served as the fabled 'Jefferson High' five years earlier...


A young John Ritter and Davanna Brown as damn, dirty, hippie protesters...





Guest star Richard Baseheart as the phoney baloney "cool" professor...



Burt and Norman are not impressed...







Yeah, give 'em the stink eye Burt!


Looking forward to revisiting this show...the pilot telefilm, The House on Green apple Road, looks stunning, as it has obviously been remastered from the original 35 mm film elements...the episodes themselves look OK, being the somewhat soft looking old World Vision transfers...Duane Tatro's music for the pilot film is the equal of the great Dave Grusin music for the series...

 

[JohnHopper]

By looking at your screen captures, I am eager to get my set.

 

[bmasters9]

Some screen caps I took from the new VEI Dan August set...man, I love to see Burt skid up the church aisle with that demented grimace on his face...his natural athleticism is very much in evidence in the action scenes...what a talent he was...
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Quadrangle of Death (Dec. 16, 1970)...filmed at John Marshall High in Los Feliz, the very same high school setting as seen in the James Franciscus / Dean Jagger series Mr. Novak, where it served as the fabled 'Jefferson High' five years earlier...
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A young John Ritter and Davanna Brown as damn, dirty, hippie protesters...
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Guest star Richard Baseheart as the phoney baloney "cool" professor...
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Burt and Norman are not impressed...
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Yeah, give 'em the stink eye Burt!
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Looking forward to revisiting this show...the pilot telefilm, The House on Green apple Road, looks stunning, as it has obviously been remastered from the original 35 mm film elements...the episodes themselves look OK, being the somewhat soft looking old World Vision transfers...Duane Tatro's music for the pilot film is the equal of the great Dave Grusin music for the series...

Nice taster-- ever more definite purchase for me!

 

[Stephen Bowie]

Oh, wow, these look terrible. The runtimes aren't that shortened (49 minutes and change) but it's still some of the ugliest time compression (or PAL-to-NTSC conversion?) I've ever seen. If you didn't know better you'd think the series was shot on tape.

 

[John Karras]

Oh, wow, these look terrible. The runtimes aren't that shortened (49 minutes and change) but it's still some of the ugliest time compression (or PAL-to-NTSC conversion?) I've ever seen. If you didn't know better you'd think the series was shot on tape.

There's no question that the transfers are quite soft. One small grump I have is that on most episodes, there is a premature fadeout of the epilog heading in to the end credits.

 

[Stephen Bowie]

I didn't think a QM show could look worse than Cannon or post-S1 Barnaby Jones, but I was wrong!

 

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

There's no question that the transfers are quite soft. One small grump I have is that on most episodes, there is a premature fadeout of the epilog heading in to the end credits.

That's the consequence of fitting so many 1-hour episodes onto a single disc. I think it's especially bad on disc 1, which is led off by the 2-plus-hour (135 minutes) pilot, House on Greenapple Road.

Speaking of time compression, I just hope none of the episodes of The Bad News Bears on the DVD ended up the same way (especially the 14 episodes - the entire second season run - on disc 2)...

~Ben

 

[bmasters9]

I didn't think a QM show could look worse than Cannon or post-S1 Barnaby Jones, but I was wrong!

I think The Streets of San Francisco and first-season Barnaby Jones might be two of the best-looking QM shows on DVD (especially as those came from CBS themselves, and not VEI; of course, even though Cannon came direct through CBS for its first releases, its PQ was quite awful, IIRC).

 

[Flashgear]

I agree with Benjamin that the Dan August episodes on disc one probably suffer the most in bit rate and compression causing loss of definition because of the video file size of the pilot telefilm which has clearly been beautifully remastered in HD from the original 35 mm film elements...the 1:52:54 running time for the pilot is properly divided into 12 chapter stops...the Dan August episodes are all presented with 9 chapter stops...I also agree that the prematurely truncated fade-outs are an irritant, saving maybe all of 20 to 25 seconds in the WV syndicated versions...it is what it is...

Screen caps I took from the pilot telefilm, The House on Green Apple Road...incredible cast...no spoilers, of course...

 

[JohnHopper]

Screen caps I took from the pilot telefilm, The House on Green Apple Road...incredible cast...no spoilers, of course...

You only find famous golden age actors and character-actors all the way:
Janet Leigh
Julie Harris
Tim O'Connor
Walter Pidgeon
Barry Sullivan
Keenan Wynn
Christopher George
Peter Mark Richman
William Windom
Lynda Day George
Joanne Linville
Edward Asner
Paul Fix

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Screen caps I took from the pilot telefilm, The House on Green Apple Road...incredible cast...no spoilers, of course...

You only find famous golden age actors and character-actors all the way:
Janet Leigh
Julie Harris
Tim O'Connor
Walter Pidgeon
Barry Sullivan
Keenan Wynn
Christopher George
Peter Mark Richman
William Windom
Lynda Day George
Joanne Linville
Edward Asner
Paul Fix

That is a damn fine cast! Looking forward to seeing the pilot, which seems a major upgrade in picture quality from the poor You Tube copies I've seen floating around. I like Burt Reynolds just fine, but I've always been a Christopher George fan, and will be happy to have more of his work on disc (aside from The Immortal, which I've also recently ordered.) Will be interesting to compare the two actors' takes on the Dan August role.

Thanks for the screencaps, Randall!

 

[Stephen Bowie]

An audiophile friend compared the DVDs to a definitely uncompressed Dan August element today and confirmed the DVDs are slightly time-sped. Which in retrospect should be obvious given the little trims to the act titles, but we were both a little surprised that they're only shortened by 2-3 minutes. But I guess there was a market for that length 30 years ago or whenever Worldvision struck these.

 

[Guy Foulard]

An audiophile friend compared the DVDs to a definitely uncompressed Dan August element today and confirmed the DVDs are slightly time-sped. Which in retrospect should be obvious given the little trims to the act titles, but we were both a little surprised that they're only shortened by 2-3 minutes. But I guess there was a market for that length 30 years ago or whenever Worldvision struck these.

In the two episodes I watched, I noticed Burt's voice is a little higher and faster that I would have expected.

 

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

An audiophile friend compared the DVDs to a definitely uncompressed Dan August element today and confirmed the DVDs are slightly time-sped. Which in retrospect should be obvious given the little trims to the act titles, but we were both a little surprised that they're only shortened by 2-3 minutes. But I guess there was a market for that length 30 years ago or whenever Worldvision struck these.

I'd say the mid-1980s (circa 1985), when there were longer commercial breaks.

~Ben

 

[bmasters9]

I'd say the mid-1980s (circa 1985), when there were longer commercial breaks.

~Ben

Was it the same way w/The Streets of San Francisco in syndie reruns?

 

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

Was it the same way w/The Streets of San Francisco in syndie reruns?

Yes.

~Ben

 

[bmasters9]

Yes.

~Ben

Didn't realize-- of course, it was long ago in my childhood that I got my first taste of what Streets was like, even if it was just the opening (at least I think that's how it was).

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Finally able to finish the pilot, House On GreenApple Road, this afternoon. Really good cast for a "TV" movie: Christopher George, Keenan Wynn, Barry Sullivan, Walter Pidgeon, Peter Mark Richman, Tim O'Connor, Janet Leigh, William Windom, Joanne Linville, Paul Fix and Ed Asner, wow!!! I really liked the set up for this story. Top notch all around. Seems unusually adult for the times (adultery, spineless husband accepting his wife unconditionally because he loves her - believably played I might add). Not sure if any work was done on this movie, but it looked good to my eyes for a 48 year old film.

Episode 1 - Murder By Proxy - Roger Perry, Anne Francis, Burr DeBenning (again!!!), Diana Muldaur. Episode did not have the polished look of the pilot movie but was very watchable. This one played out like most 70's cop shows. One person with a solid alibi coerced another individual to do the actual deed. Still in all, an enjoyable hour. Sure was surprised to see the Worldvision(not affiliated ...) logo at the end.

I agree I remember this series as a kid but never saw the film, after doing so and then seeing a few shows, I can say the show never reached the level of the movie. It was a competent enough 70’s series

 

[Flashgear]

To compare the compressed video definition of the Dan August episodes with the beautifully remastered pilot telefilm on the same set, I offer these comparative examples...

Newspaper headline as seen in the pilot, The House on Green Apple Road...You can easily read most of the type here...

Newspaper headline as seen in the Dan August episode, Invitation To Murder...soft image by far...

Here's another good comparison...Tim O'Connor's old acne scars as seen in the pilot movie...

Tim O'Connor returns in the Dan August episode, Invitation To Murder...

One thing I noticed about the pilot movie is it's 1968 copyright...I don't know if that means it sat on the shelf for awhile or not...it didn't go to air until January 11, 1970. There's nothing in Jonathan Etter's book on QM that accounts for the long lead time, other than perhaps ABC wanting to hold on to it for "event programming"...