Is the b&w era of TV on DVD slowly coming to an end? (4 Viewers)

[Ron1973]

I don't know every intimate detail, but what I do know is that it was not described as a friendly merger to me (from someone who does know all the details). It was described as much more of a hostile takeover for the purpose of eliminating competition. All I can say is that I believe my source 100%.

On another note, I want to say again how happy I am with Classicflix bringing the defibrillator, and for CBS actually putting our patient (classic b&w TV on DVD) in a nice room. I think it's a hospice room as opposed to a rehab room, but it's still something. Along those lines, I'm hearing we can look forward to a little more good news from CBS concerning a zany school teacher we all know and love.

Gary "after a fairly sparse winter and spring, finally some decent news" O.

Even if it is more of a casual friendship these days, at least CBS HE seems to be our friend for now. They've reacted a few times lately on Twitter with a "like" when I've tagged them about releasing the rest of The Beverly Hillbillies. I just wish it wasn't so slow a process. However, I'd rather take time and have them done correctly than to get a rush job that wasn't remastered or farmed out to VEI.

 

[LouA]

I've been meaning to check out Al Adamson's "Brain Of Blood", one of Hadley's last appearances. Adamson is an interesting figure, a lot of his regulars are also in the cast. Another instance of a holdover from a different age entering the grittier exploitation realm. Joking aside, I find Hadley to have a memorable, unique presence.

I wasn't aware of this film . I just checked Amazon and it 's available on Blu-ray from Severin Films . Into my shopping cart it went !

 

[LouA]

I've been meaning to check out Al Adamson's "Brain Of Blood", one of Hadley's last appearances. Adamson is an interesting figure, a lot of his regulars are also in the cast. Another instance of a holdover from a different age entering the grittier exploitation realm. Joking aside, I find Hadley to have a memorable, unique presence.

Agreed . He was very good in Racket Squad , and effective in most of the guest roles I've seen him in.

 

[RBailey]

Agreed . He was very good in Racket Squad , and effective in most of the guest roles I've seen him in.

If you've not seen it, check out Reed Hadley as Zorro in the 1939 Republic serial ZORRO'S FIGHTING LEGION. He really nails the part, both as Zorro and Don Diego. The serial is from directors William Witney and John English and Hadley is doubled by Yakima Canutt in many scenes. Wish Hadley had done more of these.

 

[Flashgear]

I find Hadley to have a memorable, unique presence.

He had such a classic announcer's voice, a real virtue in establishing that presence...no surprise then that he was a favored narrator for documentaries like WW2's Fight for the Sky and The Last Bomb...much like Charlton Heston in his later career, Reed Hadley held a government security clearance for his work in narrating and presenting classified films for the Department of Defense and Atomic Energy Commission...he did that for almost 30 years, perhaps accounting for his occasional and rare television guest starring roles in the '60s, when you might have expected to see him more frequently...the "studio" where he did this top secret work was the Lookout Mountain film unit in Laurel Canyon, a secretive facility, despite it being quite close to Hollywood, of course!

Some of these now declassified films are available on Youtube...here are some screen caps I took from Reed Hadley's 1952 USAF training film introducing the then new B-47 Stratojet bomber...

Perhaps his most memorable appearance was as narrator for Operation Ivy (1952) a color film where Reed Hadley was aboard the command and control ship USS Estes at Eniwetok Atoll in the far Pacific for the testing of the very first Hydrogen bomb on November 1, 1952...conducted in utmost secrecy and only acknowledged publicly over two weeks later, just after Dwight Eisenhower was elected president...here are some screen caps from Operation Ivy...this film remained classified for many years afterward...

It must have been over 100F and 100% humidity as you can see good 'ol Reed sweating up a storm...

Reed Hadley interviewing Physicist Dr. Alvin Graves, head of testing at the Los Alamos Nuclear Weapons Laboratory...this is just mere minutes to the detonation of the H Bomb...as this was a world first and the potential explosive yield of the device was unknown, but theorized to be as great as 12 Megatons of TNT, the USS Estes was anchored near the south channel of Eniwetok, as much as 12 miles from the device itself...code named shot Mike... another H bomb, code named shot King, would be airdropped from a B-50 bomber...

Reed Hadley interviewing the very busy test supervisor, Sam Burris...in later years, CEO of Lockheed Aircraft...

As the countdown is mere minutes away, Reed Hadley joins several brass hats at the ship's rail to observe the blast itself, while continuing his narrative...talk about a dramatic scene...he's pointing toward the soon to be seen H bomb detonation...

Reed Hadley's narrative continues in his calm and steady tones, showing no sign of nerves...this clip will live forever more for the historic, though foreboding, event it represents in history..."You have a grandstand seat to one of the most momentous moments in the history of science - in less than a minute, you will see the most powerful explosion ever witnessed by human eyes...and this is the significance of the moment - this is the first full scale test of a hydrogen device - if the reaction goes, we are in the thermonuclear era"...(Loudspeaker is now heard: "it is now 30 seconds to zero time. Put on goggles or turn away. Do not remove goggles or face burst until 10 seconds after first light")...5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

The film's postscript is memorably evocative...with Reed Hadley walking the beach of Parry island, still strewn with battle wreckage from WW2...the 4th US Marine division's landing on these beaches having happened just 8 years before in a brutal battle to seize Eniwetok from the Japanese army in 1944...

He sits down on a rock for his closing narrative..."Well, it's over. Mike shot and King shot are history, and we're back at Parry island winding things up. It's been a pleasure bringing you the story of Operation Ivy...now that it's over, I have sort of an inadequate feeling, so much more that could have been said...you get a feeling that nothing is really over, that this is a breathing spell, a lull in a battle before the next attack. This feeling is on this island, with the men here"...quite eloquent I must say...the huge blast vaporized the island it was placed on...and Dr. Edward Teller, the bomb's principal designer, himself chose not to be on site for the detonation itself...he was in California monitoring it via seismograph at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory...some suspected he feared being anywhere near the bomb and the great unknown beast we had collectively unleashed into the world...

The awe inspiring film itself...

 

[LouA]

So Reed Hadley gets some deserved and overdue attention and praise on this thread , thanks to Classic Flix release of his almost forgotten TV show . Great !

 

[GMBurns]

Has anyone received Public Defender season 1? I had it on pre-order at Amazon. It still shows as being in stock, but the estimated shipping date is now mid to late June.

 

[LouA]

I've pre-ordered too, and am waiting to receive it . Delays like this are common for releases like this from small companies .

 

[Bert Greene]

I have the "Public Defender" set (since last week), and I've already happily breezed through the first nine episodes. The source material isn't quite as sterling as ClassicFlix' earlier "Blondie" set, but it's entirely decent print-wise, and adeptly transferred. A keen eye might catch some variations in quality from episode to episode. For example, the 7th episode, "Behind Bars," looked a hair granier than others, but not annoyingly so. I always recall that episode, starring Joan Camden as an alcoholic mother in jail for murder, but mainly for King Donovan doing one of his patently memorable sleazoid characters.

Anyway, the episodes are a virtual parade of familiar character actors. Of the many old half-hour TV-dramas of the early-to-mid-1950s, I can't say I've ever ranked "Public Defender" as a favorite, but it's still a whole lot of fun. Reed Hadley is priceless. I could watch him in anything. I'm about to take a gander at the 10th episode, which features the lovely and gentle actress Allene Roberts, who sadly passed away just a few weeks ago. Not sure if it's an episode I've seen before or not. The majority of these I've seen, going back to Nostalgia Network reruns in the late-1980s, to a few late-night Hallmark Channel airings in the 1990s right when the channel debuted, to a number of public-domain dvd releases. Having the whole series in optimal quality in these two ClassicFlix volumes is a hugely welcome development.

 

[LouA]

If you've not seen it, check out Reed Hadley as Zorro in the 1939 Republic serial ZORRO'S FIGHTING LEGION. He really nails the part, both as Zorro and Don Diego. The serial is from directors William Witney and John English and Hadley is doubled by Yakima Canutt in many scenes. Wish Hadley had done more of these.

I'll do that .

 

[ClassicFlix]

Love all the attention Reed Hadley is getting on this thread!

To comment on some other things mentioned above.

1. Amazon's algorithm (not a human being) does the ordering so they are constantly under-ordering our product. It is available on Amazon, from us as a third-party seller, from our own website, and many other e-tailers like Deep Discount, ImportCDs, etc.
2. To the quality, Blondie's release was all new transfers from pristine materials. Its image quality (and I've seen most 50s TV shows released on DVD) ranks up there with the best. Not so for this release, but most of the episodes look very good, if not excellent, and all are far superior to anything previously released. The 7th episode mentioned (BEHIND BARS), by comparison to the other episodes, doesn't look quite as stellar, but after some work we did on it, looks much better than it previously did.

ENJOY!

- David

 

[Gary OS]

Thanks for the information, David! Love ClassicFlix and hope you folks have more classic TV in store for us.

Gary “long live Public Defender” O.

 

[GMBurns]

Has anyone received Public Defender season 1? I had it on pre-order at Amazon. It still shows as being in stock, but the estimated shipping date is now mid to late June.

I cancelled my Amazon "backorder" and re-ordered from ClasicFlix as a third party seller. It already shipped and will arrive tomorrow. What a country.

Looking forward to sampling the series some time time tomorrow evening.

 

[Neil Brock]

Surprised that all of the Hal Roach studios series are still intact and with one ownership. That's very rare, especially considering that the studio went bankrupt and shut down in 1958. I wonder what other Hal Roach series might be possible. I would love to Racket Squad as I grew up watching that show in reruns on Sunday mornings in a 2-hour crime show block with Code 3, M Squad and Mike Hammer. My two biggest wants would be that and The Gale Storm Show but I wonder if all of that didn't revert to ITC who took over production for the final network season when the studio went under.

 

[ClassicFlix]

Surprised that all of the Hal Roach studios series are still intact and with one ownership. That's very rare, especially considering that the studio went bankrupt and shut down in 1958. I wonder what other Hal Roach series might be possible. I would love to Racket Squad as I grew up watching that show in reruns on Sunday mornings in a 2-hour crime show block with Code 3, M Squad and Mike Hammer. My two biggest wants would be that and The Gale Storm Show but I wonder if all of that didn't revert to ITC who took over production for the final network season when the studio went under.

Thanks for the input. We checked into Racked Squad and they have some of the episodes, but not all so an official release with the original masters is likely not going to happen.

- David

 

[Gary OS]

Code 3 would be very high on my list, David. Any chance ClassicFlix will be able to release that series?

Gary “and of course Amos & Andy, but I know that’s only a pipe dream” O.

 

[ClassicFlix]

Code 3 would be very high on my list, David. Any chance ClassicFlix will be able to release that series?

Gary “and of course Amos & Andy, but I know that’s only a pipe dream” O.

I checked a while back and unfortunately elements for Code 3 (and a lot of other Roach produced TV shows) do not exist at Sonar (Roach rights holder). No Amos 'n Andy either.

- David

 

[GMBurns]

Love all the attention Reed Hadley is getting on this thread!

To comment on some other things mentioned above.

1. Amazon's algorithm (not a human being) does the ordering so they are constantly under-ordering our product. It is available on Amazon, from us as a third-party seller, from our own website, and many other e-tailers like Deep Discount, ImportCDs, etc.
2. To the quality, Blondie's release was all new transfers from pristine materials. Its image quality (and I've seen most 50s TV shows released on DVD) ranks up there with the best. Not so for this release, but most of the episodes look very good, if not excellent, and all are far superior to anything previously released. The 7th episode mentioned (BEHIND BARS), by comparison to the other episodes, doesn't look quite as stellar, but after some work we did on it, looks much better than it previously did.

ENJOY!

- David

David, thanks for all the feedback, and for the care and commitment to "classic" tv. None of us will get all the 50's and 60's shows that we'd like to see, but I am grateful for ClassicFlix' plan to give us some of them. Public Defender is a very welcome release and I have enjoyed watching it.

 

[LouA]

Love all the attention Reed Hadley is getting on this thread!

To comment on some other things mentioned above.

1. Amazon's algorithm (not a human being) does the ordering so they are constantly under-ordering our product. It is available on Amazon, from us as a third-party seller, from our own website, and many other e-tailers like Deep Discount, ImportCDs, etc.
2. To the quality, Blondie's release was all new transfers from pristine materials. Its image quality (and I've seen most 50s TV shows released on DVD) ranks up there with the best. Not so for this release, but most of the episodes look very good, if not excellent, and all are far superior to anything previously released. The 7th episode mentioned (BEHIND BARS), by comparison to the other episodes, doesn't look quite as stellar, but after some work we did on it, looks much better than it previously did.

ENJOY!

- David

Hi David ,
I received my copy of Public Defender from Amazon today . I'm sure the transfers will be more than acceptable , and I'll enjoy this series . I'll be pre-ordering season 2 of Public Defender, I hope this does well for you , so that you can release other classic black and White AND color shows. Thanks for releasing this , Blondie , and It's About Time.
Here are some suggestions for possible future releases :
Hey Landlord (1966)
Andy's Gang ( early fifties )
Captain Midnight (late fifties)
The People's Choice ( 1955-1958)
The Americans (1961 NBC Civil War drama)
Love That Bob, ( late fifties)
My Little Margie (late fifties)
America /Fernwood 2nite . (1978)
Life Of Riley
Oh Susannah ,
Some Terrytoons cartoons - Tom Terrific , Heckyl And Jeckyl, Mighty Mouse - Possible?
Follow That man
December Bride ,
Ben Casey ,
World Of Giants ( ZIV probably licensable )
Casey Jones ,
Gray Ghost ,
Adventures In Paradise .
Our Miss Brooks
Anything from this list would be greatly appreciated !!!

 

[ClassicFlix]

Hi David ,
I received my copy of Public Defender from Amazon today . I'm sure the transfers will be more than acceptable , and I'll enjoy this series . I'll be pre-ordering season 2 of Public Defender, I hope this does well for you , so that you can release other classic black and White AND color shows. Thanks for releasing this , Blondie , and It's About Time.
Here are some suggestions for possible future releases :
Hey Landlord (1966)
Andy's Gang ( early fifties )
Captain Midnight (late fifties)
The People's Choice ( 1955-1958)
The Americans (1961 NBC Civil War drama)
Love That Bob, ( late fifties)
My Little Margie (late fifties)
America /Fernwood 2nite . (1978)
Life Of Riley
Oh Susannah ,
Some Terrytoons cartoons - Tom Terrific , Heckyl And Jeckyl, Mighty Mouse - Possible?
Follow That man
December Bride ,
Ben Casey ,
World Of Giants ( ZIV probably licensable )
Casey Jones ,
Gray Ghost ,
Adventures In Paradise .
Our Miss Brooks
Anything from this list would be greatly appreciated !!!

Thanks for the suggestions! We'll see what the future holds.

Thanks also for supporting what we're doing by spending your hard-earned cash on our releases! Buying our products (especially pre-ordering) is the best way to keep future classic TV releases coming.

Supporting us just by talking about releases (in forums like this) or posting reviews is also very appreciated!

ENJOY!

- David