Lawless Years Coming Soon - Untouchables Fans Take Note! (1 Viewer)

[Bob Hug]

Here's an interesting little tidbit that I found . . . it appears that a single episode of "The Lawless Years" appeared on a DVD as far back as 2002 on a Detectives compilation from RPH Productions/Navarre:

http://www.navarre.com/prodhome.aspx...734&Prod=video

I'd really love to see an authorized release of "Highway Patrol," an episode of which is included on this collection.

 

[Bert Greene]

Wow, I'd be all over a "Highway Patrol" set. The real-life, shot-on-location settings and visuals make the series an incredibly fascinating cultural relic. Although the show pre-dated me, I did see reruns for a brief while as a kid, in 1974. Haven't seen it on tv since (and I've been on a constant lookout for it, always thinking some cable channel might finally dig it out). In fact, it always amuses me when I see folks on message boards griping about how one of their favorite shows hasn't been rerun in 4 or 5 years or so. Heck, I've been waiting 32 years for HP!

But, back to "Lawless Years," I ordered my copy earlier this week, and I'm really looking forward to it!

 

[Bob Hug]

Bert, with respect to "Highway Patrol," there's good news and bad news. The rights to "Highway Patrol" are controlled by Sony (as a result of their acquistion of MGM) and, believe it or not, you can actually vote for a "Highway Patrol" DVD release at their web site:

http://www.sonypictures.com/cthe/tv/tvondvd.html

The bad news is that "Highway Patrol" has hardly any votes for it and Sony really has almost no track record when it comes to vintage TV releases (1950s/1960s). The only hope that I have on this is if their recent release of the "The Rat Patrol" sells well enough, maybe they'll consider some of their older programming ("Sea Hunt" is another ZIV production that Sony has the rights to). I'd love to see Sony license "Highway Patrol" to an independent, but that's probably not in the cards.

 

[Bert Greene]

Indeed I voted for "Highway Patrol!" It's hard to imagine it making the dvd grade anytime soon, but alongside "Sea Hunt," it's probably the most likely Ziv item to do so. I've always been rather fascinated with Ziv shows, and every now and then I've bought bootleg tapes of their old product. Their shows always seem to be so breezy and well-paced... "Boston Blackie," "Mr. District Attorney," "Ripcord," "Harbourmaster," "I Led Three Lives," "Dr. Christian," "The Man Called X," and many others I'm undoubtedly forgetting. Perhaps "Science Fiction Theater" lacked that nice pacing, but it made up for it with other virtues. The only thing I know of that Ziv came up short in was the sitcom genre, via "Meet Corliss Archer," which was pretty bad. Ziv knew action and adventure, but was lost when it came to comedy.

Well, I don't know what Sony will do. They seem awfully unpredictable. Things like the upcoming Buster Keaton set, or the "Rat Patrol" release definately took me by surprise. They do these odd things, like releasing a minor, latter-era, 50-minute, Durango Kid western for $19.95, alongside a slate of big-name Columbia westerns. Very, very odd. But, in a strange way, that erratic nature gives me hope that something like "Highway Patrol" or "Sea Hunt" might indeed be released. Unlikely, admittedly. But, still a tiny thread of hope to hang onto.

 

[Bob Hug]

The Wisconsin Center for Film and Television Research has, apparently, copies of all ZIV television productions. Here's a description of their holdings:

"The largest of WCFTR television collections is comprised of 3500 shows produced by Ziv Television, the most successful producer of action-adventure programming filmed for first-run syndication from 1948 to 1962. The Ziv library includes viewing copies and printing elements for every episode of Boston Blackie, I Led Three Lives, Mr. District Attorney, Highway Patrol, Sea Hunt, Bat Masterson, and 32 other series. Scripts, production and promotional materials for these and additional Ziv series can also be examined at the WCFTR."

If I may make an editorial comment . . . . what a goldmine!!! Unfortunately, all that we are able to see of the ZIV holdings are a few episodes from some of the above series that have fallen into the public domain. This just begs for an independent DVD releasing company to give these shows the kind of treatment that they deserve. Unfortunately, with Sony owning the rights, it'll probably never happen. I hope that I'm wrong.

Link to WCFTR site:

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/wcftr/tv.asp

 

[JeffWld]

Several years ago, Sony was quite full of big talk about exploiting their classic/vintage television library in response to the growing popularity of TV on DVD. This was after re-thinking their decision to offload their television/film holdings. Too bad they never really followed through.

 

[Michael Alden]

I had nothing to do with Branded and Guns so I don't know what the deal was with them. It could have been that the masters were unavailable since the properties changed hands so many times or perhaps it was just cost prohibitive. I do know that on Lawless Years the source was 1-inch tape which had been mastered from the original 35mm negatives. The whereabouts for the films are unknown but these came right off the 1-inch transfers. And yes, they are 100% complete and uncut.

 

[Bob Hug]

I received the following notice from Overstock.com:

We are contacting you regarding your order for :
Lawless Years: The Complete First Season (DVD)

Unfortunately, the publisher has postponed the release date of 03-01-2006 for this item and currently has not issued a revised date. Although we don't know when it will be released, if you would like us to keep your order open until the product is available, simply click the following link . . .

Has anyone received their set yet? Anyone else having difficulty receiving their set?

 

[JeffWld]

The Timeless site seems to indicate that the set is available:
http://www.timelessmusic.com/DVDs/lawlessyears.html

Amazon sites (U.S. and Canada) have not posted any indication that the set has been delayed as yet.

 

[michael_ks]

Thank you for your input on this. I feel confident now that this product will offer significantly better viewing enjoyment over "Branded" and "Guns".

DDD also is showing this product as being in stock, i.e. there is no update to the release date on their site. If you go to dvdpricesearch.com you'll see that Overstock.com is no longer on the vendor list for "Lawless Years". DVDPacific apparently has the best price now.

 

[Bert Greene]

Well, I got my set earlier this week, having ordered it directly from Timeless. It's been a very addictive show, as I've already breezed through a dozen episodes. It's quite anthology-ish, so episodes vary in quality. But overall, I'm quite impressed with the level of writing. Really packs a lot of substance into the half-hours. Each episode I seem to notice a little extra touch in the dialogue or direction. Shows a lot of care, on the part of the producers of the series. Very solid in its own way; it's not quite like the frenzied, stylistic delirium of "The Untouchables" (which I also like, of course). "Lawless Years" seems more grounded. James Gregory is great, as expected.

The print quality is okay (nowhere near the stunning studio product of "Voyage/Sea," but well above the level of Alpha-style 16mm prints). My only qualm is the odd yellowish/sepia tint of the prints. That I don't get. ??

 

[Bob Hug]

I finally received my set and would have to agree with Bert Greene's assessment of the show . . . he's right on the money. I think that the half hour time-frame for this series really works to its advantage. And, like Bert, I can't quite figure out the yellowish tint that all of the episodes appear to have . . . it gives the show a "flashback" appearance. I don't know if this was originally done at the time the show was created, or if it was the result of film storage, but each of the episodes that I sampled on the three discs all had the tint. The visual sharpness of the series is, as Bert said, nowhere near as good as some of the vintage TV output from the major studios but is a few notches better than much of the material released by companies specializing in public domain releases. You're definitely buying "The Lawless Years" for its rarity, content, and your interest in TV shows from this era; this one is not for the high definition crowd.

 

[michael_ks]

Bert, Bob--thanks for your reviews of the series. I'm afraid I'm one of those people who would go slightly nuts watching yellow tinted film. Too bad, I was looking forward to this set following Michael Alden's announcement.

 

[JeffWld]

Unless you decided to back off the chroma on your set.

 

[michael_ks]

Bob,

Can you confirm if that would work well enough? I'm thinking that the image might appear very 'middle-toned' within the grayscale, i.e. the contrast would be fairly meager anyway.

 

[Bob Hug]

Michael, I'll have to get back to you next week on that as I'm travelling this weekend and I won't have the opportunity to look at it until Sunday evening at the earliest. I suspect it may work, but it may also have the effect of making a somewhat "soft" looking picture even "softer." In any event, I'll let you know after I've had a chance to test it.

 

[Michael Alden]

I believe that adding a sepia tone to the shows was something that was done by the producer and syndicator when they remastered the shows in the mid-80s. Since the producer is deceased and no one knows where the film masters are, these tape transfers, with the sepia, are all that was available for us to use. But, as posted above, all you need to do is kill the chroma on your set to get rid of it.

 

[Bob Hug]

Just confirming that you can, for all practical purposes, eliminate the tint by adjusting the chroma; it looks fine that way and is very watchable. Just remember Bert Greene's original assessment . . . the picture quality is good but not at the level of "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea." I watched the first episode in its entirety last night; the guest cast for this episode was terrific . . . Vic Morrow, Jan Merlin and Harry Dean Stanton.

 

[michael_ks]

Bob--thanks for checking into the issue with the sepia tone. Would you say that the image transfer is comparable in quality to sets like "Outer Limits", "Have Gun Will Travel" or "The Rifleman"?

 

[Bob Hug]

Michael, of the three sets that you mention, I only own "The Outer Limits," though I've seen some episodes on the other two sets thanks to some like-minded classic TV friends. I'd have to say that "The Lawless Years" is a notch below the three series that you mention. It's not bad, just not quite as good and I've seen (and own) far worse (many of the Alpha Video classic TV rarities). Frankly, based on the information provided by Michael Alden, this is probably as good as we can hope for. I didn't see any significant problems with scratches, dust or the like (based solely on the first episode and quick samplings of the other discs), but the picture certainly isn't as crisp looking as "Have Gun Will Travel." It's a little (but not terribly) "soft" looking. I suppose it comes down to whatever your tolerance level is for less than perfect prints . . . bottom line for me is that these are pretty clean looking and uncut, but a little on the soft looking side. The fact that you can eliminate the sepia tint with a quick adjustment on your TV really helps improve the overall look.