Viewer levels had fallen for Joe Mannix during his seventh season on the air. No longer CBS’ top crime fighter, Joe had been supplanted by Kojak, Cannon, Barnaby Jones, and the guys at Hawaii Five-O. Still, with the clock clicking down on its network run, it’s surprising how many terrific episodes were turned out in this its penultimate season. Mannix proved it still could capture and hold viewers’ attention even after seven years.
Mannix: The Seventh Season
Directed by Paul Krasny et al
Studio: CBS/Paramount
Year: 1973-1974
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Running Time: 1,192 minutes
Rating: NR
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 mono English
Subtitles: SDH
MSRP: $54.99
Release Date: July 3, 2012
Review Date: June 26, 2012
The Season
4/5
L.A. detective Joe Mannix (Mike Connors) and his Girl Friday Peggy Fair (Gail Fisher) have a rough and tumble seventh season courtesy of the show’s writers. In addition to the standard murder cases, there are plots that involve hostage taking, blackmail, undercover work, and smuggling with Joe often at the center of the mayhem. Among the outstanding cases of this season are the premiere episode, a nifty mystery that features multiple twists, two tense episodes as an injured Joe finds himself at the mercy of what appears to be almost a ghost town and later as he’s hunted by a street gang, a wonderfully convoluted whodunit as survivors from a plane crash begin being picked off one at a time, and Joe’s hovering between life and death as he remembers bit by bit being shot due to his involvement with a frightened young woman being stalked by two rival mob bosses. Joe finds time to fall in love this season with an opera star and takes on a Mission Impossible-style case (a two part episode) attempting to guard a doctor trying to save the life of a fallen revolutionary while hunted by the Latin American dictator’s hit squad. Make-up effects and Mike Connors’ sterling acting convince us Joe has become a heroin addict in the season finale.
As always, CBS managed to attract a large quantity of top-notch guest stars to the program. Among some of the personalities who graced this season of the show (which includes a surprising number of Oscar, Emmy, and Tony winners) are Joan Van Ark, Howard Duff, Janis Paige, Tony Geary, Greg Morris, Edward Winter, Guy Raymond, Pernell Roberts, Julie Adams, Sam Elliott, Rosemary DeCamp, Beverly Garland, Jeannette Nolan, Kenneth Tobey, Mark Lenard, James Sikking, John Hillerman, Frank Langella, Barbara Luna, Peter Haskell, Michael Conrad, Victor Buono, Anne Baxter, Barbara Babcock, Ned Glass, Diana Muldaur, Anthony Zerbe, Donald Moffat, Cesare Danova, Ina Balin, Paul Mantee, Elizabeth Ashley, William Devane, John Bennett Perry, Marie Windsor, Rosemary Forsyth, Katherine Helmond, Claude Akins, Don “Red” Barry, Jay Robinson, James Luisi, Barbara Rhoades, Roger Perry, Linda Evans, and Don Gordon. As in previous seasons, Robert Reed (four appearances) and Ward Wood (whose character becomes a husband and a widower in the same episode) make frequent appearances as police lieutenants Joe can turn to for help or advice.
Here is the list of the twenty-four season seven episodes contained on the six discs in this set:
1 – The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress
2 – A Way to Dusty Death
3 – Climb a Deadly Mountain
4 – Little Girl Lost
5 – The Gang’s All Here
6 – Desert Run
7 – Silent Target
8 – A World Without Sundays
9 – Sing a Song of Murder
10 – Search in the Dark
11 – The Deadly Madonna
12 – Cry Danger
13 – All the Dead Were Strangers
14 – Race Against Time (Part I)
15 – Race Against Time (Part II)
16 – The Dark Hours
17 – A Night Full of Darkness
18 – Walk a Double Line
19 – The Girl from Nowhere
20 – A Rage to Kill
21 – Mask for a Charade
22 – A Question of Murder
23 – Trap for a Pigeon
24 – The Ragged Edge
Video Quality
4/5
The transfers have faithfully adhered to the original 1.33:1 television aspect ratio. The liner notes mention that these episodes have been digitally remastered, and they certainly look it with clear and mostly clean images being the order of the day. Sharpness is very good to excellent, and color is nicely saturated but always under control. Flesh tones are very appealing. Black levels vary from okay to very good. One episode, however, seems to have escaped remastering. “The Deadly Madonna” doesn’t appear to have been touched, and its images are poorly defined with contrast irregular, color out of balance, and with lots of dirt specks and debris present in comparison to the other contents of the package. Each episode has been divided into 6 chapters.
Audio Quality
3.5/5
The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono sound mix is decoded by Dolby Prologic properly into the center channel. Dialogue is well recorded and resides comfortably with the music and sound effects which occupy the same track. Age-related problems with hiss or crackle are simply not present. Previous entries had some rather strained ADR work which didn’t balance with the directly recorded dialogue, but that’s not the case here leaving an audio track that’s more than adequate to match the sterling visual qualities of the set.
Special Features
0/5
There are no bonus features in this set.
There are promo trailers for the new version of Hawaii Five-O and NCIS.
In Conclusion
3.5/5 (not an average)
The seventh season of Mannix delivers an interesting assortment of cases for the two-fisted crime fighter, impressive for the show to still be firing on all cylinders this late into its run. Apart from one mediocre episode encode, the transfers still feature very good video detail and audio that’s faithful to the period of the show’s production. Fans should be pleased to add another set to their almost complete collections.
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
