Naked City - new 10DVD set coming in November (1 Viewer)

[Guy Foulard]

Intriguing! I may hold out for a bigger sale price on this one, but it's at least something that we can get more episodes in dribs and drabs. Would have been nice if they'd used all-new episodes for these alleged "fan favorites", since I'm sure that's just a random designation...

 

[DeWilson]

These are the ones that will be new to DVD:
"Sweet Prince Of Delancy Street" (Season 2; Robert Morse, Dustin Hoffman)
"Down The Long Night" (Season 2; Leslie Nielsen, Nehemiah Persoff)
"To Walk In Silence" (Season 2; Telly Savalas, Deborah Walley)
"Tombstone For A Derelict" (Season 2; Robert Redford)
"Bullets Cost Too Much" (Season 2; Dick York, James Caan)
"Lady Bug, Lady Bug" (SEASON 1! This is from the first season half hour version!)
"One Of The Most Important Men In The Whole World" (Season 3: Richard Conte)
"Line Of Duty" (ANOTHER SEASON 1 HALF HOUR EPISODE!)
"The Pedigree Sheet" (Season 2; Suzanne Pleshette, Murray Hamilton)
I am really surprised we're finally getting two S1 episodes with John McIntire and James Franciscus but fine by me! That means then that 67 of 99 hour long shows are represented now.

My only consern is the quality and condition of the prints and transfers.

 

[disctrip]

I.m going to wait and see what the image quality is like on this Madacy set before I take the plunge. I'll be watching this thread.

 

[SimonTemplar]

I would hope the image quality will be as good as the excellent Image Ent dvds. I would rather that Image still had the rights to Naked City. Considering what they have done for Dick Van Dyke and Twilight Zone on blu, Naked City is a show I'd love to see high deffed.

 

[sessal]

"Best of Naked City" box set was delivered to my home this afternoon.

 

[disctrip]

What is the quality like?

 

[Gary16]

Excellent. From 35mm elements.

What is the quality like?

 

[Gary16]

Just received "Naked City: 20 Star-Filled Episodes" this week. Quality so far is excellent -- on par with the previous releases. My only complaints are that these episodes are in no way sequential. Even the half hour episodes from the original run are interspersed with the hour shows. Also there is no listing on the discs as to which episodes they contain and the list of episodes on the back cover, while in order, is not broken down by disc number. I thought maybe there would be an insert inside the case but there is not (unless mine is just missing it).

 

[Jack P]

I got my set too yesterday and I've noticed that for the new hour long episodes not previously released on DVD, the quality is less sharp. The older releases were episodes that had clearly been remastered but these, while of 35mm source material and looking better than any 16mm print release, are much softer looking overall. Also the two hour long episodes I've seen that are new do not have the original Screen Gems/Columbia tag. One of them "One Of The Most Important Men In The Whole World" cuts off the tag and the announcers "This has been a Screen Gems production" while "Sweet Prince Of Delancey Street" leaves in the voiceover and credit for Herbert Leonard but has a recent Columbia logo tag on-screen.

 

[Gary16]

I got my set too yesterday and I've noticed that for the new hour long episodes not previously released on DVD, the quality is less sharp. The older releases were episodes that had clearly been remastered but these, while of 35mm source material and looking better than any 16mm print release, are much softer looking overall. Also the two hour long episodes I've seen that are new do not have the original Screen Gems/Columbia tag. One of them "One Of The Most Important Men In The Whole World" cuts off the tag and the announcers "This has been a Screen Gems production" while "Sweet Prince Of Delancey Street" leaves in the voiceover and credit for Herbert Leonard but has a recent Columbia logo tag on-screen.

I hadn't gotten to those episodes since I started with disc 4 which I knew contained the half hour shows. The hour episode I'm watching (with Eddie Albert) looks very sharp to me but I haven't gotten to the tag yet. These likely must have been remastered for MeTV or other broadcast/cable use. If you've ever watched "Father Knows Best" on TV some episodes have the original Screen Gems logo, others are cut off and have the Sony logo, still others have a Colpix logo. It's a mess. Sorry to hear that some of these Naked City episodes are like that. The half hour one I watched was clean to the end (looked like it came from a 16mm print but with a very good transfer).

 

[Jack P]

I started with the two half-hour episodes as well and I have to admit I couldn't quite tell whether they were 16mm or a soft looking 35mm print. Certainly they were an improvement over the VERY poor boot set I have of S1 episodes. Has anyone ever found out if Franciscus was asked to come back to the show when it was revived and if he declined or if they decided right from the get-go not to have him back?

 

[Roy Wall]

Just bought the "Naked City" 20 episodes set that was released this month. Image Entertainment...please consider these episodes...if you release any further release for Naked City (if season sets are out of the question). Hourly Episodes (Paul Burke, Horace McMahon and Harry Bellaver): 1. The Deadly Guinea Pig: After a gun battle leaves the corpses of a policeman and an unidentified man, police find that the policeman was actually a woman in disguise, and the man an ex-Nazi SS officer. Guest Star: Barry Morse (Lt. Gerard on "The Fugitive). 2. Killer With A Kiss. Trying to track down a psychopathic killer who's been stabbing patrolmen, police get a lead when they find a surgical knife along with a toy colonel figure with its head twisted off. 3. The Well-Dressed Termite. When a man electrocutes his partner as they're wiretapping the phone of a member of a financial combine, his bail is arranged by a senior partner in the firm, whose actions lead to death for his partners. Guest Star: Jack Klugman 4. A Corpse Ran Down Mulberry Street. A gang leader arranged for an elderly man to be smuggled into the country in a coffin, and he’s carrying a candy jar full of heroin. The hearse collides with another car and the old man wanders off into a strange new world, unaware that the gang is out to kill him before he talks to police. Guest Star: Nehemiah Persoff 5. Without Stick or Sword. A Burmese sailor, brother of four boys who drowned when a man refused to steer his freighter off course to save them, comes to New York to kill the captain, but mistakenly kills his wife in a dark hallway. Guest Star: William Shatner 6. A Run for the Money. A professional killer, being hunted by both police and mobsters, forces a compulsive gambler to help him raise enough money to flee the country. The gambler’s girlfriend alerts police to what’s going on. Guest Star: Eli Wallach Half Hour Episodes 1958 (John McIntire, James Franciscus) 1. The Bumper. Muldoon and Arcaro are transporting a material witness to jail when a hitman known as “The Bumper”, because he uses a car as his weapon, forces the detective’s car into an oil truck. In the flaming explosion Muldoon is burnt to death. Heartbroken, Halloran makes an all-out effort to get the killer. Guest Star: Michael Strong 2. Burst of Passion. One of the most respectable people in Halloran’s neighborhood suddenly goes berserk and starts shooting shopkeepers and their customers. Halloran remembers that the man has taken some children on a picnic to Coney Island and trails him there to beg him to surrender. 3. The Manhole. When an elderly sewer worker learns that his son is the leader of a street gang, he begs him vainly to reform, and then tells police about his association. When the gang uses the sewers to escape after a jewel robbery, the old man follows them into the underground passages. Guest Star: George Maharis 4. Meridian. Shortly after being assigned to work together, Muldoon and Halloran are called to the lavish New York Coliseum, where two young thugs who’ve just shot a policeman during a robbery have taken two sporting-goods clerks as hostages. 5. Stakeout. When a detective friend of Muldoon’s is killed on duty, his partner reports that he was shot while running away. Not believing his friend to be a coward, Muldoon gets the partner assigned to him during a stakeout designed to trap the killers, and finds out who the real coward was. 6. Even Crows Sing Good. A woman who’s been kept from marrying her boyfriend because they’re poor wins $1600 in the numbers game and tells her fiance she inherited the money. But when she goes to collect it, she’s badly beaten by a racketeer, and her fiance goes after him with a gun.

 

[jim_falconer]

May I suggest my favorite hour-long episode as well:
Today the Man Who Kills Ants is Coming

 

[Roy Wall]

Absolutely. Hope more responses like yours will come forth, Jim. Although on second glance at my collection...I believe that one has been released already. I was hoping the next Image release...would include only episodes not previously released.

 

[sessal]

May I suggest my favorite hour-long episode as well: Today the Man Who Kills Ants is Coming

This episode is included in "Naked City - Set 2" from 2005. And I agree with most of the suggestions you would like to see released. I would replace the 60-minute "Without Stick or Sword" two 30-minute episodes - "The Shield" and "Nickle Ride", if for no other reason than that the name of the ferry captain's character is Adam Flint.

 

[Roy Wall]

Hey for once I'll be a democrat...let's have both...Sword & Stick and Nickel Ride/The Shield.

 

[Flashgear]

The more I see of Naked City the more I need to have it complete as a series on dvd...I'm confused as to the current home video rightsholder...I thought it was owned by Shout! (kind of?)now...the Mandacy re-release 40 episode collection and Image 20 star filled episode sets are welcome, and I'm certainly enjoying the new to dvd episodes on the latter set...I'm thankful to Image for the recent set, but I fervently hope for more releases to come, season sets!...does Image retain dvd rights for some term to come? or would we eventually see Shout issue there own sets when the current license expires?...as I say, I'm confused and would like to know... Wow, I just can't get enough of those late '50s, early '60s NYC streetscapes...and more Silliphant teleplays...

 

[John DeAngelis]

The more I see of Naked City the more I need to have it complete as a series on dvd...I'm confused as to the current home video rightsholder...I thought it was owned by Shout! (kind of?)now...the Mandacy re-release 40 episode collection and Image 20 star filled episode sets are welcome, and I'm certainly enjoying the new to dvd episodes on the latter set...I'm thankful to Image for the recent set, but I fervently hope for more releases to come, season sets!...does Image retain dvd rights for some term to come? or would we eventually see Shout issue there own sets when the current license expires?...as I say, I'm confused and would like to know... Wow, I just can't get enough of those late '50s, early '60s NYC streetscapes...and more Silliphant teleplays...

I'd love a complete Naked City set too, but I never heard of Shout Factory owning the rights--"kind of" or completely.

 

[Roy Wall]

Wow, I just can't get enough of those late '50s, early '60s NYC streetscapes...and more Silliphant teleplays...

You said it all....couldn't agree more.

 

[sessal]

The following essay regarding the convoluted history of the "rights" and best available prints of Herbert B. Leonard's "Naked City" leads me to believe that we may never see a proper, complete release of "Naked City", sad to say. http://classictvhistory.wordpress.com/2012/06/12/a-kettle-of-precious-fish/