Stagecoach West TV Series 1960-61 New DVD Release! (1 Viewer)

[Neil Brock]

In addition to Stagecoach West, Talking Pictures has been airing The Detectives and Target: The Corruptors for many months now. Perhaps you could prevail upon a Brit friend to record them for you. It would be great if Renown could release dvd sets as they did with Stagecoach West, but ownership issues might prevent this.

I wish I had one. Been looking for one for years. I tried joining this Brit TV forum called mausoleum club but their rule is you can't do trading on there.
I have a guy who I did a deal with a couple of years ago but his quality on most stuff was dodgy and he recorded some discs at 6 hour speed. At like 30 cents a disc, how cheap do you have to be to do that. The picture looks like security camera footage. I believe he has all of The Detectives and when I asked him what the quality was, he said that the ones from Talking Pictures were good and the others not. So I asked him, so why don't you just upgrade them instead of keeping crap quality and he never replied. I don't understand some people.

 

[Neil Brock]

Crying shame we can't get the rest of "Death Valley Days" on BD, or DVD. The entire run was on Starz awhile back and honestly it is so far the best looking HD remaster I have seen regarding classic western series. Simply beautiful!

You can! Its very complicated process but I'll talk you through it. You turn on the TV when the show is on and you put a blank DVD-R disc in your DVD recorder and you hit the button that says record.

 

[Neil Brock]

My order is in! I hope this does well and Renown releases other classic shows from the fifties / sixties:
World Of Giants?
Oh Susanna?
Adventures in Paradise?
Tightrope?
The Americans?

None of which are Four Star shows so highly doubtful.
In order of your list: MGM, ITC, Fox, Sony, NBC Universal

 

[Neil Brock]

Would have been nice for them to put chapter stops in the episodes.

 

[smithbrad]

Got mine in the mail today, it took one week. That wasn't bad considering shipping from the UK. Especially, given that a priority package shipped USPS form the mid-west to my house in Maryland has been taking up to two weeks to get here of recent.

 

[Gary16]

Got mine in the mail today, it took one week. That wasn't bad considering shipping from the UK. Especially, given that a priority package shipped USPS form the mid-west to my house in Maryland has been taking up to two weeks to get here of recent.

Mine just came. I’m in Ohio. Fast service!

 

[Bryan^H]

You can! Its very complicated process but I'll talk you through it. You turn on the TV when the show is on and you put a blank DVD-R disc in your DVD recorder and you hit the button that says record.

You wanna talk me through the complicated process of finding it uncut in HD with no commercials on any channel, or even to purchase digitally?

I'll wait.

 

[smithbrad]

All the episodes are PAL and the disks do appear to be region locked. However, as Randall referenced one is 50+ minutes in PAL, while the rest are closer to 48+ minutes (except for the two lower quality prints), which is a bit unusual since that would mean that one would be closer to 53 minutes in NTSC.

Randall. I noticed the first episode has a very brief "insert commercial here" tag just before the standard intro. I'd like to remove these. Did you notice anymore of these on the first or any other episodes? They are so short they aren't easy to spot on quick scan. Thanks.

 

[jayembee]

I ordered Stagecoach West earlier today and just received the email that is being shipped. Pretty fast service. I am looking forward to receiving this.

I ordered mine on the 20th, they shipped it on the 22nd, and I received it on the 27th. Five days from England to New England ain't nothin' to sneeze at.

 

[Flashgear]

Randall. I noticed the first episode has a very brief "insert commercial here" tag just before the standard intro. I'd like to remove these. Did you notice anymore of these on the first or any other episodes? They are so short they aren't easy to spot on quick scan. Thanks.

Brad, I only noticed that very briefly flashed "insert commercial here" card on the pilot episode, at the first commercial break. I scanned all the episodes and have fully watched about a half dozen. I did not spot any more commercial placement spacers in any of the other episodes.

As I previously wrote, the beautifully remastered episodes from pristine 35mm film total 35 out of 38. They all range from 48:12 to 48:32 running times, which in doing the math for a 4% PAL speed-up suggest to me that those are all complete.

The one episode without apparent PAL speed-up, episode 32, is the James Drury episode Blind Man's Bluff, which comes in at 50:20...the nearly exact time that with a 4% PAL speed-up would yield a 48:29 running time...exactly in the range of the other 35 aforementioned episodes. So, I think Blind Man's Bluff is also fully complete. This is from a quality 35mm film, but resulting in a slightly lesser picture quality than the other 35 PAL episodes.

Episode 15, The Brass Lilly, and episode 30, The Dead Don't Cry are preceded by a notice that the master film sources could not be found and that these poor quality video dupes are "the best copy available"...The Brass Lilly runs 46:36 (with a "Nostalgia" semi-transparent 'bug' in the lower right corner of the picture throughout) and The Dead Don't Cry at 47:11 (with no 'bug' evident)...night time scenes are murky indeed...but to me, both of these are watchable quality on a big screen HDTV...

No chapter stops in the body of each episode. I of course prefer that chapter stops be placed after the opening titles and at each original commercial break. With this series, the individual episode title does not appear onscreen.

All in all, this new R2 locked Stagecoach West DVD set is superb. The series itself has all the hallmarks of Four Star quality...impressive production values, extensive location filming in Old Tucson and surrounding areas, a believable, likable and solid trio of leads, outstanding guest stars and supporting casts, compelling scripts and well staged action. I think it's more violent than many of it's contemporary Western series of that era. Something akin to how violent the first 5 episodes or so of The Rifleman were, before Sam Peckinpah was reined-in...in the fall of 1960, Stagecoach West aired at 9 PM Tuesdays...later than most other Western series that year, not the family hour, and likely why it was as violent as it was...it was followed by Alcoa Presents (One Step Beyond) as the nightcap before your local news...

Next up for me is another favorite, episode 10, The Storm, guest starring Beverly Garland as a ruthless, stone-cold killer! I will post screen caps, no spoilers...

 

[smithbrad]

Brad, I only noticed that very briefly flashed "insert commercial here" card on the pilot episode, at the first commercial break. I scanned all the episodes and have fully watched about a half dozen. I did not spot any more commercial placement spacers in any of the other episodes.

As I previously wrote, the beautifully remastered episodes from pristine 35mm film total 35 out of 38. They all range from 48:12 to 48:32 running times, which in doing the math for a 4% PAL speed-up suggest to me that those are all complete.

The one episode without apparent PAL speed-up, episode 32, is the James Drury episode Blind Man's Bluff, which comes in at 50:20...the nearly exact time that with a 4% PAL speed-up would yield a 48:29 running time...exactly in the range of the other 35 aforementioned episodes. So, I think Blind Man's Bluff is also fully complete. This is from a quality 35mm film, but resulting in a slightly lesser picture quality than the other 35 PAL episodes.

Episode 15, The Brass Lilly, and episode 30, The Dead Don't Cry are preceded by a notice that the master film sources could not be found and that these poor quality video dupes are "the best copy available"...The Brass Lilly runs 46:36 (with a "Nostalgia" semi-transparent 'bug' in the lower right corner of the picture throughout) and The Dead Don't Cry at 47:11 (with no 'bug' evident)...to me, both of these are watchable quality on a big screen HDTV...

No chapter stops in the body of each episode. I of course prefer that chapter stops be placed after the opening titles and at each original commercial break. With this series, the individual episode title does not appear onscreen.

All in all, this new R2 locked Stagecoach West DVD set is superb. The series itself has all the hallmarks of Four Star quality...impressive production values, extensive location filming in Old Tucson and surrounding areas, a believable, likable and solid trio of leads, outstanding guest stars and supporting casts, compelling scripts and well staged action. I think it's more violent than many of it's contemporary Western series of that era. Something akin to how violent the first 5 episodes or so of The Rifleman were, before Sam Peckinpah was reined-in...in the fall of 1960, Stagecoach West aired at 9 PM Tuesdays...later than most other Western series that year, not the family hour, and likely why it was as violent as it was...it was followed by Alcoa Presents (One Step Beyond) as the nightcap before your local news...

Next up for me is another favorite, episode 10, The Storm, guest starring Beverly Garland as a ruthless, stone-cold killer! I will post screen caps, no spoilers...

Thanks Randall. I'll just assume the one commercial insert as an anomaly from the pilot. I've extracted all the episodes and I'm in the process of converting from PAL to NTSC. Episode 32 is definitely running at 25 fps. When I get to the point of converting that one, I'll have to listen to the voices to see whether to slow it down or not during the conversion. I've never run across a PAL that did not need to be slowed down before, but there can always be a first.

So far, the little I've scanned, the quality is very good. Not CBS remastering quality, but closer to WB. Definitely, not based on older video masters. The first of the duped episodes looked acceptable for viewing, the second not too much, which is a shame because it has James Best in it.

I'm going to try a watch one or two episodes tonight. So far I am happy with the purchase.

 

[Gary16]

Brad, I only noticed that very briefly flashed "insert commercial here" card on the pilot episode, at the first commercial break. I scanned all the episodes and have fully watched about a half dozen. I did not spot any more commercial placement spacers in any of the other episodes.

As I previously wrote, the beautifully remastered episodes from pristine 35mm film total 35 out of 38. They all range from 48:12 to 48:32 running times, which in doing the math for a 4% PAL speed-up suggest to me that those are all complete.

The one episode without apparent PAL speed-up, episode 32, is the James Drury episode Blind Man's Bluff, which comes in at 50:20...the nearly exact time that with a 4% PAL speed-up would yield a 48:29 running time...exactly in the range of the other 35 aforementioned episodes. So, I think Blind Man's Bluff is also fully complete. This is from a quality 35mm film, but resulting in a slightly lesser picture quality than the other 35 PAL episodes.

Episode 15, The Brass Lilly, and episode 30, The Dead Don't Cry are preceded by a notice that the master film sources could not be found and that these poor quality video dupes are "the best copy available"...The Brass Lilly runs 46:36 (with a "Nostalgia" semi-transparent 'bug' in the lower right corner of the picture throughout) and The Dead Don't Cry at 47:11 (with no 'bug' evident)...night time scenes are murky indeed...but to me, both of these are watchable quality on a big screen HDTV...

No chapter stops in the body of each episode. I of course prefer that chapter stops be placed after the opening titles and at each original commercial break. With this series, the individual episode title does not appear onscreen.

All in all, this new R2 locked Stagecoach West DVD set is superb. The series itself has all the hallmarks of Four Star quality...impressive production values, extensive location filming in Old Tucson and surrounding areas, a believable, likable and solid trio of leads, outstanding guest stars and supporting casts, compelling scripts and well staged action. I think it's more violent than many of it's contemporary Western series of that era. Something akin to how violent the first 5 episodes or so of The Rifleman were, before Sam Peckinpah was reined-in...in the fall of 1960, Stagecoach West aired at 9 PM Tuesdays...later than most other Western series that year, not the family hour, and likely why it was as violent as it was...it was followed by Alcoa Presents (One Step Beyond) as the nightcap before your local news...

Next up for me is another favorite, episode 10, The Storm, guest starring Beverly Garland as a ruthless, stone-cold killer! I will post screen caps, no spoilers...

I’m about halfway thru episode one and I’m impressed so far with the quality and the show itself. So I guess this show was the reason “Bourbon St. Beat”didn’t get that second season that was mentioned in my TVGuide post on the 77 Sunset Strip thread since this was the projected time slot (actually 930-1030).

 

[Flashgear]

Thanks Randall. I'll just assume the one commercial insert as an anomaly from the pilot. I've extracted all the episodes and I'm in the process of converting from PAL to NTSC. Episode 32 is definitely running at 25 fps. When I get to the point of converting that one, I'll have to listen to the voices to see whether to slow it down or not during the conversion. I've never run across a PAL that did not need to be slowed down before, but there can always be a first.

Glad you can do that Brad! Can you tell me which brand of software you use to accomplish this, for future reference? At least so far, the PAL speed-up doesn't bother me to any excess. I only really notice it in the higher pitched voices of well known celebrities like Alfred Hitchcock, Jack Lord, James Best, Robert Vaughn, John Dehner, William Conrad and others that I can hear in my head because of how much classic TV and Feature Films I've seen them in for the last 60 years or so (I'm Jurassic era old, ha, ha)...I actually don't even have all that many PAL R2 or R4 TV sets in my collection...Stagecoach West, Alfred Hitchcock Presents S7, Alfred Hitchcock Hour S1-3, McCloud S4, S6, Strange Report, Espionage, The Prisoner and a dozen or so theatrical films...and I've never actually ripped DVD files to an external hard drive or flash drive/firestick type of portable device...which is something I need to get acquainted with in the near future...I'm old school physical media all the way, but need to adapt to streaming, downloads and digital file copies for things that I want to acquire for myself and trade with others...especially as DVD fades away as a platform...

So far, the little I've scanned, the quality is very good. Not CBS remastering quality, but closer to WB. Definitely, not based on older video masters. The first of the duped episodes looked acceptable for viewing, the second not too much, which is a shame because it has James Best in it.

I'm going to try a watch one or two episodes tonight. So far I am happy with the purchase.

Brad, glad you're happy with your purchase! There's a lot to love about Stagecoach West, with 38 one hour episodes being equivalent to some other series multiple seasons...despite the great technical quality overall, with 36 out of 38 looking great and being complete, I too bemoan those 2 episodes being presented in these poor quality and incomplete video dupes, each missing possibly 1:30 to 2:30 running time...with episode 30, The Dead Don't Cry, in addition to having the great James Best, it also features a nice early role for Mary Tyler Moore...with James Best, at least there's good news with him being in 3 episodes of this series...in addition to the pilot, he's also in another excellent Wayne Rogers episode, (episode 19, also beautifully remastered), The Arsonist, with golden era Hollywood star James Dunn and a drop-dead gorgeous Adele Mara...

 

[Flashgear]

I’m about halfway thru episode one and I’m impressed so far with the quality and the show itself. So I guess this show was the reason “Bourbon St. Beat”didn’t get that second season that was mentioned in my TVGuide post on the 77 Sunset Strip thread since this was the projected time slot (actually 930-1030).

Wow, that's very interesting! Thanks Gary for that info. I saw your recent post in the 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye, etc. thread with your picture of Hollywood teleprint newswire from an early 1960 TV GUIDE about the planned renewal of Bourbon Street Beat for the coming fall season. I love Stagecoach West, but would have loved Bourbon Street Beat getting a second full season. I love that show too, and prefer Bourbon Street Beat (I have the entire series) to it's likely WB replacement, Surfside 6...I like Surfside 6, but with it's younger leads (including Van Williams, the previously minor junior partner on Bourbon Street Beat) being less substantial than the great Andrew Duggan and Richard Long in my mind...I think Warner was going for a younger schoolgirl demographic with Surfside 6, too bad...

Gary, as you continue to watch Stagecoach West, I would love to hear your impressions and critiques of the show as you make your way through the series. I think we should courteously ask Renown if they have another possible series in the works? I actually have another order coming from them, as they have a lot of classic British cinema that I would want as well...and as I and others have discovered, Renown's customer service is great...with fast shipping as well...

 

[Gary16]

TVGuide October 4, 1960:

 

[Jeff Flugel]

TVGuide October 4, 1960:
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Nice! Love these old TV Guide pics. And after Stagecoach West, I'd have switched channels to catch Rivak, the Barbarian with Jack Palance!

 

[jayembee]

Nice! Love these old TV Guide pics. And after Stagecoach West, I'd have switched channels to catch Rivak, the Barbarian with Jack Palance!

I'm not much of a Jack Palance fan, to be honest, but it had me at "F. Van Wyck Mason" (who split his time between writing historicals and spy-fi).

 

[Flashgear]

Stagecoach West episode 10, The Storm (Dec. 13, 1960) D: Thomas Carr, W: D.D. Beauchamp, Mary M. Beauchamp. Cast: Beverly Garland, Wayne Rogers, Tom Drake, J. Pat O'Malley, Robert Stevenson. My screen caps from the excellent new Renown R2 DVD set...

Sherry Hilton (the lovely Beverly Garland) is a desperate woman, and desperately in love with the equally desperate Selby Moss (Tom Drake)...and both are in desperate love with the notion of one quick score in robbing Sherry's former employer of $5000...Selby can match his woman in their powerful yearning for sudden riches, but cannot match her in her in shocking ruthlessness...indeed, he is horrified at her quick trigger finger and frightening ability to casually kill for the money they seek...and he cannot control her, as they both embark on a reckless rampage that will involve Stagecoach West's Luke Perry (Wayne Rogers) and Doc Apperson (J. Pat O'Malley) in the midst of a dangerous blizzard that threatens to kill them all...

Luke has just received word that the stageline's way station manager has fallen deathly ill, and enlists cranky old Doc Apperson on a mission of mercy to save the man's life...just as they are about to embark, Marshall Strickland (Robert J. Stevenson) deputizes Luke as a Deputy U.S. Marshall on the basis of the stageline carrying the U.S. Mail...Luke pockets the badge while taking notice of a new 'Wanted' poster featuring the very attractive picture of Sherry Hilton (I didn't know they could use a glamour photo for a 19th century wanted poster!)...Sherry is wanted for murder with an undercard for robbery...

Sherry, after wearing out their horse pulling their getaway carriage, sends Selby ahead on foot to the way station, while she soon crosses paths with Luke and the Doc...she hijacks them at gunpoint, taking a fresh horse and running off the rest as she leaves her victims stranded on foot as the ferocious blizzard descends...she reckons that they aren't worth killing, as they will likely both soon succumb to the freezing winds and snow in this impressively mounted soundstage blizzard...

At the rendezvous with Selby at the way station, Sherry casually kills one of the station attendants...but the horrified Selby is wounded by the dying man in an exchange of gunfire...

Meanwhile, Luke tries to find shelter as Doc Apperson weakens in the cold...

Luke's cheerful optimism is once again evident, even in the face of these dire circumstances...he's started a warming fire under an improvised shelter and leaves the Doc to weather the storm as Luke presses on foot to the way station...not knowing that the deadly Sherry is waiting there...

Continued next post, no spoilers...

 

[Flashgear]

Stagecoach West episode 10, The Storm continued...

Luke (Wayne Rogers), leaving behind an exhausted Doc Apperson (J. Pat O'Malley) under a shelter, and having barely survived his trek through the blizzard, finally arrives at the way station...and once again finds himself under the gun of fugitive murderer Sherry Hilton (Beverly Garland), now frantic as her grievously wounded romantic partner Selby (Tom Drake) apparently is in the process of dying...

Two men are now close to death in this cabin...Sherry now shows a softer side in her desperation in saving Selby's life...with the blizzard having passed, she begs Luke to go back and fetch Doc Apperson, in the hope that the Doc can save her lover's life...she lowers the rifle and promises to surrender herself to Luke upon his return, pleading truthfully that she alone was responsible for the killings...Selby was only guilty of trusting in his woman and shouldn't face the hangman..."he wanted money but didn't know how to get it"...

In returning to the way station, Luke and the Doc discover that a grim and merciless fate has taken a hand...nature and grief determine the outcome...

I don't think I'm exaggerating in saying The Storm represents possibly the best and most substantial dramatic role that a young Beverly Garland had up to 1960 in her then early television career as a guest player...certainly she had shined on occasion in her first series' starring vehicle Decoy, and is fondly remembered for her 1950s Noir and thrillers, American International Roger Corman horror and B-Western films...and later a multitude of fine guest starring roles in episodic TV, a long run as a regular in the later seasons of My Three Sons and Scarecrow and Mrs. King...I dare say a favorite for many of us here, myself included...if you love classic B+W TV Westerns, you really should check out this new DVD set from Renown...Wayne Rogers is terrific, this series was blessed with a trio of solid leads with Robert Bray and a young Richard Eyer...a few sample episodes are available on Youtube...once again, here is the link to the Renown U.K. website with details on this high quality DVD set...the first B+W TV Western released on disc in quite awhile...

STAGECOACH WEST 8-DVD Box Set with optional subtitles – Renown Films

 

[Gary16]

Stagecoach West episode 10, The Storm continued...

Luke (Wayne Rogers), leaving behind an exhausted Doc Apperson (J. Pat O'Malley) under a shelter, and having barely survived his trek through the blizzard, finally arrives at the way station...and once again finds himself under the gun of fugitive murderer Sherry Hilton (Beverly Garland), now frantic as her grievously wounded romantic partner Selby (Tom Drake) apparently is in the process of dying...
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Two men are now close to death in this cabin...Sherry now shows a softer side in her desperation in saving Selby's life...with the blizzard having passed, she begs Luke to go back and fetch Doc Apperson, in the hope that the Doc can save her lover's life...she lowers the rifle and promises to surrender herself to Luke upon his return, pleading truthfully that she alone was responsible for the killings...Selby was only guilty of trusting in his woman and shouldn't face the hangman..."he wanted money but didn't know how to get it"...
View attachment 93941
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In returning to the way station, Luke and the Doc discover that a grim and merciless fate has taken a hand...nature and grief determine the outcome...
View attachment 93950
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I don't think I'm exaggerating in saying The Storm represents possibly the best and most substantial dramatic role that a young Beverly Garland had up to 1960 in her then early television career as a guest player...certainly she had shined on occasion in her first series' starring vehicle Decoy, and is fondly remembered for her 1950s Noir and thrillers, American International Roger Corman horror and B-Western films...and later a multitude of fine guest starring roles in episodic TV, a long run as a regular in the later seasons of My Three Sons and Scarecrow and Mrs. King...I dare say a favorite for many of us here, myself included...if you love classic B+W TV Westerns, you really should check out this new DVD set from Renown...Wayne Rogers is terrific, this series was blessed with a trio of solid leads with Robert Bray and a young Richard Eyer...a few sample episodes are available on Youtube...once again, here is the link to the Renown U.K. website with details on this high quality DVD set...the first B+W TV Western released on disc in quite awhile...

STAGECOACH WEST 8-DVD Box Set with optional subtitles – Renown Films

Just started episode five. I’ve been very impressed with everything about this series. The stars. The storylines. And especially Skip Martin’s music.