Perry Mason - Season 3, Vol. 1
the character created by Erle Stanley Gardner
USA 1957
Perry Mason is an attorney who specializes in defending seemingly indefensible cases. With the aid of his secretary Della Street and investigator Paul Drake, he often finds that by digging deep, startling facts can be revealed. Often relying on his outstanding courtroom skills, he often tricks or traps people into unwittingly admitting their guilt. **** Perry Mason was more than just the best courtroom television ever made. It ranks as some of the best TV ever broadcast. Raymond Burr was as solid as a rock, with Perry always outwitting crooks, femme fatales and D.A. Hamilton Burger (how did he ever keep his job?). Perry Mason also brought dignity to being a defense attorney that has been grievously nullified in the modern world. Still, seeing his preparedness, quick thought and one of his sidekicks, Paul Drake, whom could conveniently dig up any fact no matter how obscure within record time - is still comforting. Della Street was pretty easy on the easy too.
I see, especially the early episodes, as having a strong link to
Film Noir. (generally
good people doing bad things for money.... or love). The atmospheric
criminal capers of the 50's, replace the overly seedy societal anti-heroes with
white-collar crime and you have some of the most addictive television ever
shown. It lasted decades in syndication acquiring new fans with each generation.
Even 40 years later this remains undated. Some of the music tracks are by such
luminaries as
Jerry Goldsmith and
Bernard Herrmann. This show still holds a strong appeal,
fine performances, tight scripts and classically unique twists in the finale. A
true gem of TV gone by.
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Publicity Still
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Television Premiere: September 21st, 1957 - USA and Canada
DVD Review: Paramount (3 single-sided dual-layered discs) - Region 1 - NTSC
DVD Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from: |
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Available at a bit of a savings is the entire Season 1 - Perry Mason - Season One, Vols. 1 & 2 with all 39 complete episodes from the First Season of Perry Mason. | |
Distribution | Paramount - Region 1 - NTSC | |
Runtime | Each episode is around 51:25 minutes X 12. About 10 1/2 hours of entertainment | |
Video | 1:33:1
Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 4.58 mb/s (sample) NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Sample Bitrate: |
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Audio | English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Dolby) | |
Subtitles | None | |
Features |
Release Information: Edition Details (From IMdb HERE):
• Season
3, Episode 1: The Case of the Spurious Sister |
Comments: |
I've only watched a little over half but scanned through the remaining episodes to determine their consistency and lack of major flaws. I just don't want to rush through these as I'm enjoying them so much. If I do make note of anything unusual, I'll report it here in the next few days. Paramount certainly don't seem to be doing Perry Mason fans any favors here. Season three has 26 episodes in total (Season one having a whopping 39!) but this Season Three Vol. 1 package has only 12 (less than half) and the price does not seem to reflect this vast decrease. It would seem a better idea to now releases the whole season in one fell swoop. No? It amounts to about 10+ hours of classic TV. This collection includes the first half of season 3 (Oct. 59' to Jan. 60') on three single-sided dual-layered discs. The remaining 14 episodes should be on Season Three - Volume 2 on December 2nd, 2008 HERE. Bad news is that, unlike Season One Volume 2 (which are progressively transferred), these are again interlaced with visible combing(?!?!?!). Paramount are really cheaping-out on us here.
Still, though there are no optional subtitles. Digital noise exists but it is quite minor and acceptable. As far as classic TV goes this has some amazingly sharp close-ups. Audio is clean and clear. There are no extras at all. A huge plus (again) is that these are the complete 52 (roughly) minute versions (syndicated versions have 6 minutes or more missing from each episode.) It is nice to have these on single-sided discs all in one standard transparent keep cases. The series writing is still strong in season three but the star power had diminished with no 'major' future names aside from the likes of television regulars Steve Brodie, Benson Fong, and George Takei (Mr. Sulu!). Still, I've enjoyed what I have seen so far. As the series goes on - it seems to have plateau'd at a high level here with some formulaic-ness rearing its head in Season 3. But, in my opinion, if you haven't seen any of the Parry Mason available on DVD, I'd recommend Season 2, Vol. 1 over this for pure courtroom suspense! Still, as Paramount probably know, fans will indulge in this regardless of their package limitations - dammit! |
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Episodes
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Screen Captures Samples
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DVD Box Cover |
|
CLICK to order from: |
![]() |
Available at a bit of a savings is the entire Season 1 - Perry Mason - Season One, Vols. 1 & 2 with all 39 complete episodes from the First Season of Perry Mason. | |
Distribution | Paramount - Region 1- NTSC |