Studio One: The Defender

Starring:Studio One
Studio: Video Service
Product Type: DVD

Description

A live television courtroom drama first shown in 1957 as a two-hour special. A CBS "Studio One" presentation, this was the pilot for the series that would feature Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford and others who would become stars.

Customer Reviews:

Live TV at its best.......2006-03-25

Studio One made a name for itself doing teleplays for television. These plays were preformed like stage shows for the camera. Most were shot on video live. In the late 1970's CBS destroyed most of these viseo tapes.

The Defenders video tape survived. I know how nor why. If you are a Star Trek Fan, this 1957 tele-play has the acting talents of William Shatner, long before he donned the Star Fleet uniform of James T Kirk and beamed aboard the Starship Enterprise. He plays the son of a father and son legal team. You see, even before he was Denny Crane of TV's Boston Legal, he was a lawyer

This teleplay also starred Ralph Bellamy (as Shatner's Legal eagle father), Steve McQueen (before he was in TV's Wanted: Dead or Alive and the movies The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape) and Martin Balsam.

This was the age of Live TV. However, You could not find a flub in these two episodes of live TV. Nor could you find a bad preformance in these shows

If you are fan of TV history, The Defenders became a regular TV series in the 1960's. Bellamy's father role was played by E.G. Marshall & Shatner by Robert Reed (TV Brady Bunch).

If you are a fan of old TV, a good collection to showcase classic Television

Bennet Pomerantz, AUDIOWORLD

Studio One: The Defender/The Laughmaker/Sentence of Death

Average customer rating:

"You can be SURE...."
Nostalgia Plusssss

Studio One: The Defender/The Laughmaker/Sentence of Death
Starring: Studio One
Manufacturer: Video Service Canada
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Television | Genres | DVD | Video

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Drama | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Television | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Classics | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

The Golden Age of TV Drama
TV Golden Age Theater, Vol. 1
Four Star Playhouse, Vol. 1
TV Golden Age Theater, Vol. 2
This Is Your Life - The Ultimate Collection, Vol. 1

ASIN: B00006ZZTO
Release Date: 2002-10-01

Customer Reviews:

"You can be SURE....".......2003-06-04

They are neither movies or videotapes; they are cleaned up, digitally remastered, original kinescopes (the archival film made from the flickering image on the monitor) to show you what type of free, no-holes-barred theatre you could watch in the infancy of television. Because these were live productions done a few years before videotape (roughly between 1953 and 1957) these films are the only record of the performances- dramatic exhibitions with Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, and Ralph Bellamy; character studies from James Dean and William Shatner; and intoductions to future stars like Warren Beatty, Edward Asner, and Steve (called 'Steven') McQueen. Especially poignant is an annoyingly short documentary on the 10-year show hosted by some of its guest actors: Charlton Heston, Jack Klugman, and Cloris Leachman (who makes an especially heartbreaking commentary that many of the actors never got to watch their performances because the kinescopes were burned in their vaults years ago). There is also a marvelous sound byte from the late great John Frankenheimer (who reveals he would've continued to direct television theatre but *had* to turn to movies when the network's president decided to unilaterally cease doing the live play and concentrate on the filmed sitcom). The CBS "f-stop eye" logo is shown, along with original show bumpers (including a 1956 presidential election preview) and the legendary Betty Furness Westinghouse commercials (one of which demonstrates the new, UHF-channel plug-in adapter!!).

Nostalgia Plusssss.......2003-04-10

For a decade (1948-58)in early television, Studio One was one of the stalwarts of live drama, producing some truly classic television, along with a few monumental duds. This set (available separately as well) brings together some very interesting examples. Nostalgia buffs will get a kick out of seeing actors like James Dean, James Coburn, Warren Beatty, Steve McQueen, and William Shatner, to name a few, in VERY early roles (look for Ed Asner as "background"). But there is much more than nostalgia at work here. "The Defenders", "Laughmaker", and "The Night America Trembled" hold up as good, even, "Defenders", great, drama. "Sentence of Death" has some fascinating things to say, even if it says them less than perfectly. And "The Square Peg" shows why live comedy was often so hard to do. The picture quality is, at best, watchable (these are kinescopes, after all) and some of the goofs live TV was prone to are "preserved". An added bonus is the inclusion of all the old Westinghouse commercials which are hilarious! (Imagine! A dishwasher that can do a whole days worth of dishes...at once! A guaranteed good time for those who know what they are watching.

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

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