Search - Perry Mason (50th Anniversary Edition) on DVD

The Case of the Stupid Studio

Cap'n Phealy | Vallejo, CA | 01/23/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"As a devoted "Perry Mason" fan for nearly four decades, I think this product is a step too far in abusing the legions of people who have been waiting to see some decent treatment by Viacom:



*There was the "Collector's Series", which went through various permutations of two or three episodes on a disc, not in chronological order, and with extras that were occasionally amusing, but uniformly weak. They never finished releasing the entire series;



*Then came the promising season-by-half-season-box-set discs; a bit pricey for something with no extras at all, but at least we were starting to get all of the episodes, in order. But the rate of release has been dreadfully slow. (Hey, Viacoma: it's not like you're waiting for extras to be produced, what's taking so bloody long?);



Now this "50th Anniversary" edition. Guess what, guys? The 50th Anniversary was LAST YEAR. You missed it. And what are we supposed to pay for? Episodes that we'll be paying for again, when they get around to releasing more half-asseason boxes (and most, if not all, of which were part of the "Collector's Series" that many fans will already own, making that three copies). A list of extras which would have been great attached to those half-a-season boxes. A "Returns" movie which, while it was nice to see Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale together again (and kind of a hoot for Hale's son William Katt to be playing Paul Drake's son), wasn't really all that great, and is cheapened in memory by the steadily decreasing quality of the later films. Oh, and one of the episodes here is marked by the near-total absence of...Perry Mason.



Seriously. Get back to giving us the series, in order. Stop wasting our time, because we won't be wasting our money."

All well and good,but...........

T Man | NJ | 01/19/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Lets get on with Season Three,Volume 1!For crying out loud,with the pace

they are moving,it will take 7 years to release all 9 seasons!By the time this special edition comes out in April,it will already have been

five months since Season Two,Volume 2.Season Three should be out in April,not this special.While on this subject,this half season nonsense

is out of hand.Why dont they release the full season or two volumes at

the same time like they did with Combat?You buy both or you buy one and

most likely everybody will buy both anyway so release the volumes

together,this 7-8 months in between is just idiotic!"

Episodes and Features of the Perry Mason 50th Anniversary Ed

D. Walker | Williamsburg, VA, United States | 01/18/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The two co-producers on this DVD set are Jim Davidson and award-winning DVD Producer Paul Brownstein ("The Twilight Zone", "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "Get Smart" DVD sets). Jim Davidson was the founder (and past president) of the National Association for the Advancement of Perry Mason, and currently runs the Classic TV info website.



We fans of Raymond Burr's "Perry Mason" will definitely enjoy all of the delightful extras. Most of this DVD set's episodes were obviously chosen for the current popular name recognition of the actors. The "Perry Mason" series had many wonderful actors throughout its 9 year run, and we will, unfortunately, have to wait for their appearances as the season sets are released.



Even with all of its negatives, we can expect this DVD set to be "first class" with such great producers at the helm!



The word is that this is The Complete List of Episodes and Extras for the "Perry Mason 50th Anniversary Edition" DVD:



EPISODES, with introductions by Barbara Hale ("Della Street")



1. THE CASE OF THE WARY WILDCATTER - 1960 - Season 3

* (with Barbara Bain)



2. THE CASE OF THE TREACHEROUS TOUPEE - 1960 - Season 4

* (with Robert Redford)



3. THE CASE OF THE ENVIOUS EDITOR - 1961 - Season 4

* (with James Coburn)



4. THE CASE OF THE BAREFACED WITNESS - 1961 - Season 4

* (with Adam West)



5. THE CASE OF THE COUNTERFEIT CRANK - 1962 - Season 5

* (with Burt Reynolds)



6. THE CASE OF THE SHOPLIFTER'S SHOE - 1963 - Season 6

* (with Leonard Nimoy)



7. THE CASE OF THE CONSTANT DOYLE - 1963 - Season 6

* (with Bette Davis)



8. THE CASE OF THE DEADLY VERDICT - 1963 - Season 7

* (Mason loses a case)



9. THE CASE OF THE BOUNTIFUL BEAUTY - 1964 - Season 7

* (with Ryan O'Neal)



10. THE CASE OF THE TWICE-TOLD TWIST - 1966 - Season 9

* (the only color episode)



11. THE CASE OF THE DEAD RINGER - 1966 - Season 9

* (Raymond Burr plays a dual role)



12. THE CASE OF THE FINAL FADE-OUT - 1966 - Season 9

* (with Dick Clark and Erle Stanley Gardner)



The breakdown by Seasons:

Season 3 - 1 episode

Season 4 - 3 episodes

Season 5 - 1 episode

Season 6 - 2 episodes

Season 7 - 2 episodes

Season 9 - 3 episodes



EXTRAS:



* PERRY MASON RETURNS (1985 TV-movie revival)



SPECIAL FEATURES:



* SCREEN TESTS (5/24/1956):

1. Raymond Burr as Hamilton Burger

2. William Hopper as Perry Mason

3. Raymond Burr as Perry Mason



* Featurette: "The Case of Erle Stanley Gardner"



* Interviews with Barbara Hale, producer-director Arthur Marks and CBS executive Anne Nelson



* Syndication Promos



* Raymond Burr interviewed by Charlie Rose on CBS "Nightwatch"



* Raymond Burr interviewed by Charles Collingwood on "Person to Person" (10/20/1960)



* Clip from "Stump the Stars" with the cast of Perry Mason (7/8/1963)



* Photo Gallery



"

Mason for the Defense

Bennet Pomerantz | Seabrook, Maryland | 04/16/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Your honor, I do object to the harsh treatment this DVD has gotten before its released. I have viewed this evidence and found it able to stand on its own merits.



A little back history on my relationship with the defendant Perry Mason. In the early 1970's, when Ironside was still on prime time television, I was a Perry Mason addict. It was on at five pm, so it was after school viewing. Raymond Burr was as much Perry Mason as he was Ironside. Each may have been different character, but this series like Ironside was memorible.



Now to the evidence....In this DVD tribute, you have 12 episodes and a TV movie (Perry Mason Returns) of this classic legal drama. This tribute is guest star ladden set (with such actors as Robert Redford, Bette Davis, Leonard Nimoy, Burt Retnold, James Colburn,etc) and also has a few rare episodes (the only color episode, the last show of the series). If these dozen episodes are edited at all from their original format , you can not tell. These recording seem to have been copied from very clean master recordings of the shows. Each episode and the TV movie are introduced by Barbara Hale (Della Street), the last remaining cast member of the Mason show.



Exhibit A...The fourth disk is chock filled with extras like Hopper, Talman and Burr's screen tests for Mason, Old Raymond Burr interviews, New Barbara Hale interview, and Mason cast playing "Stump The Stars".



Exhibit B...The most unique extra on the fourth disk is the William Talman's anti-smoking message. For those of you who did not know, Talman was dying of cancer after the show closed. as sick as he was, he left the hospital and recorded an anti-smoking message weeks before he died.



Sidebar, your Honor...I have previous discussed the good part of the DVD....now to the bad part, charging almost forty dollar for 12 episode is too too much. Also, to harbor on points made by others previously, Paramount CBS is very slow to release season three of Mason...and when they do, it is in half season installments. At this time (April 2008), there is no release date for season three volume one.



In summation, this collection of the best of Perry Mason is good television and nice to see these shows on DVD. However the jury is out if Paramount and its release practices is right.



I do not want a hung jury, so buy this collection and you make your own judgement



Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD"