Revisiting Some Campy ‘60s Moments
Not everything on laser is a new, improved, added-upon version of a classic or not-so-classic film. Some of the most fascinating moments to come through the television set via laser originated on TV.
MGM UA Home Video has recently released collections that capture both the campy and the influential moments of the 1960s, from “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” (Vol. I, four discs, digital sound, $100) to “The Outer Limits” (two volumes, four discs apiece, digital sound, $100 per set). In both black and white and color, “U.N.C.L.E.” serves up the young Robert Vaughn and David McCallum and venerable Leo G. Carroll in what passed for buddy bonding in the ‘60s.
Vol. I offers eight uncut original episodes. The first in the series, “The Project Strigas Affair,” features a pre-”Star Trek” William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, opposing each other. Other episodes offer Barbara Feldon, Nancy Sinatra, Joan Collins, Angela Lansbury, Joan Crawford and Telly Savalas. All episodes are in extended play and digital sound, of varying degrees of interest, depending on your tolerance of episodic, “hour”-long TV Cold War spy “drama.” An informational brochure offers summaries of each 52-minute show. Ten to 16 “chapters” can be individually accessed on each program.
For many, “The Outer Limits” represents the quintessential TV sci-fi horror show. Volume II includes five episodes by writer Joseph Stefano (“Psycho”). Once again, actors who went on to greater prominence in later TV series or films can be seen in younger days. Among them, Martin Sheen, Ed Asner, Bruce Dern, Vera Miles and Martin Landau.
From the memorable opening line--”There is nothing wrong with your television set”--in the disc’s first episode (“Nightmare”) to the last hour’s “The Probe,” this is television at its eeriest.
Since all these shows were made for TV, there is no letterboxing, but the laser format, with chapter search and better picture and sound quality makes it possible to see these 30-year-old programs in pristine condition--something never possible even when they first aired on TV.
Two volumes of “The Very Best of the Ed Sullivan Show” (“The Greatest Entertainers” and “Unforgettable Performances”) from Buena Vista Home Video ($30) bring back shows extolling earlier moments to remember from the drollmaster-presenter. If you haven’t seen the Beatles or Elvis Presley make those historic appearances on other specials, here’s another chance.
More memorable, however, is the only video record of Richard Burton and Julie Andrews in “Camelot” on “The Greatest Entertainers” volume. “Unforgettable Performances” include Presley, the Rolling Stones, Barbra Streisand, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and some forgettable performances by Topo Gigio, Wayne & Shuster and Vaughn Meader.