Product Details

• Actors: Arrest & Trial
• Directors: n, a
• Format: Box set, Black & White, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Timeless Media Group
• DVD Release Date: March 19, 2008
• Run Time: 675 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0014FAINO
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #67,773 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Arrest and Trial, Part 2" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

ARREST & TRIAL PART 2 - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More Arrests. More Trials., April 23, 2008

By 

Robert Huggins (Suburban Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Arrest and Trial, Part 2 (DVD)

This is the second nine-episode DVD release of "Arrest and Trial," the 1963-64 police and legal drama that's said to have influenced the modern day "Law & Order" series. If you've seen the first DVD set released by the Timeless Media Group and enjoyed it, you will undoubtedly want to include this second release in your collection. The first half of each episode, The Arrest, begins with the crime and subsequent investigation by LAPD detectives portrayed by Ben Gazzara and Roger Perry. The second half of the show, The Trial, features defense attorneys portrayed by Chuck Connors and Don Galloway pitted against lawyers from the district attorney's office, portrayed by John Larch and John Kerr.

As I watch this second collection of episodes, I'm struck by the similarity in execution to some of the other great television dramas of the early 1960s, "Naked City" and "Route 66." Like those other classics, the recurring characters of "Arrest and Trial" are often secondary to the guest stars that appear as the accused or as those who are close to the crime. In the episode "The Witnesses," Anne Francis plays a high school teacher who is having an affair with a married man, a high powered corporate lawyer (Robert Webber). The couple witnesses a murder, but can't come forward due to the nature of their illicit affair. Despite reassurances from her lover that everything will come out right, it becomes apparent that the wrong man will be convicted, and Ms. Francis experiences a crisis of conscience. While the ending is predictable, it's the outstanding performance by Anne Francis that carries this episode.

An interesting side note on "Arrest and Trial" is actor John Kerr who played Assistant Deputy District Attorney Barry Pine. The experiences of portraying a lawyer on television must have made a positive impression on Mr. Kerr, who later entered UCLA's law school in 1966, and became a successful civil trial attorney, practicing law for 30 years in Southern California.

Despite Timeless Media's claim that the episodes were "faithfully reproduced from the original NBC masters," these episodes look no better or worse than the episodes contained in the first release, Arrest and Trial. If, indeed, the episodes were reproduced from the NBC masters, they do not appear to be restored or cleaned up in any way, shape or form. Some of the episodes in the first set were missing their opening title sequence, but the title sequence appears on all episodes in this second set. The episodes are very watchable, but for anyone expecting a high quality audio/visual presentation along the lines of some of CBS Paramount's vintage TV-on-DVD releases like "The Fugitive" or "The Untouchables," you'll be soundly disappointed. Still, it's the writing, acting and overall production values that are important and, on those counts, "Arrest and Trial" delivers. Recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Problem With Arrest & Trial..., April 3, 2010

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Arrest and Trial, Part 2 (DVD)

While there is much to like about this short-lived '60's series, a joint production of Revue (Universal) and Chuck Connors' Ranch Productions, I do have one major problem: the casting of the leads, or more specifically, the roles of the leads.

I had heard about, but never seen, this series prior to the DVD releases, but I certainly had been familiar with Chuck Connors, due to viewing The Rifleman and his subsequent series, Branded, and I knew Ben Gazzara from his follow-up series, Run For Your Life.

From watching those actors in those shows, I came away with perceived images: Connors as a firm but fair man of justice (The Rifleman) and Gazzara as a compassionate sort (Run For Your Life). Here, the two actors are playing pretty much against type: while Gazzara certainly has moments of compassion and concern for people he encounters (and may or may not wind up arresting, i.e., Joseph Schildkraut in "Whose Little Girl Are You?"), I don't buy him for one second in the tough-guy cop role, nor do I totally believe Connors as a caring public defender. And in one interesting episode, "A Shield Is For Hiding Behind", Connors' character John Egan defends Sgt. Nick Anderson (Gazzara) on a murder charge after he shoots a clean-cut yet creepy punk (James 'Danno' MacArthur) who had brutally murdered another cop earlier in the episode. The other actors in the cast, familiar TV faces Roger Perry, Don Galloway, John Larch and John Kerr, fare much better in the respective parts (i.e., Gazzara's partner, Connors' assistant, District Attorney and Assistant District Attorney). Kerr in particular must have enjoyed playing a lawyer--after years of regular or semi-regular series roles as a District Attorney in not only Arrest & Trial but Peyton Place and The Streets of San Francisco, he became a real-life criminal attorney. Art imitates life!

Still, the series is interesting for a couple of reasons, one being the unique premise of the show: for the first half of the series, we see the crime committed and the work the detectives put in to arrest the criminal, but in the second half, the focus is on the public defender to get the guy acquitted (and naturally, there are some situations where the arrested person may not be the guilty party, or for some reason, less culpable). Much has been made of the comparison between this and Law & Order...no, I think they're similar shows but L&O is not the current version of A&T.

Then, there is the array of guest actors on this series: Universal/Revue was willing to shell out for the top talent of the day, so we get a lot of famous faces here; to name a few, Roddy McDowall, Anne Francis, Mickey Rooney, William Shatner, a young Peter Fonda, a young Martin Sheen, Joseph Schildkraut, Leif Erickson, Vera Miles...and those are just a sampling of the talent on display in this short-lived series.

Recommended? Yes, if you can get past the casting of the main leads and enjoy the stories on display and the fabulous guest actors.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Show that Got Missed During its Original Airing, March 27, 2010

By 

First, a reader - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Arrest and Trial, Part 2 (DVD)

This is a great show with each episode-pair done in two segments--the arrest, followed by the trial--rather like Law and Order. Focused on larger social issues illustrated through the actions and life of the defendent, followed by the trial as seen from the defense's perspective, Arrest and Trial showcases a number of fine actors from the 50s.

The contrast between the emotional intensity (always manageable) of this show with the action oriented focus of current shows (or joke-ridden focus) is interesting to say the least.

Anyone out there looking for a dissertation topic in sociology, psychology, or media studies? Take a look at some of the TV series from the 50s and early 60s.