Customer Reviews

Classic TV Christmas V.1

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The best thing about this DVD set is the packaging. It is very attractive. It is also misleading. Echo Bridge Entertainment is just a repackaging of Platinum Disc Corporation (PDC) product. The problem with PDC is that this company inserts the company name and logo onto the bottom right hand corner of the screen periodically throughout the program. I have never been able to overlook any program that does this to deter pirating. It takes away from the nostalgic feel of watching a vintage television program or movie. Vintage Entertainment practices this as well, so I have resisited buying any more product from them. If this sort of thing does not really bother you, then you may very well enjoy the diverse programming on this set of DVDs. It includes Burns and Allen, A Date With the Angels, Dragnet, Four Star Playhouse, Annie Oakley and The Racket Squad, among others. Each program is separated by the PDC intro as well, so you are constantly being reminded of what company has released this. Otherwise, it would be a nice collection of early holiday programming.

Some of these episodes have better transfers, others worse. And some of them have a decidedly more "Christmasy" feel to them. The Annie Oakley episode in particular wasn't one that you'd really sit down on Christmas Eve to watch, and the Robin Hood one had little if anything to do with the holiday at all. But the "Date With an Angels" episode--starring a youthful Betty White--might make the purchase worthwhile by itself (though it does appear on a better DVD collection offered by Amazon, Christmas TV Classics, Vol. 2. Despite the poor transfer, the Burns and Allen ep also is a solid offering.

I've been buying up old TV episodes on DVD for several years ago, and if you enjoy that sort of thing as I do, go ahead and buy this. You won't be sorry because it's inexpensive.

I'm a fan of clean, family-friendly movies and television. Naturally, I assumed my family would enjoy these vintage TV shows with Christmas themes. Frankly, some of them were just plain awful in terms of writing and acting. On the first disc (red case) I only watched two shows all the way through (Date with the Angels because I wanted to see a young Betty White and Burns and Allen because their comedy holds up even today.) The rest I skipped through. Two months later I plucked up enough courage to watch the second disc (green case) and was pleasantly surprised with most of it. The "Four Star Playhouse" was outstanding. Of the remaining shows The Scarlet Pimpernel was particularly painful. Meet Corliss Archer and Sherlock Holmes were okay.

For those of us who enjoyed the early days of TV when the music wasn't so loud as to drown out the actors talking and when we didn't have to watch what the children were watching do to the violence, sexual innuendos and language, this DVD is a must. Funny and good clean TV shows. This is one DVD that everyone will like!