The stories in this series are surprisingly good. Unlike many early TV thrillers, these actually generate a good amount of suspense. So they are worth seeing for that reason. Another reason to watch them is the casts. It can be great fun spotting faces that will become well-known in later years: Lee Marvin, Eva Marie Saint, Barry Nelson, Anne Francis, Leslie Neilson and many others who were literally unknown in 1949-51. On the other hand, at least one episode features the legendary acting teacher Stella Adler. Some of the acting on these shows (all performed LIVE) is poor, and actors occasionally flub their lines (even when they only have one!). The productions are very low-budget too. But the writing, most of the acting, and the fascinating casts can add up to some pretty entertaining viewing. Some episodes contain the entire Auto-Lite commercial material (it goes on a long time, but you can fast-forward), and some episodes have it cut out. These programs exist only in kinescope (a filmed image of a TV monitor). They were probably not meant for posterity, but for showing on the West Coast, assuming they were produced in NYC. The quality of the kinescopes is variable, but some do look quite good, too bad the audio was not captured in better quality. Still, for those interested in early TV this is one of the best extant anthologies from those long-ago days.
