Customer Reviews

I Married Joan Collection 1

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

 

 

This is a very pleasant collection of episodes from Joan Davis's TV series. While the writing is seriously uneven, and there are production shortcomings (it looks much more slapdash in execution than such contemporaneous filmed comedy series like Phil Silvers, Lucy, and Burns and Allen) the talent of Joan Davis still glows.... More sardonic than Lucille Ball (and for some of us, more appealing bcause of this), she was just as adept at physical comedy (and Jim Backus provides solid support). ALthough few episodes in this set are wholly satisfying ("Alienation" might be the best) each one contains at least a few shining moments when Miss Davis's comic smarts come through (any female comedy performer could do worse than to study her technique).... It was probably a tactical error not to shoot the show in front of a studio audience (a la Lucy); had the cast had real people reacting to them-- rather than an often annoying laugh track-- the show might have kicked into overdrive....And if you like Joan Davis on TV, be sure to catch her teaming with Abbott and Costello in HOLD THAT GHOST (1941).

Joan Davis and Jim Backus star in a very funny sitcom that ran in the early fifties. More subtle than Lucille Ball, but just as wacky, I always preferred Joan...I recently purchased the Fawlty Towers DVDs and was pleased to hear John Cleese mention I Married Joan in an interview on that collection. She was an early influence on him. You can't give much higher praise than that!

I've always been a fan of Joan Davis in "I Married Joan". Her humor was never insulting to her public, she did her physical comedy that was believeable, interesting and funny. Her co-star husband, Jim Backus ( Mr. Howell in Gillian's Island), was the perfect straight man because you have to be good at setting up the funny situations and timing.
To get a preview of Joan Davis, watch her in the Abbott and Costello movie called "Hold That Ghost", its a classic.

Joan Davis (radio comedian) plays an empty-headed house wife. Jim Backus (Peter Bowers in "Boys' Night Out") plays the husband, Judge Bradley Stevens (1952-1955) (38 episodes, 1952-1955).

Each episode is a wholly contained story that starts out sane and logical. As time go on unlikely elements creep in to make the situation hysterically ridicules. Eventually everything is wrapped up. The actors and their characters is what make this comedy work so well.

Disk 1:
Prize Fighter
Wall Safe
Joan's Haircut
Changing Houses
Talent Scout
Bad Boy

Disk 2:
Honeymoon
Home Movies
New House
Neighbors
Alteration
Sister Pat

My Little Margie - DVD Collection #1

All these episodes were funny, but the ones that were the funniest were not included in these. I hope there will be more in the future.

As an avid purchaser of VCI DVD releases, I have noticed two important items of interest to collectors regarding their releases versus other Public Domain distributors out there.
First, the annoying bullets, commonly know as "bugs" (those pesky company logos found imbedded or burned-in on the screen - just like the cable IDs). These 24 public domain VCI Entertainment episodes of the "I Married Joan" on Collection One and Two are the same episodes released by Alpha Video and others. However, the VCI versions are CLEAN of ANNOYING LOGOS (BUGS), unlike the Alpha releases which are burried all over the titles and credits of each episode! You are going to pay more for the VCI releases, but they are surperior. If I want to view logos on the screen, then I can go to cable! Please for the sake of collectors and viewers alike, remove the bugs! You the PD distributor will sell more copies that way! I plan to review more of these so the collector can be more informed. I do not want to spend my money on stupid bugs in the corner. All the major companies don't do this, so should the public domainers out there follow suit like VCI! St. Clair Vision is also good at keeping the screen clear of these annoying bugs. The biggest perpetrator of the bugs is Alpha, Platimum and more recently, some of the Echo Bridge releases.
The second issue is the varying quality of the public domain TV shows, released by these companies. Because the mostly 16mm films are from old well-used syndicated prints, depending upon the transfer, telecine method film and tape stock used to master, the quality varies. These episodes of "I Married Joan" seem to be from broadcast video transfers and are still quite enjoyable today. I saw these back in the early 80s on CBN, and they are well worth the price. The quality overall is fine on the VCI releases, and have been authored well for the price. The only technical gripe I find is the altered ending titles for all the episodes, which are identical,and were altered removing the cast credits (possibly a generic syndicated version).
Overall, the best company for these Public Domain releases seem to be VCI and St. Clair Vision. A side note about Alpha. They do have the largest variety of items, and I have bought 100's of their items. The quality varies and most are quite good. They just recently in the last two years started putting the bugs in their products, mostly in the titles and credits, both in TV shows and movies.

I agree with other reviewers that Joan Davis is a superb comedienne, sadly forgotten. She's at the top of the list along with Tracy Ullman and Carol Burnett. The underrated and very talented Jim Backus was a wonderful foil. Funny in his own right, he was also a solid dramatic actor. See "Rebel Without a Cause." I wish they would give a fully restored release treatment on dvd of "I Married Joan." Comedy tends to date but there are a lot of examples of 1950s comedy series that don't. "I Married Joan" is at the top of this list.

I really enjoyed watching Joan Davis and Jim Backus again in these 1950's comedy classics. I used to watch them when I was growing up as a kid and they are as funny as they were then.

It's a great product, if you liked the tv show this is just a copy of it. The picture quality is excellent.