DVD News

Golden age of TV: 'Suspense: The Lost Episodes' out on DVD March 17

By April MacIntyre Feb 22, 2009, 20:26 GMT

The DVD collection: "Suspense - The Lost Episodes, Collection 3" from Infinity hits the shelves March 17th.

The cover features a young Rod Serling, who penned an episode of the old 1949-1954 serial in black and white, when commercials were part of the teleplay and the organist punctuated the drama and action in every scene.

This collection is not for everyone, but smallscreen historians, the 420 baked crowd and people who love a condensed good old-fashioned yarn will dig this remastered collection.  Despite the digital transfer, the original film has deteriorated and the quality is akin to watching an old black and white broadcast on a set with rabbit ears.

Master of Horror Boris Karloff is also featured in the special 4-DVD collector's for the first time ever March 17 from Infinity Entertainment Group and Falcon Picture Group.

The retro series was a journey into the obscure, the bizarre with Suspense: The Lost Episodes, Collection 3.

Film and TV historians note: Following the successful releases of Suspense: The Lost Episodes, Collections 1 and 2, comes Suspense: The Lost Episodes, Collection 3, a four-disc DVD collector's set available for the first time ever in any format.

The premiere anthology drama series featuring macabre stories of mystery broadcast live from New York on CBS from 1949 to 1954. The show was a no miss for Americans who were getting used to the TV as a permanent fixture inside their homes, as it chilled and thrilled with a weekly spine-tingling tale.

Suspense's television version was based on the long-running show from the "Golden Age of Radio" and successfully created the atmosphere of its radio predecessor by using the same identifiable opening announcement, "And now, a tale well calculated to keep you in...Suspense," accompanied by the familiar, ominous Bernard Herrmann theme, a very determined organist.

Film and television critic Leonard Maltin marks the unearthing of these lost shows as "a major discovery," touting the show as "especially fun to watch, exciting TV at its best!"

Includes an episode written by Rod Serling (The Twilight Zone) and features many of Hollywood and Broadway's most legendary young stars, including Boris Karloff, George Reeves, Walter Matthau, Jayne Meadows, Eddie Albert, Hume Cronyn, Lloyd Bridges, Jackie Cooper, Jack Warden, Stella Adler and many more.

Episodes in Collection 3 include:

Disc #1: Post Mortem (1949), Yellow Scarf (1949), Goodbye New York (1949), The Case of Lady Sannox (1949), One Thousand Dollars to One for Your Money (1950), I'm No Hero (1950), The Bomber Command (1950) and Death at the Stock Car Races (1963).

Disc #2: A Pocketful of Murder (1950), The Mallet (1950), Go Home Dead Man (1951), Pier 17 (1951), The Spider (1952), The Red Signal (1952), Death Drum (1952), North of Shanghai (1952) and Night Drive (1952).

Disc #3: Four Days to Kill (1952), Her Last Adventure (1952), The Old Lady of Bayeux 1952), Set-Up for Death (1952), The Blue Panther (1952), A Time of Innocence (1952) and Mutiny Below (1953).

Disc #4: F.O.B. Vienna (1953), The Man Who Cried Wolf (1953), The Dance (1953), Nightmare at Ground Zero (written by Rod Serling, 1953), The Hunted (1954) and The Funmaster (1958).

The stats:

Suspense: The Lost Episodes, Collection 3 (4 Discs)
Infinity Entertainment Group/Falcon Picture Group
Genre: Classic TV/B&W
Not Rated
Format: DVD Only
Running Time: Approx. 14˝ Hours (30 Episodes/29 Minutes Each)
Street Date: March 17, 2009