“Deep inside the forest is a door
Into another land.
Here is our life and home.
We are staying
Here forever In the beauty of this place.
All alone.
We keep on hoping…
Maybe…
There’s a world where we don’t have to run.
Maybe…
There’s a time we’ll call our own,
Living free in harmony and majesty.
Take me home.
Take me home.”

Classic Shick Sunn Classic Pictures nonsense: remarkably shoddy, completely unbelievable…and eventually quite enjoyable. CBS DVD and Timeless Media Group have released The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams: Season One, a four-disc, 13-episode collection of the briefly popular 1977 NBC family adventure series’ first half season. Starring Dan Haggerty, Denver Pyle, Don Shanks, and Bozo the grizzly bear as Ben, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams should bring back fond memories for kids who grew up on all those frantically-hawked Sunn Classic big-screen epics from the 70s like In Search of Noah’s Ark and Beyond and Back, while families looking for some kid-friendly, innocuous adventure fare could do far worse. No extras for these problematic transfers.

Somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, sometime between 1850 and 1853 (a character states in one episode that the current U.S. President is Millard Fillmore). Farmer James Adams (Dan Haggerty), falsely accused of murder, has fled up into the beautiful but unforgiving mountains where he intends to stay, forever away from civilization. Initially a tenderfoot when it comes to surviving in the treacherous mountains, Adams discovers that his mysterious, natural rapport with the various mountain and valley fauna have saved his life; he watched what the unafraid animals ate, and he ate that, too. He soon receives broader instruction in how to live off the land first by grave, kindly Indian brave Nakoma (Don Shanks), and then by cantankerous old trapper Mad Jack (Denver Pyle), who helps Adams build a cabin. Adams’ constant companion, however, is Benjamin Franklin (Bozo the bear), a tame grizzly bear that Adams rescued off a cliff ledge when Ben was just a little cub. The two now share a remarkable psychic bond (including, apparently, Ben’s ability to understand the complexities and subtleties of human speech), with Ben frequently aiding “Grizzly” Adams with his efforts to rescue the various strays―both human and animal―that cross Adams’ path in his secluded, pristine New Eden.

 I’ve written many times before about the joys of growing up during the 1970s’ golden age of whacky pseudo-science/pseudo-history, when the nation’s pop culture was saturated with B movies and sketchy documentaries and pulp books and magazines and TV shows and toys dealing with UFOs, Bigfoot, the Bermuda Triangle, crystal power, ESP, and ancient astronauts (to list just a few). Certainly in my memories Shick Sunn Classic Pictures was one of the central drivers for all that giddy, hysterical fun, during a time of my adolescence when anything supernatural seemed not only possible but completely plausible…depending, of course, on the marketing skills of whatever company was flogging a product connected with that particular phenomenon. And nobody beat Shick Sunn Classics at marketing and promoting “must-see” family-friendly exploitation entertainment. Based out of Salt Lake City, Utah, indie Shick Sunn Classic Pictures compensated for their relative inexperience in actual moviemaking by taking a full-court press approach to pre-production marketing research (to determine target audience and choice of subject matter), followed by strictly-controlled, low, low-budget production costs, and then smacked home for maximized profits by “four-walled” releasing schemes (renting the movie theatres outright for 100% of the ticket sales), hyped by ballyhoo-worthy saturation promotion on television, radio and print ads. With an almost foolproof, low-risk method of producing and/or releasing movies that were in essence “pre-sold” to a waiting public, Shick Sunn Classic Pictures released one insanely profitable family adventure/documentary/drama after another: When the Wind Blows, The Outer Space Connection, The Adventures of Frontier Freemont, The Amazing World of Psychic Phenomena, The Mysterious Monsters, In Search of Noah’s Ark, The Lincoln Conspiracy, Beyond and Back, The Bermuda Triangle, In Search of Historic Jesus, Beyond Death’s Door, Hangar 18, and of course the 1974 theatrical version of The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams (which by various accounts pulled in somewhere between 25 to 35 million dollars in ticket sales―most going directly into Sunn Classic’s pockets―on a paltry half-a-million dollar investment). I saw them all, and absolutely loved them (the day someone puts out a boxed set with widescreen transfers is the day I drop dead from the vapors).

 With the kind of profit margin success that the mainstream studios could only dream of, it was inevitable that savvy, chintzy Shick Sunn Classic Pictures would be approached to produce for television, with their most famous effort being 1977’s The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams series. According to what I’ve read, NBC approached Sunn when a televised airing in 1976 of the same-named 1974 movie won a sizeable chunk of the night’s demographics. Third-placed NBC, with nothing to lose, signed up Sunn’s one-man-band producer Charles Edward Sellier, Jr. to gather the movie’s cast together for a 13-episode mid-season replacement tryout in February, 1977 (in addition to producing the original movie, Sellier also wrote the highly-fictionalized 1972 novel from which the movie was adapted).

 True to most biopics for the big and small screen, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams has almost nothing to do with the real-life Adams…but when has that ever been a prerequisite for an entertaining biography? Fully cognizant of the culture’s zeitgeist at that moment, the producers of The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams took the real-life animal killer James “Grizzly” Adams and turned him into a beatific post-hippie, pre-New Age Father Earth poohbah who wants to wrap his arms around the whole world and love it to death. Spouting amusing homilies like, “If you live with nature, not against her, she’ll treat you real good,” (that is, if disinterested “nature” doesn’t decide to up and kill you off in any number of grisly fashions), this Grizzly Adams for the Earth Shoe®-wearing, Grape Nuts®-crunching, macraméing-stitching mid-70s despises money (watch his eyes tear up with friend Mad Jack finds gold), despises anyone coming too close to his Eden (a visiting Indian maid sets him straight on what a hypocrite he is…but he forgets this lesson in the next episode), and fanatically wishes no harm to come to any of his animals in his valley and on his mountain.

 Of course the producers and writers of The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams never really challenge Griz and hiz possessive feelings, keeping the show’s weekly lessons in conservation, tolerance, and non-violence superficially “feel good” for all the kiddies out there (I wonder how Nakoma’s fellow Indians feel about Griz taking over their mountain and valley, before arbitrarily setting aside most of their food source as verboten?). Glossy simplification is key here: no one dies; no one gets maimed; no one even gets fleas or lice (gosh his teeth are white, with all those fillings, too). And with that simplification comes the worst (and therefore most hilarious) kind of anthropomorphizing in the show’s main relationship: Grizzly and his animals. As that keening, warbling John Denver sound-alike cries prettily about living in harmony and majesty in the background (shut……..up), Grizzly Adams keeps up a running conversation with Ben and all the other forest creatures that would seem to indicate, as Mad Jack rightly speculates time and again, that Grizzly’s a bit teeched in the head. The directors never fail to include several shots in each scene of Ben the grizzly nodding and growling in agreement with Adams’ ramblings, while higher forms of communication are regularly employed between the two (smarter than Lassie, Ben can apparently understand complex commands to go find strangers and report back, as well as turn fish on a rotisserie, and pray before his supper, displaying a preternatural calm that belays his own natural impulse to use Adams as a scratching post).

 0We’re constantly told that Adams has a “special relationship” with the forest animals, with the evidence given that if you just speak to a wild, bloodthirsty animal in a firm tone as Grizzly does, letting the savage creature know you mean him no harm, the two of you will reach a mutually beneficial understanding that includes him not ripping off your face. In one episode, Grizzly frees a trapped wolf―a wolf, mind you―who appreciatively rolls on his back for a cute yelp and a belly scratch. In another (Unwelcome Visitor), a hawk tells Adams where in the forest an injured boy is lying…instead of perching gently on the lad’s forehead and plucking out his eyeballs, one by one. The height of Grizzly Adams silliness comes, though, with Beaver Dam, where Griz and Ben sadly contemplate packing their belongings and leaving their valley after, um…having politely asked a group of beavers he relocated to relocate again out of his valley: “It wouldn’t be neighborly to kick them out,” he glumly asserts, after they initially refuse. After giving the beavers the night to think over their decision (I’m not making that up), Mad Jack rightly says, “That boy needs looking after.” (the sight of massive Haggerty, a pleasantly untrained actor, earnestly imploring the beavers to leave, is a classic moment of TV insanity).

1 2All of that makes The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams easy to laugh at, certainly…but at its core it’s a genuinely sweet show (if not calculating and insincere), and truly innocuous, in the best sense of the word. Employing the crudest forms of melodrama (crying, lost children being chased by animals, crying, lost adults being chased by animals), The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams is primitive storytelling, to be sure, amplified by the almost laughably inept nature of the production: mismatched stock footage shots from other Sunn Classic epics, poor framing, incomprehensible editing, indifferent thesping (although veteran Pyle is always amusing when he’s pissing and moaning about something), and production values reminiscent of a junior high schooler’s Super 8mm film project. In other words, it recreates the big-screen feel of a typical Schick Sunn Classic Pictures movie exactly…and that’s all I needed to enjoy The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams all over again. Adams’ Ark is a good example of the formula, with Griz and Allan Pinkerton, of all people, racing to a volcano (…yep…) to save assorted birds, squirrels, and fawns from the inferno, and almost getting roasted themselves. Filmed on the cheap cheap, with ridiculous special effects and chaotic editing, Adams’ Ark is so humorously inept that you wind up finding it endearing as hell―which can pretty much sum up the entire Shick Sunn Classic Pictures oeuvre…and The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, as well.

3 4Premiering on February 9th, 1977, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams‘s Wednesday at 8:00pm timeslot would have seemed to be a death sentence against heavyweight competition: CBS’ Good Times (24th in the Nielsen’s the previous season), and ABC’s break-out hit, The Bionic Woman (a remarkable 5th place for the 1975-1976 season). However, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams more than held its own against its competitors. While it failed to crack the Nielsen Top Thirty by the end of the year, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams did manage to knock down Good Times two notches, while The Bionic Woman fell hard to the 14th most-watched show of the year―an encouraging sign to NBC, which put in a full season order of The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams episodes for the upcoming 1977-1978 season. However, that good news for Grizzly and Ben wouldn’t last long….

5 6The DVD:

The Video:
Not good at all. The full-screen, 1.33:1 video transfers for The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams: Season One look to be syndication dupes (they have old Viacom tags) that aren’t much better looking than second generation VHS tapes (run times vary, too, from 44 to 46 minutes, generally). Muddy color that often shifts to pink, a soft, fuzzy image, and tons of debris and video noise make these transfers hard to take…unless you’re nostalgic for how stuff looked 30 years ago (at least for this kind of old TV title, it somehow “fits”).

The Audio:
The English mono audio track is a bit scratchy and hissy, but it’s serviceable, with no subtitles or closed-captions available.

The Extras:
No extras for The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams: Season One.

Final Thoughts:
If you know the words “Sunn Classic Pictures,” you’re already sold on The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams. Innocuous family fare, tilted to the very young…but genuine sweet and endearing at its center. I’m recommending The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams: Season One…but be aware of those inferior transfers.

Paul Mavis is an internationally published film and television historian, a member of the Online Film Critics Society, and the author of The Espionage Filmography.

7 8

The Movie:
The revenge narrative is a powerful tale, and people have been making films with that theme for a very long time. There’s just something about seeing the wicked smitten that strikes a chord in the human soul. Henrique Couto presents his take with the ultra-low budget Bleeding Through.

Sandy Behre plays Lindsey, a depressed, repressed, painfully shy college girl, who can’t get over her parents’ death, and refuses to sell their house and move out, even though her brother (Henrique Couto himself) is pushing her in that direction, not to mention that she can’t afford the exorbitant mortgage. And that’s just one of her problems. Her boss is a jerk. She’s failing at school, and her creepy professor’s offers to help are perhaps not entirely altruistic. Her boyfriend storms away in a huff when she won’t put out. A group of alcoholic hooligans at her school are intent on mocking her any chance they get. Her life sucks.

But then she meets Katie (Ruby LaRocca), a vivacious, outgoing fellow student who initiates a friendship with Lindsey. They do typical girly things, such as play dress up, and less stereotypically girly things, like hang around in graveyards. They have lots of fun, and grow closer. Lindsey clings to this friendship, which seems like the one good thing in her life. She starts to have stronger feelings for Katie. Should she reveal her romantic interest

If you’re any kind of fan of horror and / or revenge films, the answer is obviously “no”. Opening oneself up to intimacy and vulnerability is a tricky enough proposition in real life. In horror movies, it’s positively asking for trauma. This is true in Bleeding Through as well, with pretty horrific consequences for those who have wronged Lindsey. But this film separates itself from most revenge fare. Most of these movies get the setup over fairly quickly. We understand why dad is out to kill the rapists of his daughter, or why the jaded bodyguard will kill anyone he has to if it gets his young charge back. These films focus on the exacting of bloody revenge. They are all about the smiting. In Bleeding Through, however, the revenge, though it involves numerous people, is over fairly quickly. This film is about the offenses, the umbrage, the miserable life of Lindsey.

Couto lingers on Lindsey weeping, bouncing from one uncomfortable, humiliating encounter to another, intercut with home video style shots of her parents before they died, himself as the brother doing a video blog about how worried he is about her, and most jarringly, the bullies drinking and enjoying themselves, with no concern at all about the damage they are doing to a fragile girl. The awfulness of her life builds and builds and folds in on itself, and then there’s this ray of light named Katie. Because we all know that things are worst when our prospects start looking brighter for a moment, and then everything crashes and we lose hope. As an audience, we are very invested in Lindsey’s situation. We want it all to work out. We want her to be happy. And we are doomed to disappointment. Watching it all unfold is agonizing.

But it works. Primarily because Sandy Behre is very, very good as the ungainly and terminally awkward young woman. Sincerity simply oozes out of her. And the chemistry between her and Ruby LaRocca is honest and affecting. Couto and his cohorts are able to pull off a well-acted, good looking, and engaging film, on what appears to be very little money. Highly recommended.

The DVD

Video:
The video is in 1.78:1 widescreen, and looks pretty good. The image is bright, and tends to harshness at times, but the colors are quite vivid. There are segments that are presented as home video, and thus have quality issues that are intentional.

Sound:
Audio is Dolby digital 2 channel, and does the job but isn’t spectacular. The dialogue is always audible, and no hiss or other problem can be heard. No subtitles or alternate language tracks are included.

Extras:
There are a few extras included. They are:

Behind the Scenes
At almost 24 minutes, this is a lot of behind the scenes video, mostly Couto directing actors, or makeup effects being applied, etc. But there’s also an incident involving a cat and a bunny.

World Premiere Featurette
This is an introduction of the film by Couto, and his interviews with patrons after they’ve seen the film.

Extended “Parents” Scenes
There are a few segments of home video featuring Sandy’s parents, mostly taken by her father. There are some alternate takes, and slightly extended versions of those scenes here.

Extended “Bully” Scenes
Similar to the segment above, the home video of the bullies as they party is presented in fuller form.

Alternate “Prank” Takes
These are alternate angles and takes for the final prank reveal near the end of the film.

Ruby LaRocca: Auto Mechanic
LaRocca is apparently quite helpful on set, and is here shown changing the tail light of Couto’s car.

Trailers
Trailers are included for: Faces of Schlock, Crimson, Ground Zero, Documenting the Grey Man, Stiffed, Porkchop and Porkchop II.

Feature Commentary with director Henrique Couto and star Sandy Behre
This is the meatiest extra included, and features Couto and Behre (participating via Skype) discussing the film. It began as a project with just the two of them, and they filmed many of the cheaper to do scenes quite a while before budget was found to complete the movie. This also required Behre to refrain from cutting her hair for a couple of years. These two are longtime friends, and quite engaging, with a lot of on set anecdotes and stories about production. On occasion, the film audio overwhelms the commentary, making it difficult to make out, but this is fleeting and rare.

Final Thoughts:
Bleeding Through is not a film for everyone. It’s slow moving at times, there’s a long wait for the payoff and most of the film is emotionally excruciating. There are certainly flaws, and odd directorial choices, and limitations that are unavoidable with super low budget films, but it works in the end. The central performances are honest and brutal, and there are interesting and quirky turns throughout. I wouldn’t call this a “fun” film, but it is a powerful experience.

Reviewer’s Note: Owing to my own policy here at DVDTalk of watching every episode of any television season I receive (even if that means 36 hours of TV watching in this particular case…), I’m going to break up my take on Bonanza: The Official Fourth Season, Volumes 1 & 2 into two separate reviews (this is the concluding part). Readers should know, though, that they can purchase both volumes together, at a discounted price, or individually.

The Ponderosa stands tall. CBS DVD and Paramount continue their terrific, extras-filled releases of the 1960’s most successful TV series with Bonanza: The Official Fourth Season, Volume 2, a four-disc, 16-episode collection of the iconic TV Western, starring Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker, Michael Landon, and a host of superlative guest stars. Representing the series’ 1962-1963 season, Bonanza: The Official Fourth Season, Volume 2 continues’ the series’ strong showing in meticulously produced drama, action, and comedy anthology episodes―with writing, direction, and performances this good, no wonder Bonanza ran for 14 highly successful years. CBS and Paramount, not stinting on the bonuses for these beautifully restored transfers, comes up with another load of extras for the fans, including commentary tracks and cool behind-the-scenes stills of the show in action. Absolutely necessary viewing for TV Western and drama anthology fans.

It’s the late 1850s, and gold and silver fever are sweeping through the hills and valleys of the celebrated Comstock Load. Virginia City, Nevada, sitting right on top of those millions of dollars’ worth of ore, is bustling with miners, settlers, businessmen, rustlers, con artists, and killers. And butting right up against Virginia City is the massive Ponderosa ranch, a thousand-square mile New World Eden filled to the brim with pine and beef. Overseeing this operation is voice-of-God Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene), the thrice-widowed land baron who watches over his spread as fiercely―and as tenderly―as he does his three grown sons. Eldest, Adam Cartwright (Pernell Roberts), is the most serious of the three siblings, and the one who works most directly under Ben in running the Ponderosa. His mother the daughter of a New England sea captain, Adam was schooled back East as an architect and engineer. Middle son Eric “Hoss” Cartwright (Dan Blocker) gets his massive physique from his mother, a six-foot tall Swede who reportedly could punch like a mule. Hoss, who may seem rather dim or naïve at times when he’s not killing a bear with only his hands or knocking down a tree, is in reality quite sensitive to his surroundings and to the sufferings of others. Finally, Little Joe Cartwright (Michael Landon), the youngest son, gets his smoldering dark looks and equally tempestuous nature from his beautiful half-Creole mother, whom Ben met during a trip to New Orleans’ French Quarter. Little Joe is certainly the most reckless of the clan, relying on his charm and his fast fists to both get him into trouble, and out of it again…especially if there’s a lady involved. Constantly patrolling their land to keep opportunists at bay, the Cartwrights inevitably get involved week after week in the troubles of others, who look to the Cartwrights as one of the few stabilizing forces in the wild and wooly excesses of the Old West.

 In my four reviews for Bonanza‘s first two seasons (I unfortunately wasn’t assigned the third season), I wrote extensively about the series’ inception, its production, and the aesthetic and thematic framework underpinning the show’s construction. So I’ll try not to cover the same ground in this review…although it’s next to impossible not to when Bonanza‘s forte―compelling drama anthology stories within a Western framework, expertly produced and performed―is so consistently, even routinely, on display here, week after week, season after season. As I wrote in my first volume review for this fourth season, I found it interesting that producer David Dortort would risk altering the show’s successful formula by introducing a major potential shake-up in the season opener, The First Born, when Barry Coe was floated as a possible fourth brother on the Ponderosa. What caught my attention in this second volume of episodes from that season is how many of them are what I would describe as “meat and potatoes” outings: entertaining, well-done, to be sure, and solid…but less notable next to many episodes from the first half of the season. Entries like Mirror of a Man, where Ron Hayes overacts as twin brothers (one evil, what else), or Saga of Whizzer McGee, with George Brenlin doing yeoman work as a pint-sized hustler who wants Jeanne Bal (the maudlin, overplayed finale ruins it), or Thunder Man, where dynamiter Simon Oakland (again, overacting) flips out and starts killing women with soft, silky hair on the Ponderosa―all of these episodes display the usual, expected Bonanza sheen and polish…but sans the Western context, they could be found on any drama anthology.

 Even some of the solo cast member episodes seem to fall into this safe, secure, and not very challenging dynamic. In The Actress, Michael Landon certainly seems to be enjoying bussing the delectable Pat Crowley (as she confirms in her delightful commentary track), but it’s a relatively weak, overly familiar storyline about an aspiring singer that really only works due to Crowley’s charm. I thought Bonanza would be immune to network television’s single most favorite malady―temporary amnesia―but A Stranger Passed This Way finds Hoss knocked out cold by bandits before he’s taken in by Dutch settlers Robert Emhardt and Signe Hasso, who want the clueless Hoss as a substitute for their dead son. Blocker is effective, as usual, in his low-key scenes, but the amnesia angle always comes off as exactly what it is: a gimmick. Pernell Roberts should have shined in My Brother’s Keeper, but his glum, distracted performance detracts from what should have been a natural for the sophisticated, fish-out-of-water character: the promise of going back East with Carolyn Kearney (with whom Roberts has zero chemistry). At least Lorne Greene gets exactly the right tone for Marie, My Love, a flashback origin story for Joe’s mother, Marie DeMarigny. Greene cuts a convincingly dashing figure (Greene’s overly-theatrical bearing here is just right), but the notion that Joe’s fiery Cajun mother we’ve all heard referenced is in reality the cold, icy, implacable Felicia Farr, is too much to take (the same thing happened in Wilder’s Kiss Me, Stupid). That’s almost half the episodes for this second half of the season that, true, work…but not at the level we’ve come to expect from Bonanza.

 Along with these Cartwright-centric episodes, one of the recurring themes that marks so many Bonanza episodes―the notion that the men of the Ponderosa, being better educated, more refined culturally, more democratic and fair-minded than others in the West, are uniquely qualified to help desperate people in need―takes center stage in this second volume of episodes. The Last Haircut, written by Charles Lang and directed by William Claxton, finds Little Joe desperately fighting his own urge to break the law and gun down cold-blooded murderer Perry Lopez, while trying to instill in little Rafael Lopez the notion that the law has to take care of his father’s killer (the ending here is sensational and bizarre: for revenge, they shave the psychotically vain Lopez bald, humiliating him in front of the pitiless townsfolk who stare with contempt at the whimpering, cowering Lopez). In A Woman Lost, it’s up to Ben to rehabilitate drunken, fallen (and sexy as hell) Ruta Lee, by having her live “the right way” at the Ponderosa. In the marvelous The Way of Aaron, written by Raphael D. Blau, Jewish peddler Ludwig Donath must break the Sabbath laws and kill his attackers…but it takes Adam to assure him that what he did was correct in this New World that “accepts all cultures” (was this the first time many Americans actually saw this religious ceremony performed?). Ironically, in Little Man…Ten Feet Tall, Italian immigrant Ross Martin, escaping the violence of his homeland’s vendetta society, must learn to fight again at the prodding of the Cartwrights, after they help him gain a footing in the West when no one else would. In Five Into the Wind, it takes Little Joe’s guts and savvy ethics to help suss out the killer in his group of desert-stranded traveling companions (the cast here is first-rate―Mario Alcalde, Kathleen Crowley, Dabbs Greer―with terrific character actor Kelly Thordsen a standout). And finally, The Boss finds powerful landowner Ben Cartwright―and his incorruptible moral code―the only thing standing between the cowardly storeowners and shopkeepers in town, and Jimmy Hoffa ruthless, unscrupulous transportation mogul Carroll O’Connor, who wants to bleed them dry (both figuratively and literally).

 Interestingly, the three stand-out episodes in this second volume of fourth season episodes are comedies, two of which can stand as series-best entries. Rich Man, Poor Man has that funny little nebbish John Fiedler becoming ensnared in an ever-escalating series of catastrophes as first Little Joe and then Hoss try to help him marry Flo Sundstrom (a nice twist on the usual theme of the Cartwrights being able to solve any problem). Even better is The Hayburner, written by Alex Sharp, a deliciously sly, understated bit of comedic flim-flam that finds the boys suspiciously holding back information from each other as they try and use each other to better themselves in deals involving a race horse, a prized rifle, and a new saddle. Director William Claxton manages to elicit some unusually laid-back, scheming, and very funny performances from the lead actors…but then they’d have to be on their toes with scene-stealers like William Demarest, Ellen Corby, and the delightful Percy Helton in the background. Best of all, Any Friend of Walter’s, a thoroughly bizarre little cartoon scripted by Lois Hire and directed by John Florea, finds Hoss holed up with squirrelly Arthur Hunnicutt in a remote cabin as the Three Stooges―Steve Brodie, Vic Werber, and James Luisi―try and smoke them out for the gold they know Hunnicutt is hiding. Hunnicutt spends the entire episode telling a dazed Hoss that his forever-sleeping dog Walter calls all the shots, while the knuckleheaded robbers periodically erupt in nonsensical infighting as they’re continually bested by…um…Walter. Florea shoots this like a Warner Bros.’ Looney Tune, with the gunmen popping up from behind boulders like jack-in-the-boxes, creating an air of surreal whimsy that’s utterly delightful (when Florea ends the episode with a dollied-in close-up of lazy-bones Walter laying half out of his jail cot, smiling, you understand what it means to wrap up an episode perfectly).

 0Bonanza dropped a bit in the ratings for this 1962-1963 season, going from the second to the fourth most-watched network show in the country. Firmly entrenched in its Sunday 9:00pm timeslot, Bonanza‘s lead-ins, the new flop Ensign Pulver, followed by slightly dropping Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color and faded Car 54, Where Are You? helped a little…but classy, low-rated lead-out DuPont Show of the Week may have been a bit of a drag against powerhouse Candid Camera over on CBS. Bonanza‘s direct competition, The Real McCoys on CBS, took a big hit against the Ponderosa, going from 14th the previous season to out of the Nielsen Top 30 altogether, while The ABC Sunday Night Movie was years away from being its usual solid ratings winner. Bonanza would bounce back in a big way over the next four years….

1 2The DVD:

The Video:
Excellent. The full-screen, 1.33:1 color transfers for Bonanza: The Official Fourth Season, Volumes 1 & 2 look amazing, with rich, deep color, minimal grain and picture noise, and a sharp, sharp image. I know these look better than they ever did back when they were first broadcast.

The Audio:
The Dolby Digital English split mono audio tracks have been cleaned up and re-corded with little if any hiss and at a vigorous level. English subtitles are available.

The Extras:
No other long-running TV series on DVD (in my memory, at least) has sustained the level of buyer-enticing extras as have these CBS/Paramount Bonanza releases. On disc one, original NBC bumpers and tags are included on the first and third episode, with photo galleries for the second and fourth. There’s a sweet Chevy Monza Spyder advert on The Last Haircut featuring Michael Landon. The Hayburner has an audio commentary track with Bonanza expert Andrew J. Klyde (he always has tons of interesting info on his tracks), while The Actress features a commentary track from none other than Pat Crowley (she’s terrific here). Disc two has bumpers and a sweet Hoss-hosted Chevy promo on the first episode, with photo galleries for the third and fourth. Disc three has photo galleries on the second and fourth episodes (check out those shots of Pernell Roberts without his rug), while disc four has galleries on the third and fourth episodes. Terrific.

Final Thoughts:
It ran that long for a reason: it was one of the best drama anthologies of the 1960s. Bonanza: The Official Fourth Season, Volumes 1 & 2‘s second volume may not have as many knockouts as the first set…but these episodes still hold up quite well (with The Hayburner and Any Friend of Walter’s worth the price of this volume alone). Taken as a two volume set, I’m giving Bonanza: The Official Fourth Season, Volumes 1 & 2 our highest ranking here at DVDTalk: the DVD Talk Collector Series award.

Paul Mavis is an internationally published film and television historian, a member of the Online Film Critics Society, and the author of The Espionage Filmography.

3 4

In 10 Words or Less
Save the princess, crack some jokes

Reviewer’s Bias*
Loves: Cult comedy, old video games
Likes: Felicia Day, The Guild
Dislikes: Most web series
Hates: Cheesy production values

The Show
I don’t watch a lot of web series, for the simple fact that there’s a ton of really good content pumped through that big screen in my living room (and yes, I know I can watch web shows on that big screen, but until my DVR can record off YouTube, old-school television will remain my primary dealer.) The web series I do watch either feature people I adore, come highly recommended by people I trust or are about things I really like. Thus I was a longtime viewer of Felicia Day’s great MMO comedy The Guild, which met three of my three requirements. The Legend of Neil, created by The Guild actor Sandeep Parikh, never received the same recommendations though and remained off my radar. Now that it’s available on DVD though, I’ve caught up with the show, and though I wouldn’t put it alongside The Guild, it’s got its charms, especially if you’re a big fan of its inspiration, the ’80s Nintendo game, The Legend of Zelda.

For those who don’t know, Zelda allowed players to command Link, an elf on a quest through the land of Hyrule to rescue Princess Zelda from the evil Gannon and his army of minions. It was a fun, deep game, full of combat, strategy and a ton of secrets that could delight or frustrate you, depending on your success at discovering them. A staple franchise for Nintendo, it continues to be enjoyed today in its most recent incarnations. But this show is about the original gold cartridge that started it all, because it’s while playing that game that our hero Neil (Tony Janning) decides to masturbate to a fairy character while choking himself with his controller cord, which somehow lands him in the land of Hyrule, in Link’s green tunic.

If his origin story didn’t make it clear, Neil isn’t the most heroic character around. He doesn’t want to complete Link’s quest. He just wants to go back home to New Jersey. But he doesn’t have a lot of choice, as he’s beset upon by Gannon’s forces, which have been adapted as an assortment of humans in mostly low-budget costumes (though some of the make-up is pretty impressive.) With the assistance of Old Man (an elderly bearded gent who in the game gave Link new weapons and advice) and the Fairy (Felicia Day,) whose healing powers from the game have been translated into sexual healing here, Neil eventually grows into his new role, if only to find a way home.

The tone of the show is a ridiculous one, as it trades in dirty comedy and parody, as well as some traditional situation comedy (along with in-jokes for fans of the game.) When it’s hitting on all cylinders, which is usually when Link is verbally sparring with Old Man (or when Day is being deliriously filthy as the Fairy) it’s great fun, but sometimes the tone falls too in love with the adventure element of the game, especially in the third season. It may be just me, but I didn’t care that much about Link’s quest. I just wanted more of the silly stuff, like the musical episode or the episode-long parody of The Office. Once you’ve set the show up to be such an over-the-top affair, slipping into extended battle sequences doesn’t work.

The same goes for the pacing. The first season goes by in the blink of an eye, while later episodes are much longer, but there’s something lost as the rapid-fire jokes give way to longer bits, like a scene where Link, in disguise, drinks with some of his enemies for a segment that feels as long as the entire first season. Getting in, getting the laughs and getting out makes the first-season episodes crack like a whip, especially the somewhat sudden endings, and that’s missing later on.

On the plus side, the cast is uniformly good and very funny, especially Mike Rose as Old Man and Old Man (watch the show to understand), while Janning is just about perfect as Neil and Day is a delight. The whole thing has a “let’s put on a show” feel (a guy in what’s essentially footie PJs and a triceratops mask is kind of hard to take seriously) and when viewed in that light, it’s a pretty well-made series, but since it’s a show about a game with the involvement of Day and Parikh, the comparisons to The Guild are inevitable. That series is far more polished in both production and comedy, but different strokes, right

The DVDs
The 20 epsodes from the three seasons of The Legend of Neil arrive on a pair of DVDs, which are packed in a single-width keepcase with a tray, sporting sweet Drew Struzan-inspired cover art.The discs feature animated anamorphic widescreen menus with options to play all the episodes, select a season (and then an episode) or check out the extras (which include subtitles.) There are no audio options, but English subtitles are available.

The Quality
Low-budget and shot on video for the web (originally in full-frame, and then in amamorphic widescreen in the final two seasons), these episodes won’t wow anyone in terms of their visual quality, but they are solid, with a decent level of fine detail and appropriate color, though it’s not the sharpest image at the beginning. The slight softness helps hide some of the less impressive sets and production value, though you still see plenty of the cheese and the special effects stand out (though it gets better over time.) There are no notable digital compression issues.

Presented with LPCM 2.0 tracks, there’s not a lot to the audio on this series, but there’s nothing problematic about it either, as the dialogue is easy to understand and the music and sound effects maintain proper separation from the voices, keeping everything crisp.

The Extras
The challenge with DVDs of online content is the fact that the episodes tend to be readily available for free, making a DVD purchase hard to justify. However, with a wealth of extras, delivered via a fun Link-hosted menu, this set certainly tries to entice you to lay down some cash.The big extra has to be the pile of commentaries, two per episode, for a total of 40 tracks. One set features Parikh, Janning and producer Jeff Winkler, while the other features a mixture of cast and crew that rotates throughout the episodes, and does in fact feature several appearances by Day, for those who were wondering. There’s a lot of focus on the indie production effort that went into the show, along with stories from the set, while on the creator tracks, they play a drinking game to help loosen their tongues. If anything, they helped me realize just why Neil’s girlfriend was so familiar.

The rest of the set kicks off with the 5:03 music video “8-Bit Love,” an R&B slow jam with Parikh and Janning taking the roles usually played by Timberlake and Samberg. Though some of the visuals are amusing, the lyrics and performances are just OK. Not one of the better musical comedy songs around.

Three gag reels are up next, one per season for a combined 30:29 of silliness.Included amongst the screw-ups are improv takes, greenscreen footage and more filthy fun with Felicia Day. There’s some funny stuff, but any gag reel this long is bound to be a bit padded.

The best extra included is the 26:57 Behind the Scenes featurette, which explores every element of the production, including the special effects effort, and gives tremendous insight into how a show like this is made. If you want even more detail, check out “The Making of Spectacle Rock with Greg Aronowitz” (7:14) as the production designer explains (over on-set footage) how one of the big special effects miniatures was created, with the help of Parikh and Janning. Together, they don’t leave many rocks unturned regarding the series.

Six mini-sodes are included, which is an odd idea, considering how short the first-season episodes are. These are mostly extensions of the real episodes, including additional parodies of The Office, Man vs. Wild and Harry Potter; an alternate take with the Sklar brothers and more training montage footage. One of them, a job interview between Wizrobe and Gannon from the early ’70s, is exclusive to this DVD. These can be viewed individually or in one big block.

The remaining extras include a slideshow of photos from the show, PDF scripts that are available on the DVD and a PDF of the original email Parikh sent to his collaborators regarding the series. Neat stuff for fans to check out.

Easter Eggs
There’s at least one easter egg, which is severely obvious and you are rewarded appropriately for finding it.

The Bottom Line
There’s a lot to enjoy about The Legend of Neil, as Janning leads a funny cast, and the lo-fi charm works with the sense of humor. Episodes may get a bit too long later on, and not every joke lands, but overall the show is fun. The DVDs look and sound fine considering the source materials, and there’s a pile of bonus content for fans that will make it worth picking up even if you’ve seen the episodes online for free.

Francis Rizzo III is a native Long Islander, where he works in academia. In his spare time, he enjoys watching hockey, writing and spending time with his wife, daughter and puppy.Check out 1106 – A Moment in Fictional Time or his convention blog called Conning Fellow

*The Reviewer’s Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer’s biases lie on the film’s subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.

Children Who Chase Lost Voices DVD Review

Children Who Chase Lost Voices is the latest film from acclaimed filmmaker Makoto Shinkai (5 Centimeters Per Second, The Place Promised in Our Early Days). Shinkai is one more of the most highly regarded filmmakers working within the anime film industry today. Drawing on comparisons to Hayao Miyazaki and to Studio Ghibli, writer/director Shinkai delivers films many anime fans have said herald him as a second-coming of Ghibli. Can that possibly be accurate? I will raise that as a question of the moment.

Children Who Chase Lost Voices begins with a girl named Asuna, who we learn had lost her father and is being raised by her mother, who must work long shifts at a hospital. Asuna can actually hear strange musical tunes being broadcast through a special crystal radio. The radio was an important gift from her father. Asuna’s only close friend appears to be a cat that looks like a mix between the design of the cat Jiji from Kiki’s Delivery Service and fox-squirrel Teto of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

As the storyline progresses, we witness a giant monster attempting to kill Asuna. Then this young and mysterious boy swoops in to save here. Then he appears to die. Then Asuna is wondering what could have happened. She goes to school and she learns about the place “Agartha”, which is supposed to be a place of the dead.

The next day Asuna finds herself meeting another young boy who bears a strikingly close resemblance to the first boy. It turns out that it is his younger brother. Before long, she is dramatically thrown into a story where she enters a magical gateway, faces down scarier, frightful enemies.

It probably doesn’t sound horrible based on that description. It is oh so horrible, though. Everything about this film was convoluted and messy. The characters are not developed characters and are instead mere caricatures carrying out the plot in a way that feels false. Storytelling-wise, I can’t even begin to try and explain to readers why anything that was happening in this film was truly significant. This film felt like a giant missed opportunity.

The plot and the storytelling within Children Who Chase Lost Voices is unbelievably bad on essentially every level of filmmaking one can consider. At every turn, Shinkai seems like an amateur filmmaker who is an unfocused and unsure artist who has been inspired by the great anime filmmakers without proving himself capable as a competent filmmaker. Shinkai is not capable of telling a well-crafted and emotionally-resonant story.

The animation isn’t all it’s cracked up to be either. Frankly, I don’t understand the appeal of an artistry that feels forged. Everything from the character designs to the backgrounds seems like something that is attempting to emulate the Ghibli method. Unfortunately, as pretty as the art actually is it’s not the most memorable artwork and it can actually feel a bit bland at times. I don’t understand the immense acclaim. It’s not that it’s a badly animated film; it’s just that I have seen much better artwork and done in a much more original way.

I have to disagree with the generous praise thrown to Shinkai as a filmmaker. So far, I have seen two of his feature films (The Place Promised in Our Early Days and Children Who Chase Lost Voices) and I have been largely unimpressed by both of these efforts. I cannot understand how this filmmaker has garnered so much acclaim and attention from both anime fans and by press. Nothing about his style feels genuine to me and all I could think about after finishing viewing this film was what a poor job I thought Shinkai did attempting to model what a film made by Miyazaki means from either a storytelling or artistry perspective. Children Who Chase Lost Voices lacks a distinct voice and is a forgettable effort that feels largely unnecessary.

Video:

This release contains a first-rate transfer of Children Who Chase Lost Voices. This is as stunning a DVD presentation as one could possibly hope for. The transfer does a good job of representing the animation quality and presents the film in top-notch quality. The transfer has minor issues in nighttime scenes and had minor digital noise in a few of these moments, but this transfer comes close to being a perfect representation of the film on the DVD format.

Audio:

The audio quality is also impressive to behold. The release contains two options: English 5.1 and Japanese 5.1 surround sound. Either option does a solid job creating an immersive and exciting experience. There are many moments throughout the film in which the surrounds were well utilized and it adds to the enveloping nature of the film. The music by Tenmon also gets a reasonable chance to shine and blends in well with sound effects in the film.

This release includes English subtitles for viewing Children Who Chase Lost Voices with the original Japanese language track.

Extras:

Children Who Chase Lost Voices arrives on DVD in a two-disc release containing a plethora of extras that will satisfy fans. The first main supplement is a full length audio commentary with director Makoto Shinkao, the production staff, and VA.

The following video supplements are included on this release:

Interviews with the Staff and Cast (55 min.) contains many interviews with those involved with making the film.

The Making of Children Who Chase Lost Voices (45 min.) is an extensive behind-the-scenes look at the film’s creation and production.

Japanese Teasers present three short promotional videos advertising the film for cinemas and television.

A Brief Interview with Makota Shinkai is a readable (text-based) interview with the filmmaker.

The Works of Makoto Shinkai (7 min.) is a promotional piece about the films and work of the filmmaker who made Children Who Chase Lost Voices.

Japanese Promotional Video (5 min.) is a promotional piece for Children Who Chase Lost Voices.

Final Thoughts:

Children Who Chase Lost Voices wasn’t my cup of tea. I didn’t enjoy it and I don’t understand why the film has appealed to fans of Studio Ghibli. It lacks a strong narrative and characters to connect to on any notable level. It’s a visual feast but also one that feels like imitation Ghibli rather than something that is authentic in its own realm of imagination. It just doesn’t feel unique enough to be successful in its own right. Children Who Chase Lost Voices disappoints, underwhelms, and feels like a poor knockoff of a Ghibli effort more than anything else. This is not a film I would recommend to any anime fan looking for something more than mere imitation of what is truly great in anime filmmaking.

Skip It.

Neil Lumbard is a lifelong fan of cinema, and a student who aspires to make movies. He loves writing, and currently does in Texas.