Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2897 in DVD
• Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2006-07-11
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 5
• Formats: Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 5
• Dimensions: .85 pounds
• Running time: 60 minutes

Album Description
Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) is an attorney who specializes in defending seemingly indefensible cases. With the aid of his secretary Della Street and investigator Paul Drake, he often finds that by digging deeply into the facts, startling facts can be revealed. Often relying on his outstanding courtroom skills, he often tricks or traps people into unwittingly admitting their guilt. The series began in 1957, running until 1974, and later revived in a series of TV movies. In over 270 episodes, Perry never lost a case!

Amazon.com
There was a time when the defense attorney was a heroic everyman, not the butt of bad jokes; think Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, and, of course, Raymond Burr's incomparable Perry Mason. The first season of Perry Mason, which launched in 1957 on CBS, shows just how dramatic a "law and order" show could be. Shot in lush black and white, on film, the episodes have been lovingly restored (including lost minutes hacked from reruns to accommodate commercials). The story arcs and atmosphere feel more like film noir (Perry Mason + Philip Marlowe = separated at birth?) than early TV. The cast was stellar, including Burr's Emmy-winning Perry Mason, the indefatigable lawyer who takes tough cases no one else will touch. Burr's chemistry crackles from episode 1 with his costars, including Barbara Hale as secretary Della, William Hopper as private detective Paul Drake, and William Talman as Hamilton Burger, the well-meaning but overmatched district attorney. While it's true that the last-minute witness-stand confessions strain some credulity, the case-cracking, character development, and dialogue set a high bar for the legal shows that followed. "The Case of the Negligent Nymph," for instance, involves a comely young woman--and murder suspect--fished out of the Pacific; Mason deadpans to Drake, "Call off the search, Paul; we've landed our mermaid." The shows unfold at a leisurely pace, and yet don't rely on the overly expositive dialogue that, say, Law & Order does; the viewer learns a lot about each case simply as it happens. The set contains the first 19 episodes of the first season and will hook you, even if you're not a procedural buff. --A.T. Hurley

Customer Reviews

TV Drama at its Finest (it IS captioned by the way)
First, to clear up the error in a prior review...this set will be captioned. The official announcement stated this.

For years PM has only been seen in butchered syndicated versions with 6 minutes or more missing from each episode. These DVDs will be mastered from the original elements and will be the complete 52 minute versions. PM was filmed, not videotaped, which will result in very high quality DVDs.

Although all 9 seasons were excellent, the first season is remarkable in that the cast found their stride immediately and delivered 39 noir-like episodes that are as suspenseful as any Hollywood movie. 19 of these episodes will be in the set with 20 to be included in Volume 2.

Paramount has an excellent record in fast tracking releases of their classic shows, hopefully PM will be as well.

The Case of the Greatest Courtroom Drama
From the stirring music to the brilliant acting, Perry Mason remains one of the best courtroom dramas ever produced, even though it was one of TV's earliest.

Based on the successful books by Erle Stanley Gardner, the production quality of the series was so high that the many of the episodes have the feeling of a movie, or as some reviewers have noted, true film noir.

Debuting in 1957, Perry Mason ran for nine seasons and became a part of popular culture. It propelled its star, Raymond Burr, into the status of an icon, even though he already had a distinguished career as a movie actor, ironically primarily playing bad guys. In Mason, Burr brought incredible depth, quick intelligence and an amazing robust energy that remains as fresh today as it was almost 50 years ago!

The first season had 39 episodes, 19 of which are being released in this DVD boxed set, while the remaining 20 will be released in Season One, Volume 2.

In addition to Burr, the stellar cast includes Barbara Hale, who portrays Mason's devoted secretary, Della Street; William Hopper as Mason's private investigator Paul Drake; William Talman as the perennially losing District Attorney Hamilton Burger; and Ray Collins, as the acerbic but honest Lt. Arthur Tragg.

Although Mason often acted as an investigator, won all but one of his cases, and he managed to evoke witness stand confessions from the majority of the guilty parties, the show still managed to convey a courtroom realism seldom seen, and is still often sadly missing in modern TV series dealing with crime and punishment.

The crimes were believable because they were drawn from the realistic fodder of real life conflicts and temptations, not the twisted and often sadistic crimes that are too often shown on TV today on current courtroom dramas.

Even though the series began in the 50's, it hinted at a more-than-platonic relationship between Mason and Street. The bantering that the two actors brought to their roles heightened the tension between them on the show and is still wonderful to watch. In real life, the two were very close friends and remained so until his untimely death from cancer. Burr, a nationally renowned amateur horticulturist, named a specific type of orchid that he had developed after Hale. Hale's son, William Katt, joined the series as Paul Drake Jr. when the show was reprised in the late 80's as a series of successful recurring made-for-TV-movies.

This series fully deserves the full-season box set release that it is finally receiving, and represents the first time the entire first season of the landmark show has been available on DVD.

The episodes included here are: The Case of the Restless Redhead; The Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece; The Case of the Nervous Accomplice; The Case of the Drowning Duck; The Case of the Sulky Girl; The Case of the Silent Partner; The Case of the Angry Mourner; The Case of the Crimson Kiss; The Case of the Vagabond Vixen; The Case of the Runaway Corpse; The Case of the Crooked Candle; The Case of the Negligent Nymph; The Case of the Moth-Eaten Mink; The Case of the Baited Hook; The Case of the Fan Dancer's Horse; The Case of the Demure Defendant; The Case of the Sunbather's Diary; The Case of the Cautious Coquette; and The Case of the Haunted Husband.

Let us hope the remaining half of the first season as well as the entire run of this incredible series are released on DVD quickly. The jury has spoken!

Mason, Drake, Street, Burger and Tragg - Together Again at Last!
It's been a long wait. The best courtroom drama (witness stand confessions and Perry's theatrics included) of all time finally comes to season-by-season DVD box sets. Once more, we'll hear Paul's signature shave-and-a-haircut knock at Perry's door (just in case Tragg happens to be visiting). We'll see the knowing smiles and sidelong glances shared between Perry and Della. We'll watch Hamilton Burger get served up like, well, hamburger once he's well-cooked by Perry's sometimes questionable but always satisfyingly clever tactics. I can't wait until July! Can you?