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Released by: Timeless Media Group
Released on: October 23, 2012.
Director: Blake Edwards, Robert Altman
Cast: Craig Stevens, Herschel Bernardi, Lola Albright, Hope Emerson, Minerva Urecal
Year: 1958-1961
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The Movie:
Created by Blake Edwards, Peter Gunn ran for three seasons on ABC from 1958 through 1961, one hundred and fourteen episodes in total. Timeless Media Group has gathered together every one of those half hour adventures and put them out together in one massive boxed set titled, rather logically, Peter Gunn: The Complete Series.
The series revolves around the titular private eye, Peter Gunn (Craig Stevens), who is just about as cool as they come. Dashing, handsome and tough as nails, he spends his free time hanging out at a jazz club called Mother's where he meets clients and takes care of business. Run by a woman referred to only as Mother (Hope Emerson in season one, Minerva Urecal for the later episodes), it's a pretty happening spot. If you've got a problem that the cops can't solve for you, Gunn will take care of it for the flat fee of one thousand dollars. While Gunn often works solo, his friend on the force, Lieutenant Jacoby (Herschel Bernardi), helps him out from time to time and then there's the matter of one Edie Hart (Lola Albright), who Peter meets when she works as a singer at the club. They hit it off and soon she's happy to have him call her his girl.
Creator Blake Edwards directed more than a few episodes for the show, and the series is also notable for including a contribution from none other than Robert Altman on the episode from 1961 entitled The Murder Bond. Edwards' credits are quite numerous but he's probably best remembered, outside of his work on this show, for writing The Pink Panther movies. The series also featured some interesting and noteworthy guest stars including James Coburn, James Coogan, Virginia Grey, Ted Night, Gavin MacLeod, Hal Smith and plenty of others.
Visually the series is very impressive with lots of great shadowy atmosphere evocative of a lot of classic film noir movies that had to have been a big inspiration here. This shooting style does a great job of complimenting the lead character's sense of perpetual cool. The series uses a lot of the same sets over and over again and shows some limitations in that regard but it's well written and well acted, each of the principal cast members bringing their own personality to the role and really making it their own. Even by modern standards the plots and storylines remain interesting and entertaining even if there is a fair bit of repetition throughout the show (the vast majority of them are basic murder mysteries) and an obvious formula in terms of the structure of the plots and how they unfold within each half hour time slot.
The series is probably best remembered for the way in which it used music, most notably modern jazz not only in Henry Mancini's instantly recognizable (and Emmy nominated) opening theme song but throughout the series. With the base of operations being a jazz club, it makes sense that the series would take this direction but other shows of the era weren't doing this and it definitely had to have given the series a nice edge when it was originally shown. It's probably also worth mentioning that Mancini's orchestra at this point included John Williams who obviously went on to compose music for Star Wars, Jaws and loads of other classic films.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Peter Gunn was shown in 1.33.1 fullframe in black and white when it first aired and that's exactly how it appears on this DVD set. Though there is some softness inherent in the elements used for the transfers but detail is generally pretty good given the age of the material. Contrast seems pretty decent here and black levels aren't bad at all. Some minor compression artifacts pop up here and there but print damage is never a serious issue, just some minor specks and scratches here and there.
The only audio option here is the original English language in Dolby Digital Mono format with no alternate language options, closed captioning or subtitles provided. Clarity is fine despite a little bit of minor hiss once in a while. The levels are well balanced and you'll have no problems understanding the dialogue. The score sounds good and there are no serious problems here, for a series of older mono mixes the audio is fine.
There are no extras on the DVDs themselves but inside the packaging is a CD in a white paper sleeve that includes some of the music from the series including the instantly recognizable theme song from the show. Each disc does include static menus and episode selection.
The Final Word:
There's not much here in the way of extras but if you're a fan of the series, this is currently the easiest way to get the entire series in decent quality and at a pretty reasonable price as well. The show holds up well, and if the entire run is a lot to take in all at once, spread out over a few weeks time there's a lot to like here for fans of vintage crime and suspense stories.
