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(More customer reviews)During the Fall of 1963, a new police and lawyer show debuted on ABC. Titled "Arrest and Trial," this unique show was made for a 90 minute time slot. The first half of the show featured the "Arrest," with detectives Ben Gazzara and Roger Perry gathering the evidence and apprehending the suspect. The "Trial" portion starred Chuck Connors aided by Don Galloway as defense attorneys, with John Larch and John Kerr as prosecutors from the district attorney's office. Sound familiar?
There's no question that the basic structure and format of "Arrest and Trial" influenced the modern "Law & Order." But there's a major difference in the two shows. "Law & Order" is, essentially, a well written and acted police and judicial procedural. "Arrest & Trial," while retaining many of the procedural elements, is much more of a character study of the accused and those around him - friends and family - and how law enforcement and the judicial system affect their lives. Disc 2 of the set represents the series well and features three episodes dealing with the theme of addictions: Mickey Rooney is a drug addict accused of murder; Nick Adams embezzles money from his employer to pay for his gambling habit; Dewey Martin is a paroled convict dealing with alcoholism who has a difficult time adjusting to the outside world.
The series was produced during the era of the early to mid-1960s when the bar for televised drama was set very high with shows like "Route 66," "The Fugitive," "Combat!," "The Defenders," "Naked City" and others sharing the primetime airwaves. "Arrest and Trial" shares the superior writing, acting, and direction of those other shows. So why wasn't it a hit? One reason may have been its odd running time - 90 minutes - rather than the standard 60 minute format for most televised dramas of the era. But there were other shows that ran for 90 minutes during the 1960s like the Westerns "The Virginian," "Cimarron Strip," and, for a time, even "Wagon Train." More probably, it had to do with the competition. Broadcast by ABC on Sundays from 8:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., "Arrest and Trial" went head-to-head with the second half of "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "The Judy Garland Show" on CBS, while NBC offered "Grindl" and the second longest running Western in TV history "Bonanza." Sadly, "Arrest & Trial" was cancelled after only a single season of 30 episodes. Co-stars Gazzara and Connors would move on to more successful series, "Run for Your Life" and "Branded," respectively.
This release of "Arrest and Trial," as well as several other DVD releases from the Timeless Media Group, is the product of a unique licensing arrangement that Timeless has with NBC Universal. In a cost cutting measure, Universal is only licensing the use of the episodes to Timeless; it is not providing restored or remastered prints to Timeless. Instead, Timeless is assembling episodes on its own using 16 millimeter films from collectors and other sources. As a consequence, the prints utilized for this release are far from perfect, often exhibiting scratches, dirt and other imperfections. While this may not be the most ideal way to release a television series on DVD, the prospective purchaser of "Arrest and Trial" needs to consider the rarity of this series and the likelihood of a better release. Frankly, this was a series that I believed would never see a DVD release, and so I'm appreciative that a DVD releasing company would take a risk on such a comparatively obscure series. Each of the three discs contained in this box set contains three episodes, with episodes running in the 75 to 76 minute range, so you're getting a representative sampling of nine of the thirty episodes that were produced. There are no extra features included on this release. The quality of the writing, acting, direction, and overall production transcend a flawed visual presentation. I can very easily recommend this to vintage TV fans and anyone who appreciates a quality televised drama, but videophiles will have numerous issues with this release and are probably best advised to steer clear. "Arrest and Trial" as a series merits five stars, but subtract a star for the lesser visual quality.
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