Stagecoach West TV Series 1960-61 New DVD Release! (1 Viewer)

[smithbrad]

Even with the 4% PAL speed up you'd prefer a PAL set over old off-air recorded episodes?

PAL speedup can at least be fixed.

 

[Gary16]

Just got this email:

Your Renown Films order is on its way.

 

[smithbrad]

Just got this email:

Your Renown Films order is on its way.

Just checked and I received the same email.

 

[Flashgear]

The great Jack Lord guest starred in two episodes of Stagecoach West. Incredibly, he appeared in TWO CONSECUTIVE EPISODES of Stagecoach West, playing different desperados one week apart!

First in episode 24, House of Violence, (March 21, 1961) and then El Carnicero ('The Butcher') on March 28, 1961...I've long had about half of this series sourced from battered 16mm, and El Carnicero has long been a favorite of mine...a terrific actioner and meaningful character study, an epic chase across the sun baked desert, filmed spectacularly by cinematographer Fleet Southcott and directed once again by the capable Tommy Carr...also starring another favorite in the great John Dehner, with Christopher Dark, Dodie Heath, Rudolfo Hoyos, Frank Ferguson and Than Wyenn...filmed at what has since been dedicated as a National Monument...Cochise Stronghold Canyon!

Simon and Davey Kane (Robert Bray, Richard Eyer) head out on the trail East from a California run, with an Army Colonel Sam Carlin (John Dehner), recalled to Washington, a manacled hoodlum Johnny Dane (Jack Lord) under escort by Sheriff Doolin (Frank Ferguson), a Shakespearean actor Abraham Fontaine (Christopher Dark), and a young lovely, Linda Barton (Dodie Heath)....Colonel Carlin, notorious among the Californian Mexican people as "El Carnicero", (the butcher), for his many killings under his command at "the Presidio", including hanging most of a bandito gang...the fugitive leader of that gang, Domingo (Rudolfo Hoyos), along with his second in command Angel (Than Wyenn) and several uncredited banditos pursue Carlin with revenge in mind...it won't matter at all to the bloodthirsty Domingo if he has to kill everyone on the stage to accomplish his revenge...the situation grows increasingly desperate as Domingo and his gang ambush the stagecoach, forcing the Kanes and their passengers to flee into the desert without water...and tension grows between Dane and Colonel Carlin...Dane knows that Carlin has been recalled to Washington to be tried for his war crimes, and wants everyone to know about the person they will all die for...as they seek refuge in an abandoned mining camp, Carlin removes a bullet from Simon's arm...and then shocks everyone with his out-of-control temper when he pistol whips Dane when the prisoner tries to escape...

Episode 25, El Carnicero (March 28, 1961)...with 38 one hour episodes produced in this single season show, Wayne Rogers takes a week off and only Robert Bray and Richard Eyer appear from the regular cast...my screen caps taken directly from the excellent new Renown R2 DVD set...

The lovely Dodie Heath, especially drop-dead gorgeous with a gun in her hand...

Colonel Carlin, lost in his thoughts, recounts his bloody Civil War experience...having commanded 5 regiments, each of which was destroyed in battle...leaving five thousand men dead...Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Chicamauga, the Wilderness...Atlanta...John Dehner must have savored this meaty role, delivering a terrific monologue that sent shivers up my spine...

Dehner's fury is only matched by Jack Lord's...another great and intense early performance by this television stalwart...

Stagecoach West presented Robert Bray with his single best role of his career, sadly cut short by illness, passing away at age 65 in 1983...he's a tower of power in this series...

After evading capture in the dark as they flee the abandoned mining camp, by daylight they find some hope when they spot the stage line way station in the distance...

Continued next post...

 

[Flashgear]

Stagecoach West episode 25, El Carnicero continued...no spoilers...

Simon and Davey Kane lead the surviving passengers on foot to the stage line way station, finding it abandoned, with the station manager having been murdered and thrown down the well...the sadistic Domingo and his banditos have been there first, and are in hiding nearby, taking pot-shots at their quarry...my screen caps taken from the new Renown R2 DVD set...

Thirst and madness take their toll...Abraham Fontaine, the Shakespearean actor (Christopher Dark), tries to bribe Domingo for his life...there's no bartering with the Devil...

Having escaped entrapment at the way station, Simon Kane leads his son Davey and the surviving passengers on a punishing trek through the desert...their only hope is to make the 5 miles to 'Suttersville'...

Domingo (Rudolfo Hoyos) and Angel (Than Wyenn)...the sadistic banditos...but perhaps also with cause for their wrath against Colonel Carlin? (John Dehner)....

Do you keep the last bullet for yourself?

There's a terrific twist in the finale of this episode that I won't disclose...El Carnicero is a magnificent achievement in the context of a weekly television drama, a superb episode among many great episodes in this outstanding Western series that is Stagecoach West...the filming must have been grueling in the desert heat of Sedona, and it looks like it...two magnificent performances in Jack Lord and John Dehner, and Robert Bray is also impressive...all finding gold in this well written and powerfully evocative script...expertly staged action in this very violent Western...the body count in this episode is 7, but I might have lost count, ha, ha...

 

[rjd0309]

Crying shame we can't get the rest of "Death Valley Days" on BD, or DVD. The entire run was on Starz awhile back and honestly it is so far the best looking HD remaster I have seen regarding classic western series. Simply beautiful!

Yes, they're currently airing Mon-Fri on the Starz Encore Westerns channel, two or three episodes per day. I recorded one a few days ago. My HDMI recorder only records progressive frames, so it had to step down from 1080i to 720p. Still, it's much better quality than I have ever seen for this series.

 

[LouA]

My order is in! I hope this does well and Renown releases other classic shows from the fifties / sixties:
World Of Giants?
Oh Susanna?
Adventures in Paradise?
Tightrope?
The Americans?

 

[Tom.W]

Yes, they're currently airing Mon-Fri on the Starz Encore Westerns channel, two or three episodes per day.

I'm tempted to purchase Starz to see Death Valley Days. Starz was included in my cable subscription until recently. It seems like a hefty price since everything else on Starz has been running for years. But these are seasons 4-12 if I'm not mistaken which have not been available till now. Grit is also airing DVDays but they reducing the credits to a small box during the Old Ranger's closing comments. A horrible practice since they are cut for commercials as well.

However, I'm happy that GRIT is airing the 6th season color episodes of Tales of Wells Fargo. I've waited many years for those.

 

[Bryan^H]

I'm tempted to purchase Starz to see Death Valley Days. Starz was included in my cable subscription until recently. It seems like a hefty price since everything else on Starz has been running for years. But these are seasons 4-12 if I'm not mistaken which have not been available till now. Grit is also airing DVDays but they reducing the credits to a small box during the Old Ranger's closing comments. A horrible practice since they are cut for commercials as well.

However, I'm happy that GRIT is airing the 6th season color episodes of Tales of Wells Fargo. I've waited many years for those.

I think I pay $9 a month for Starz. I was upset that starting in January Starz eliminated all the color seasons (12-18) which were available for so long (at least throughout 2020). Luckily I saw a good deal of them then. But the payoff is that they added new HD westerns in their entirety (Laramie, The Big Valley) to the service.

 

[jayembee]

Just checked and I received the same email.

Same here.

 

[Bob Gu]

Randall/Flashgear, congrats on getting the HTF front page Popular Thread spot today.

Just how many episodes was John Wayne in?? Ha, ha! The clueless HTF picture picker/computer program strikes again?!

"Stagecoach West" is one I have no memory of watching. I was able to get all but five episodes from YouTube some years back and never watched them.

It's interesting that "Overland Trail", another stage line western, with William Bendix and Doug McClure, was also on in 1960. "Overland Trail" started in early 1960 and was gone before "Stagecoach West" began in the fall. I wonder if "Overland Trail" was a burn-off, with the mid-season start and only 17 episodes?

 

[Flashgear]

Randall/Flashgear, congrats on getting the HTF front page Popular Thread spot today.

View attachment 93092



Just how many episodes was John Wayne in?? Ha, ha! The clueless HTF picture picker/computer program strikes again?!

"Stagecoach West" is one I have no memory of watching. I was able to get all but five episodes from YouTube some years back and never watched them.

It's interesting that "Overland Trail", another stage line western, with William Bendix and Doug McClure, was also on in 1960. "Overland Trail" started in early 1960 and was gone before "Stagecoach West" began in the fall. I wonder if "Overland Trail" was a burn-off, with the mid-season start and only 17 episodes?

Thanks Bob! Yes, it would have been great had the 'Ringo Kid', by this time in his mid fifties, turned up on Stagecoach West in 1960...even better if he had 'Dallas' in tow with him! Ha, ha...Overland Trail is a good show, about on par with it's well known Revue stablemate, Wagon Train, but not as good as Stagecoach West, IMO. You really should watch those episodes you captured from Youtube, Bob. And better yet, buy the new DVD set! It's a great Western series, and I'm not just saying that because I love TV Westerns. Stagecoach West uses the one hour format to great effect, with many of the same creative talent that established other hit Four Star shows. Too bad that Stagecoach West didn't get a second season. CBS' The Red Skelton Show probably did it in. Red's lead-in for fall 1960 was yet another Four Star production, a rare sit-com, The Tom Ewell Show...with Boris Karloff's Thriller on NBC in the same time slot getting renewed for a second season. So all of that and the general paring down of the number of TV westerns played a role, I'm sure.

Here's some screen caps I took of the short video blurb that precedes the disc episode menus...

Here's some pictures I took of my copy of Renown's superb new R2 8 DVD set of Stagecoach West...

An episode guide on the reverse of the cover insert...you can check out a detailed guide to Stagecoach West on IMDB...

The unfortunately incorrect fine print saying 'Region 0'...when I first got my set, I tried playing it on one of my R1 players, and it was a no-go...too bad, but this is a Region 2 LOCKED set, and thus you will need a region-free player...look at that UK ratings notice...so very 2021, what with it's caution that these G rated programs "contains outdated racial stereotyping"....

Once again, here's the link to the Renown web page with details about the set...25 Pounds + 10.25 Pounds shipping Royal Air Mail 2nd Class...approximately $50 American, all-in...I'm in Western Canada and received my set 10 days after my email shipping notice from Renown...

STAGECOACH WEST 8-DVD Box Set with optional subtitles – Renown Films

 

[Richard Gallagher]

A Four Star series that I would like to see come to DVD is Michael Shayne, a private detective series starring Richard Denning that featured many well-known guest stars. I have about half of the episodes on bootlegs that vary in quality from pretty good to barely watchable.

 

[DeWilson]

Here's a question for our U.K. Posters - who aired the show in the U.K in the 1960's?

 

[Randy Korstick]

I ordered Stagecoach West earlier today and just received the email that is being shipped. Pretty fast service. I am looking forward to receiving this.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Tried ordering this yesterday but Renown's shopping cart software wouldn't process shipping to Japan. Contacted the company and they replied very promptly (good customer service). Seems to be some issue with them using the British Royal Mail web server to handle shipping charges. Looks like I may have to have them ship the set to my family's place in the U.S. and have it sent on from there. Oh well, I'll get it eventually...

 

[Mrozsa]

In answer to DeWilson’s question, I’m not sure that Stagecoach West ever played in the UK. It also doesn’t seem to have been mentioned in the Western Film and TV annual which gave a yearly round-up of westerns appearing on UK cinemas and TVs for about 10 years starting in the early 1950s. The BBC showed the similar Overland Trail but I think that’s as close as we got in the UK to Stagecoach West. The Renown DVD company also runs a UK tv channel called Talking Pictures TV and has been running Stagecoach West. It’s taken 60 years but it looks like we finally got it on this side of the Atlantic. I haven’t tried it yet.

 

[HubbaBubbaKid]

“The unfortunately incorrect fine print saying 'Region 0'...when I first got my set, I tried playing it on one of my R1 players, and it was a no-go...too bad, but this is a Region 2 LOCKED set, and thus you will need a region-free player..”

This may be correct as some sets are Region 0 but PAL encoded not NTSC. a lot of Region 2 releases that are region 0 are this way. i found this out when i bought the Bionic Woman Blu ray from germany and it said the same thing . i emailed Turbine and they told me that it was done that way bc of the sources that they were provided with. the SMDM set is region 0 NTSC (even though the back says Region B) however , the stagecoach set doesn’t say if its PAL or NTSC based on the pic of the back you gave , but being a Region 2 release , more than likely its PAL (their site doesn’t clarify either) . some north american sold players play PAL natively but are not advertised as such. i‘ve got a LG blu ray player from Target that does but my Sony doesn’t and i’ve heard older Samsungs and Philips players do also.

 

[smithbrad]

“The unfortunately incorrect fine print saying 'Region 0'...when I first got my set, I tried playing it on one of my R1 players, and it was a no-go...too bad, but this is a Region 2 LOCKED set, and thus you will need a region-free player..”

This may be correct as some sets are Region 0 but PAL encoded not NTSC. a lot of Region 2 releases that are region 0 are this way. i found this out when i bought the Bionic Woman Blu ray from germany and it said the same thing . i emailed Turbine and they told me that it was done that way bc of the sources that they were provided with. the SMDM set is region 0 NTSC (even though the back says Region B) however , the stagecoach set doesn’t say if its PAL or NTSC based on the pic of the back you gave , but being a Region 2 release , more than likely its PAL (their site doesn’t clarify either) . some north american sold players play PAL natively but are not advertised as such. i‘ve got a LG blu ray player from Target that does but my Sony doesn’t and i’ve heard older Samsungs and Philips players do also.

Randall clarified that all episodes included are PAL but one that is actually NTSC. But you are correct, region coding isn't the only obstacle. I'd guess most TV is the US are not PAL compatible. I've found that most players I've had in the past that were easy to unlock for all DVD regions also tended to include PAL to NTSC conversion, while players that weren't did not include the conversion capability. So whether region locked or not the same overall results may occur. However, I believe the message tends to be different (i.e., a region issue vs, disk not playable). I'm sure Randall can clarify how he determined they were region locked to 2.

 

[HubbaBubbaKid]

from my short experience in collecting non R1 discs , if the disc is region locked, there will be a disclaimer that doesnt allow the disc to play at all. on my region 0 PAL discs, it plays the title screen and even the menu screen but wont play the episodes themselves . of course not all of them may be that way