New movie reviews, DVD reviews, interviews, and all things film.

Follow Me

• Ajami ***
• The Girl on the Train ***
• Greenberg **1/2
• Mother
• Repo Men **1/2
• The Runaways
• More

• Armored
• Astro Boy
• Broken Embraces
• Dillinger Is Dead
• Fallen Angels (Blu-Ray)
• The Fourth Kind
• Ninja Assassin
• The Princess and the Frog
• Undead: The Vampire Collection
• Wonderful World
• The 25 Best DVDs of 2009
• More

• 2009: The Year's Ten Best Films
• The Decade's Ten Best Films: 2000-2009
• My 2003 Interview with Brittany Murphy
• San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards 2009
• Richard Linklater
• John Woo
• Jared and Jerusha Hess
• Essential Halloween Movies
• Michael Stuhlbarg
• Jane Campion
• Bobcat Goldthwait
• Hugh Dancy
• Kathryn Bigelow
• Willem Dafoe: The 2009 CineVegas Interview
• David Carradine
• A 2002 Interview with Edward Asner
• Vinessa Shaw
• Henry Selick
• 2008: The Year's Ten Best Films
• The San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards 2008
• The 25 Best DVDs of 2008
• Bruce Campbell
• Darren Aronofsky and Marisa Tomei
• Josh Brolin
• A Tribute to Paul Newman
• Steve Coogan on Hamlet 2
• Manny Farber (1917-2008)
• Bernie Mac (1957-2008)
• Emily Mortimer
• Brad Anderson
• Don Cheadle at CineVegas
• Abel Ferrara at CineVegas
• Tina Sinatra
• My Top 100 Films [Updated]
• My Top 60 Directors [Updated]
• The Top 50 Movies of the Past Ten Years (1997-2006)
• Terry Zwigoff on the new Bad Santa Director's Cut
• Alfonso Cuarón Interview
• Guillermo Del Toro Interview
• Christmas Movies
• Combustible Celluloid's Big Guide to Halloween & Horror Movies
• Cult Movies
• Actress Interview Gallery
• The Top 100
• More Features and Interviews

• Not Quite a Memoir: Of Films, Books, the World, by Judy Stone
• James Agee: The Library of America Collection, by James Agee
• Just Making Movies, by Ronald L. Davis
• Guide to Essential Movies, by Joe Leydon
• Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood, by Robert S. Birchard
• Profoundly Disturbing, by Joe Bob Briggs
• A Third Face, by Samuel Fuller
• Dark Lover, by Emily Leider
• Agee on Film, by James Agee
• Lulu in Hollywood, by Louise Brooks
• Negative Space, by Manny Farber
• 5001 Nights at the Movies, by Pauline Kael
• More Books

• Home
• Reviews A-C
• Reviews D-F
• Reviews G-J
• Reviews K-M
• Reviews N-Q
• Reviews R-T
• Reviews U-Z

The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

SEARCH MOVIES / CELEB

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater: Complete Season One (1956-1957)

Rating: 3 Stars (out of 4)

Strangers and a 'Zane'

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater: Complete Season One on DVD

I was very excited when I heard that VCI Entertainment would be releasing "Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater" on DVD, since two of my favorite Western directors, Sam Peckinpah and Budd Boetticher, had worked on a few episodes. Sadly, neither of them are represented in this first season, which includes 29 restored episodes on 4 DVDs. At the time, Zane Grey was as much a household name in the realm of Westerns as Stephen King is today for horror. I'm not exactly sure what Dick Powell had to do with this, since he rarely worked in the genre himself, but his weekly introductions for the show are meant to be humorous and somewhat educational (he also appeared in a few episodes). Several of these unconnected episodes were based on actual Grey stories, but as the series progressed, original stories were written. This collection includes appearances by such stars as Jack Lemmon, Sterling Hayden, Walter Brennan, Ida Lupino, David Niven, Robert Ryan, Jack Palance, Ralph Bellamy, Lloyd Bridges, Ernest Borgnine, Mary Astor and cult actors like DeForrest Kelley, James Best, Gloria Talbott, John Forsythe and Ralph Meeker. The DVD quality is clear and sharp, though the picture verges on too dark; the sound leaves a bit to be desired (probably due to the condition of the original elements) and there are no optional subtitles or captions. Future television mogul Aaron Spelling was a voracious writer for this show. I look forward to future seasons on DVD, which should include the original inspiration for the great Chuck Connors TV show, "The Rifleman."

With: Dick Powell, Robert Ryan, Cloris Leachman, Ida Lupino, James Whitmore, Ray Collins, Jack Palance, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Lemmon, Sterling Hayden, Walter Brennan, David Niven, Robert Ryan, Ralph Bellamy, Lloyd Bridges, Ernest Borgnine, Mary Astor, DeForrest Kelley, James Best, Gloria Talbott, John Forsythe, Ralph Meeker
Written by: John McGreevey, Luke Short, Arthur A. Ross, Harold Swanton, Aaron Spelling, Otis Carney, Frederick Louis Fox, etc.
Directed by: Felix E. Feist, Bernard Girard, John English, Robert Florey, etc.
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 870 minutes
Date: June 29, 2009