Sgt. Bilko: The Phil Silvers Show-50th Anniversary Edition
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Allan Melvin, Harvey Lembeck, Maurice Gosfield, Paul Ford, Phil SilversBrand: Paramount
Writer: Nat Hiken
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, Box set, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 465 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-05-09
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Paramount
Movie Reviews of Sgt. Bilko: The Phil Silvers Show-50th Anniversary Edition
Movie Review: 5-star Bilko
Summary: 5 Stars
I received this set from Amazon yesterday and spent most of the evening going through the three discs. The transfers are terrific. There is not a speck, scratch or splice on any of the episodes that I watched.
From a TV history perspective, the "lost" pilot was very interesting. It is the same story as the first episode of the series. The pilot, however, was shot electronically with switched cameras and recorded on 16mm kinescope film. The episode was practically identical to the pilot--with some of the characters played by different actors. Notably, in the pilot Corporal Henshaw--Allan Melvin in the actual series--is played by Jack Warden. Paul Ford is not in it and the chaplain is played by Harry Clark who was Sgt. Stanley Sowicki in the series. The lost pilot is a great find and its inclusion in this set is a real treat.
Also remarkable were the cigarette commercials done by members of the cast in character. There is a nice disclaimer before they are shown on the disc asking viewers not to smoke.
Another neat extra is a scene from an episode performed live on the Ed Sullivan Show. This aired on the Sunday before the series began its Tuesday night run on CBS. Paul Ford blows a line (saying "Bilko" instead of "bivouac") but being the real pros they all were, nobody misses a beat and the show goes on.
Allan Melvin introduces each episode and does an optional commentary over the first one. From the warmth in his voice and from what he chooses to remark upon a viewer can tell that he remembers what went on 51 years ago with great affection. George Kennedy also does an optional episode commentary. Phil Silvers explains to Dick Cavett in another extra that Kennedy was assigned as an Army officer to the show as a technical advisor. Silvers told him to get a Screen Actors Guild card and the rest is history.
All of the series episodes were filmed in New York City, first filmed at 205 East 67th Street. This was a former Dumont television studio at what is now the location of Fox's channel 5 in New York. It was later filmed at Himan Brown's Production Center at 221 West 26th Street, today's Chelsea Studios. Allan Melvin, who passed away in January 2008, says they rehearsed in a hall over Lindy's bar and restaurant in Times Square. (Himan Brown passed away on June 4, 2010, at the age of 99. He was remembered for his radio dramas, among them Grand Central Station, the Inner Sanctum and The Thin Man. According to his obituary in the New York Times, Hi Brown recalled producing or participating in more than 30,000 radio programs.)
Summary of Sgt. Bilko: The Phil Silvers Show-50th Anniversary Edition
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