New on DVD

The title is no hyperbole: For a brief period in the 1950s, live television was the vibrant center of original American drama. This collection features eight landmark productions from that short-lived era, from the intimate original "Marty" (1953), written by Paddy Chayefsky and starring Rod Steiger as the lonely working-class butcher, to the original "Days of Wine and Roses" (1958), starring Cliff Robertson and dynamically directed by John Frankenheimer. In between are the bumpkin comedy "No Time for Sergeants" (1955) that made Andy Griffith a star, "Bang the Drum Slowly" (1956) with a pre-stardom Paul Newman learning his craft in front of the camera, "A Wind From the South" (1955) starring Julie Harris, and three brilliant shows by Rod Serling: "Patterns" (1955), his dissection of corporate culture; the poignant "Requiem for a Heavyweight" (1956); and the searing show-business drama "The Comedian" (1957) with Mickey Rooney. These shows are a unique mix of theater, cinema and television, defined by powerful writing and an intense yet intimate storytelling style that transformed technical restrictions into creative opportunities.

These landmark productions are all mastered from kinescope recordings filmed live directly from a TV monitor. It's low-fidelity, and good monitors will reveal the visual distortions of filming from a cathode-ray screen. But the dramas are so involving that you get past the surface weaknesses and into the intensity of the productions. They were all revived and rebroadcast on the 1970s PBS showcase "The Golden Age of Television," and Criterion's release includes the original introductions from this series (featuring interviews with directors, writers and cast members), plus commentary by four directors (originally recorded for the mid-1990s laser disc release) and a fine booklet with essays and notes by TV historian Ron Simon. Three discs in a foldout digipak.