Golden Age Of Television (Criterion Collection 3 Discs) DVD

Jack Palance, Rod Steiger, Andy Griffith, Piper Laurie, Kim Hunter, Mickey Rooney, Paul Newman, Rod Serling

The hugely popular live American television plays of the 1950s have become the stuff of legend. Combining elements of theater, radio, and filmmaking, they were produced at a moment when TV technology was advancing and making art accessible to a newly suburban postwar demographic. These astonishingly choreographed, brilliantly acted, and socially progressive "teleplays" constituted an artistic high for the medium, bringing Broadway-quality drama to homes across the country. The following award-winning programs-curated for PBS in the early 1980s as the series The Golden Age Of Television with recollections from key cast and crew members-were conceived by such up-and-comers as Rod Serling and John Frankenheimer, and star the likes of Paul Newman, Mickey Rooney, Rod Steiger, Julie Harris, and Piper Laurie.