Cannon: Complete Collection

Very impressed with the quality of the hard plastic case and how well the disc's were secured inside thier individual holder's. Not like most complete sets where they come with a flimsy case you open it and the disc's fall out 😞 The play quality is very good. Always loved this show back in the 70's. Funny haven't probably seen Cannon since the early 80's but still remember a few episodes here and there. Always great to be able to remember what life was like back then (I'm getting so old)

Cannon was a TV show that ran for 5 seasons from 1971 to 1976. The star, William Conrad, played Frank Cannon, an ex-cop who became a private cop (detective) as Cannon would say. He often went at it alone but sometimes had help from law enforcement. He seems to have known a lot of people on various police forces. He had a reputation of being the best private detective in the business and highly sought after. The show ran on average from 49 to 51 minutes, the Pilot episode ran for 1 hour & 37 minutes. The show was produced by Quinn Martin who had a long history (over 20 years) of making hits. It was only in the 5th season of the show that we heard the familiar voice stating that it was a “Quinn Martin Production”. There were many guest starts on Cannon. Russell Johnson (the professor on Gilligan’s island) appeared on 2 episodes, and Tina Louise (Ginger on Gilligan’s Island) on 1 episode. There were many other guest stars, some taking on recurring roles. Frank Cannon drove different Lincoln Continentals during the show. For awhile it seemed like Frank, the Police and even the bad guys all drove Fords, but every once in a while we’d see a Chevy or Mercedes. Frank had a car phone in the car. Growing up in the 60’s and 70’s this seemed like such a cool thing. With on TV in the house and no way to record shows back then, this was not the show that was watched most of the time. The seasons had 24 episodes and each season is on 4 DVD’s (an average run time of just under 6 hours per disk). Season 1 is on the inside cover on a pair of spindles (2 per spindle), Season 2 & 3 share the 1st page, Season 4 and the first half of Season 5 on the 2nd page and the second half of Season 5 on the inside back cover. This is the first time I have seen spindles used and all I can say is that it’s different. I removed the disks as I watched each season and then replaced all 4 after I finished watching the season. I suppose it was a cost saving measure to ship each season on 4 disks vs. 6 disks (i.e. a total savings of 10 disks). See the attached photos. Personally, I found the show enjoyable to watch. Frank uses his wits and logic to solve cases. He knows he’s on the heavy side and seems to make fun of it himself as do others in the show. He loves good food and good wine. He also knows how to defend himself and often seen using Karate and/or Judo on those attacking him as well as a gun (snub-nose 0.38 special). The show also gives us an insight in what life was like in the early 70’s. The show was filmed in 4:3 and I watched it on a large screen CRT (tube) set that has a resolution of 480i. There were only 1 or 2 spots where there was some distortion in the last season that show up in 480i, (not sure what it would look like on a 1080p TV set), but for the most part it played well in SDTV format. We have a pair of 480i TV’s in the house that we use to watch old shows. There is a TV movie that came out in 1980 called “The Return of Frank Cannon” that I have to track down. It does not appear to be sold on Amazon or other sites. It’s too bad it was not included in this release. There is another “complete” set sold here on Amazon that includes TV movie along with the series released on 31 disks (see: https://www.amazon.com/Cannon-Complete-Collection-Episodes-Movies/dp/B014I4IUXC) but it sells for $49.99 as of this writing. To the best of my knowledge neither box set has been re-mastered. Cannon was shot in 35mm which could be made HD if someone took the time to do so. I suspect the “demand” is not there to do this yet. Plus the show was shot in mono and to make into passable 5.1 or 7.1 could be costly.

This DVD set from VEI is pretty good. The video transfer is clear and not very grainy. The audio track is a bit muted, but I just turned-up the volume: I didn't notice any analog hiss. The plastic storage case is pretty substantial. The DVDs of the TV shows are in a pebble-textured plastic booklet that is meant to be pulled out of the case. The made-for-TV movie is in its own plastic sleeve. If you're a fan of William Conrad, you will enjoy this series. Now, I just have to purchase "Jake and the Fat Man."

Honestly I was too young to have been interested in this show first run but this era produced some good stuff so I decided to give it a shot. I was pleasantly surprised by the show. I don't have issues with the CD cases though it is clearly to help keep the cost down. So far I haven't had any issues with the play of the disks. The greasy unkempt hair of the early 70's even in this media is cringeworthy.. a little dab will do you, you know. Oh and William Conrad and the writers seemed to be able to have some part of the plot involve aircraft in probably 70-80% of the episodes. He was a WWII fighter pilot but haven't not found anything written about his aviation pursuits during his radio and acting career. I don't know that a great deal of effort was put into restoration per say of the original masters before making this but I suspect the quality could be slightly better but also probably cost more. Fun old show.

Just what I was wanting These are great stories, great acting, older movies, so no cussing, little violence, no blood, many to watch, come in clear, sound is clear and loud enough, ....I love them. Well packaged, well wrapped and the discs stay put in their intended places! Great job!

My husband and I love Cannon. We had all the seasons except the last two. Then this set came along at the same price (a little less, actually) than the two remaining seasons so we bought it. The quality is fine (we don't have a big screen, though, so I can't speak to that). Each disc has 6 episodes, so if you hit play all, it runs a long time. The only annoying thing is the music that comes on after the last episode ends. It's really loud, but that's not enough to mark it down. The stories are wonderful. I swear this show just got better with each passing year. The acting is fantastic and the settings are interesting (though it's hilarious that everyone in small cities is portrayed with a southern accent, even if the town in question is deep in southern, um, California. (That isn't unique to Cannon, though, it seems to be Hollywood code for scary non-urbanite.) This collection is excellent, and we are so glad to have it to enjoy again and again. I do have to add something about the packaging. The discs are tightly secured and stacked in pairs, which protects them from scratching during shipment, but, unfortunately, it is a little too hard to get them off their spindles.

I was a little disappointed with the pilot episode and the first couple episodes after that, but once it finds its footing it’s a really entertaining show. The writing, plotting and pacing are all well done and I do love Cannon’s Lincoln Mark III in particular. If you like old movies and tv there are a ton of recognizable guest stars like David Soul, Vera Miles, Barbara Babcock, Richard Carlson etc. But the best thing about Cannon is its lead, William Conrad. Conrad radiates intelligence and charm and is extremely likable- every moment he’s on screen I’m engaged. The only downsides are that the transfer isn’t too great and there aren’t subtitles, but I consider this an excellent value for the money.

Great show cannon the big og private eye takes on punks with charm i wasnt around when it aired but i really like it its like perry mason very watchable 1 of my fav tv show purchases

Le très sympathique William Conrad. Les années 70. Dès enquêtes musclées. Génial.

happy

I just received the VEI Cannon 20 DVD set. Having watched 3 disks so far, I must say the picture quality is surprisingly good - much much better than I expected from reading other reviews of earlier Cannon releases. The sound quality is excellent. The only issue with packaging was I received 5 disks (not 4) for Season 5 as the Season 5 Disk 2 disk was included twice - must have stuck together in the packaging process. Disks are naturally tight when you take them off their spindles for the first time, but not overly difficult to remove. The packaging is compact and will not take up much shelf space - good packaging as far as I am concerned. As with all VEI releases that I have purchased, there are not any sub-titles. I am pleased with the product as Cannon is a gritty, hard-nosed show and very enjoyable. Based on my sample viewing of this release, there is no reason not to buy this 20 disk version of Cannon from VEI unless of course you need sub-titles. January 30, 2017 Follow up. I have noticed that the sound on Season 5 Disks is really low. Even after cranking up the volume, the dialogue is difficult to hear. I adjusted the "treble" on my TV set to high, and the voices were much cleaner. I have only noticed this weak sound on the Season 5 disks. So far, the sound on the other seasons is good.

Very happy with purchase of cannon The complete series, one of my favourite TV shows, good to see it also contained the bonus disc The return of frank cannon movie.

Cannon is a P I and it is excellent as it has Action/ Drama and very good storys in the 50 minutes episodes. Dvd all fine