Cisco Kid Vol 1-2

Rating:
Summary: Television's First Color Series
Review: Wow!!! Here are 12 of the first 13 episodes from season 1 of "The Cisco Kid" that were broadcast between September and November of 1950. According to a number of accounts, "The Cisco Kid" was the first television series filmed in color, though color television sets would not make their "mass-market" debut until the late 1950s (another Western, "Bonanza," debuting in 1959, was filmed in color to help promote the sales of color television sets). The producers of the series correctly assumed that filming in color would extend the show's longer term syndication runs. As to the color quality of the prints used for these episodes . . . yes, the color has that "washed out" look, but nowhere near as bad as I had expected. In fact, for a number of the episodes, the color is quite good and the prints are relatively defect-free, though the transfers are certainly not modern "high definition" quality.

As to the shows themselves, the 1950s saw a huge number of Westerns on television . . . basically, shorter versions of the B-Westerns of the 1930s and 1940s. For me, I find that most of the plots of these shows are interchangeable . . . episodes for "The Cisco Kid," with minor changes, could easily be adapted to the similar series "The Lone Ranger" and other Westerns of the era. What makes "The Cisco Kid" stand out is the casting of its two stars, Duncan Renaldo as "Cisco" and Leo Carrillo as his trusty sidekick "Pancho." The actors bring a great sense of play to their roles and their interaction with each other is terrific, making the show a standout. Forget about the plots; the duo of "Cisco" and "Pancho" is one of the most memorable in the Western genre.

There are no extras on this two-disc budget release from the Platinum Disc Corporation but that's OK . . . these episodes are highly watchable and enjoyable. The only negatives are a musical score that's repeated many times over in each episode and Platinum's logo which appears from time-to-time in the bottom right corner, but these are minor distractions and really don't detract too much from the overall viewing experience.

The episodes included in the set are as follows:

Disc 1

Boomerang (Episode 1)
Medicine Flats (Episode 8)
Railroad Land Rush (Episode 9)
Big Switch (Episode 4)
Convict Story (Episode 5)
Oil Land (Episode 6)

Disc 2

Counterfeit Money (Episode 2)
Cattle Rustling (Episode 3; also called "Rustling")
The Will (Episode 10)
Cattle Quarantine (Episode 11)
Renegade Son (Episode 12)
False Marriage (episode 13)