Tonight's TV: The Alaskans (1959-60) - A Warner Archive Blu-ray Review

THE ALASKANS (1959-60), a one-season Warner Bros. TV series starring Roger Moore, was recently released on Blu-ray by the Warner Archive Collection.

This is a show I've always been curious about, and never in my wildest dreams did I think it would come out on Blu-ray. The outstanding prints are remastered from 4K scans of the original camera negatives. This show has received an excellent Blu-ray presentation.

THE ALASKANS originally aired in an hour-long time slot and is set in the port city of Skagway, Alaska, during the 1890s gold rush; many of the plots focus around, you guessed it, gold and mining.

Moore plays Silky Harris, always looking to make easy money from people passing through Skagway, along with his burly friend Reno McKee (Jeff York). You might say Reno is the brawn and Silky is the brains of the pair.

They also become friendly with saloon singer Rocky Shaw (Dorothy Provine), who periodically gets a chance to sing. Ray Danton is a semiregular as their friendly adversary, Nifty Cronin.

I'm predisposed to like this show, as I like Warner Bros. Westerns, in general, and MAVERICK, a series which Moore later joined, is my all-time favorite show. 

Many writers, directors, and actors who worked on other Warner Bros. Westerns also worked on THE ALASKANS, but - at least through the several episodes I've seen so far - the series is not on the level of WB shows such as MAVERICK, CHEYENNE, LAWMAN, or even COLT .45, which had a Warner Archive release earlier this year. (My COLT .45 review may be found here.)

I've been hoping for THE ALASKANS to "find its feet" as it goes along, but in its early episodes it suffers from ill-defined lead characters, with York's Reno being especially bland, as well as meandering plots.  

The latter is ironic as, according to Moore, some of the scripts were recycled from the top-drawer MAVERICK, but I haven't recognized a familiar story yet. Like MAVERICK and other shows of the era, the tone of individual episodes varies, with some being pure comedy and others more dramatic.

I'm posting my review short of watching the entire series, which will take the equivalent of almost a full workweek to finish! I've read a couple excellent reviews which have encouraged me to keep watching, and I'd want to do so in any event for the amazing guest casts, which include names like James Coburn, Julie Adams, Lee Van Cleef, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Karen Steele, Ruta Lee, John Dehner, Fay Spain, and other familiar faces from MAVERICK. Andrea King, a favorite Warner Bros. and Universal actress, is in the third episode which was directed by Jacques Tourneur; it was the only episode he directed.

The types of actors listed above make for great "comfort viewing," even in a less impressive show, and I do like that while the show was filmed on the backlot, it has a different "look" than the norm of the era; there's a real effort to make the show look authentic with snow on the ground, and there's also unfamiliar stock footage used.

The show's three dozen episodes are presented on nine Blu-ray discs in an attractive plastic snap case. The boxing, including cover art, is first-rate.

The episodes even include "bumpers" and other brief moments which were part of the original airings, such as Prestone sponsorship mentions at the end of each episode; other than those delightful moments, there are no extras as such.

Despite my hesitations, I encourage fans of '50s WB TV series to check out this series for themselves.  I'm hopeful that eventually there will be Blu-ray releases of other long-missing Warner Bros. series.  KINGS ROW, anyone?

Thanks to the Warner Archive and Allied Vaughn for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. Warner Archive Blu-rays may be ordered from Movie Zyng, Amazon, and other online retailers.

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