The Cisco Kid: Medicine Flats
Originally Broadcast: Tuesday, October 17, 1950 on first-run syndication.
Plot: The Cisco Kid and Pancho conspire with the town sheriff to uncover a group of thieves headquartered in the town hotel.
Analysis: The Cisco Kid is (say it with me now) a transplant, originally running on radio from1942 through to 1956. Two things make the television version of Cisco Kid unique however – first, this was one of the first Westerns broadcast on syndication, originally produced by Ziv Television, filling in programming holes on just about any station at any time outside of the prime time viewing hours. The second was Cisco Kid was originally shot and broadcast in color, but since color television was virtually nonexistent until the late 50s and not the standard until the early 1960s, very few people saw Cisco Kid in its original color form until much later.
As for the episode itself, well, the key plot doesn’t differ too much from Gene Autry, only in as much as Cisco Kid had more of the outlaw reputation where Autry was a “white hat” regardless of the circumstances. It does create for more dramatic and shaded gray situations for Cisco Kid though.
The Bottom Line: For starters, every episode of Cisco Kid we’re going to be discussing will be in color, so to approximate the original 1950s television experience, as with the One Hour in Wonderland broadcast, just turn down or turn off the color on your television. As for the show quality itself, well, it’s hit and miss, since MPI isn’t a big budget restoration company. The opening and closing credits are rather blurry and there’s an occasional audio muffle while watching the episode. That being said, it’s nothing more or less than you’d come to expect from a show that’s close to fifty years old, especially given that the show wasn’t exactly made for discriminating audiences.
If you are interested in seeing Medicine Flats, it’s included with 19 other episodes of Cisco Kid in The Cisco Kid: Collection 2 produced by MPI (http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-Kid-Collection-2/dp/B0001LJCX4/ref=sr_1_3?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1286758713&sr=1-3). You may want to shop around for lower prices, but between 15 and 19 dollars is pretty standard pricing.
Next time, more from The Cisco Kid.
Don't forget CISCO KID was the first TV Series based on a Radio Series Based on a Film Series based on short story.
ReplyDeleteZIV could afford to shoot in color as they would buy "trims", that is the film stock at the end of a film plant run while it was good stock,it was consitered "remants" and varied quality by the studios, it was afforable for independants like ZIV to use.
Ah yes, O'Henry's famous Robin Hood of the Old West. Cisco Kid has got enough episodes where I can cover it in almost excrutiating detail, if I wish.
ReplyDeleteDid not know that about ZIV. May explain why, while Cisco Kid is in color, it looks a little washed out. May be age too.
Matt:
ReplyDeleteHope all is well, despite your halt in posting. I’ve found them all quite interesting – but fear that, at this rate, you may never reach the sixties… the period I love best!
On the subject of the sixties, you may find my current entry interesting.
http://tiahblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/lsd-on-nbc-loong-tv-history-lesson.html
Joe T.
Thanks for staying tuned in and hope that you are enjoying the revival of the blog. Also, thanks for the article link, looking forward to getting caught up.
ReplyDelete