Several years ago, Universal released “Season One” and followed it with “Season Two” of the beloved TV show LEAVE IT TO BEAVER. And then nothing, leaving fans without closure for the remaining four season’s episodes. Here now from Shout! Factory is “The Complete Series” of the breakthrough TV sitcom that ran from 1957 to 1963 that gently mocks -- and caresses -- middle class, heartland American family with a dad that didn’t have all the answers.

It was an innocent time and the growing pains usually revolved around the dissonance between Beaver and Wally who are about five years apart. Simple set-ups generate honest yuks. For instance in “Season One,” Beaver, told not to hurt his baby sitting spinster aunt’s feelings is forced to wear short pants she bought for him to wear to third grade. Or Wally is dealing with a crush on a girl in a dance class and can’t take Beaver fishing.

As the family grows six years older, the dynamics remain the same: young mischievous Beaver, his cool big brother Wally, flawed but well-meaning dad Ward and wise, together mom June. And of course Eddie Haskell, Wally’s bratty pal.

I was surprised at how well this series holds up. I laughed out loud (and so did my two boys who “related”) at these retro, gentle, often quirky comic episodes with their comfy back lot exteriors and feel good conclusions.

Starring Jerry Mathers, Tony Dow, Hugh Beaumont, Barbara Billingsly and inspired by the real family lives of creators Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, the iconic show was the first that skewed the view through the eyes and heart and mind of a young boy. Looking back from the 21st Century, the other thing that it captured was the fast-eroding ideal of what an American family should look and act like. Dad dressed up for dinner and always wore a tie; mom wore pearls and always dressed up for her family. The boys were able to maintain a semblance of innocence and were free from the addictive and distracting influences of video games and the internet. However, there was always the duplicitous, snarky Eddie Haskell who could rationalize any behavior that violated family ethics. (Ironically, the actor playing Haskell later became a cop and had numerous run-ins with people he stopped for speeding who would laugh when they recognized him.) It’s hard not to feel a sense of loss when watching this series. How much the world has changed in half a century. We may have gained knowledge but have perhaps lost something even more valuable.

The family genuinely loved each other. The stories were gentle and the lessons-learned were authentic. Dad was not a dope and mom was not reluctant to hug her boys and always spoke up. Although the show never had an agenda or preached, dad would suggest solutions to the dilemmas in which his boys found themselves. Middle class life was never better in a world that was stable, moral, mostly white and Christian. But even though that happened to be the demographics of the Cleaver neighborhood, they were without the prejudices that go with that territory.

The Evidence
Surprisingly, the show was not a big hit in its initial run. It rarely was in the top 30 shows as tracked by the Nielson Co. CBS canceled it after its first year when it could not compete with “Rin Tin Tin.” ABC picked it up and scheduled it opposite “I Love Lucy,” where it didn’t do much better. But when the series ended and it went into syndication, it played very well on weekday afternoons and was popular with a generation of kids and parents dangling on the fraying strands of certainty that followed the innocence of the Eisenhower Era.

Shout! Factory has compiled 234 episodes.

A bonus disc contains: the rarely seen pilot episode “It’s a Small World” which features only Jerry Mathers and Barbara Billingsley and character actor Casey Adams playing the dad with Paul Sullivan portraying Wally. Also included is “Leave It To Beaver”— U.S. Treasury Film captures a very rough looking promotional episode that encouraged viewers to invest in treasury bonds. A featurette “Forever the Beaver — The Cleavers Look Back,” has 2005 interviews with Barbara Billingsley, Jerry Mathers, and Tony Dow. Another featurette, “Ken Osmond and Frank Bank Remember,” focuses on Ken Osmond (Eddie Haskell) and Frank Bank (Lumpy) remembering the show.

Closing Statement
On the Universal tour, the Cleaver house is still among the more popular locations people ask to see. It is less than ironic and maybe a little sad that it is now used as part of the street set for “Desperate Housewives.”
It boggles the mind to imagine a world where Wally and The Beaver stumble across the activities of the families that moved in around them! “Gee Beav, dad’s gonna be mad.” Indeed.
This DVD set is perfect nostalgia for the generation of baby boomers approaching retirement.





Michael Haneke’s striking black and white film won the Palme d’Or at Cannes last year. Disturbing and beautiful in its stark composition, the restrained drama takes place in a German village as World War I begins.

The village seems safe enough under the stern authoritarian rule of the town’s elders. But when a doctor’s horse falls victim to a cruel prank –- or is it something much worse? –- subtle changes are manifest in the village. Suspicions generate fear and fear triggers severe actions that suggest a pathology that will eventually grow into a nation that embraces Hitler. Here is a bold look at the seeds of familial rules, rituals and punishments that infect a community to blindly committing to great evil.

Much is implied in this brilliant film that leaves a lot up to the viewer. Much of the action takes place off screen but the repercussions are in full view. Allegorical certainly and rich in the metaphors of what we have come to know as European cinema, I think it compares favorably with Ingmar Bergman’s best work. I was reminded of VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED.

This is an important film that works first and foremost as a kind of horror story. The embedded implications of trying explain the nature and process of evil energize the often-understated scenes with an aura of impending doom. The extraordinary cast of mostly unknowns, especially the children, is pitch perfect. I can’t imagine how they were chosen or the audition process. Their amazing faces tell the story when words cannot. The Austrian director is best known for FUNNY GAMES and CACHE. This film experience will linger in the mind long after the final fade out.







A healthy father and daughter relationship literally ride the rails in director Carol Reed’s fast-paced, twisting, classic cloak-and-dagger thrill ride. Reed, best known for THE THIRD MAN, delivered a rousing film that 1940 audiences cheered. Finally on DVD, the story of Nazis chasing a Czech scientist and his daughter through the Swiss Alps mixes comedy, romance and suspense without sidetracking the seriousness of the WWII era story. Paul Heinreid (CASABLANCA) and Maragaret Lockwood are the father and daughter in peril and Rex Harrison is a suave British undercover agent who comes to their aid. This long overlooked film was a kind of unofficial sequel to Hitchcock’s THE LADY VANISHES and definitely continues the high quality of the former in every way.








In heartland America, a plane crashes into a local water supply. It carries a secret biological weapon and it’s making the population crazy. A couple – she’s a doc and he’s a cop – fight their way out of a government sanctioned quarantine that mandates total annihilation. Not only that, the infected populace are acting like killer mutant zombies. Our hero couple are devoted, fiercely protective and pregnant but we know nothing about them as human beings and their gory battle is tedious and pointless since the government is going to nuke them and whatever town the eventually flee to at some point. Brent Eisner, Michael’s boy, directed with a heavy hand.