Medicine ball-shaped William Conrad, nearly as rotund as Violet Beauregarde after turning into a giant blueberry in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, returns as the exclusive, Los Angeles-based private eye Frank Cannon in CBS DVD's Cannon - Season One, Volume Two, a collection of 13 episodes - the second-half of the 1971-72 season.

A Quinn Martin production, Cannon at times is a strictly by-the-numbers detective series, but with an unusual gimmick - in one episode here Cannon's prey gets away because the fat P.I. gets wedged between two parked cars. (Cannon himself drives an equally expansive Lincoln Continental Mark IV, known to fans as the Cannonmobile.) And yet the best episodes are strong detective yarns, and Conrad's performances carry, uh, considerable weight. He's terrific and rather surprising; though he played gangsters and assassin-types early in his career, Cannon seems to play more off his starring role as U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon in the radio version of Gunsmoke.

Act One

More than most such shows, Cannon has the flavor of pulp detective stories; Conrad must have been drawn to this, as both his later starring series, Nero Wolfe and Jake and the Fatman also reflected this. The set's first episode, "Death is a Double-Cross," exemplifies this approach, as well as one of the series biggest draws. A millionaire hires Frank Cannon to protect his estranged adult daughter and her two children (future teen heartthrob Leif Garrett and real-life sister Dawn Lyn) on a cross-country train ride to Los Angeles. Cannon gets aboard the train and becomes friendly with the family without revealing his identity, winning the kids over easily and earning the mother's (Marianne McAndrew) respect in the process. Despite TV-budget cost-cutting, the episode is reminiscent of films like Terror by Night and The Narrow Margin. Cannon's concern for the kids' welfare and their mother's troubles is powerful because Conrad's performance is so sincere.

Indeed, Cannon usually works best when Cannon works undercover and becomes involved in other people's lives - a throwback to Quinn Martin's earlier hit, The Fugitive.

Act Two

Other episodes attempt to present Cannon with unusual/intriguing problems to be solved, and oftentimes his clients are misleading or dishonest when not outright murderous. In "The Nowhere Man," guest star Ed Nelson, playing a chemical plant company executive, hires Cannon to locate an accountant (Fritz Weaver) who's stolen company funds, but in fact the man is holding a canister of deadly nerve gas hostage. (Spoilers) Further, Nelson's actually pulling the strings, as part of a larger plot to steal the ransom money from Weaver's accountant, who's merely an anti-chemical weapons advocate. Quite similar to a much-superior Hawaii Five-O two-parter ("Three Dead Cows at Makapuu"), "The Nowhere Man" isn't nearly as good or politically daring, but it's a suspenseful episode.

Some of these story-driven episodes are quite good. In "Flight Plan," Cesare Danova* plays a political exile who wants to turn Cannon's skill at finding missing persons on its head - he wants to get lost, to become an untraceable missing person. Cannon prepares an elaborate itinerary and list of instructions for the man to follow, but then he double-crosses Cannon to really cover his tracks. The episode then follows Cannon across Mexico as he tries to thwart his own elaborate ruse.

Quinn Martin's shows were famous for attracting top guest star talent, often character stars that might alternate between several QM shows each season. Among those appearing here (beyond those mentioned above): Jeanne Cooper, Barney Phillips, Robert Webber, John Fiedler, Barbara Luna, Victor Millian, Martin Sheen, Daniel J. Travanti, Collin Wilcox, Ned Glass, James Sikking, Val Avery, Tab Hunter, Paul Petersen, Alejandro Ray, Warren Stevens, Theodore Bikel, Christopher Connelly, Ivor Francis, Ross Elliott, Arthur Franz, Geoffrey Lewis, Vera Miles, Michael Strong, John Zaremba, James Olson, Jacqueline Scott, H.M. Wynant, Keenan Wynn, Lynette Mettey, Keith Andes, William Hansen, John Larch, Anne Lockhart, Allyn Ann McLerie, Ed Lauter, Gerald S. O'Loughlin, Joyce Van Patten, Jason Wingreen, Anthony Zerbe, Richard Carlson, David Birney, Bradford Dillman, Tom Drake, Dana Elcar, and Larry Blyden.

Some of the better episodes were directed by Richard Donner, soon to move onto bigger and better things; other regular helmers include Seymour Robbie, George McCowan, and Don Taylor.

Act Three

Alas, as with Season 1, Volume One, Cannon doesn't look so hot on DVD. The full frame transfers are very soft and muddy, with weak color and contrast. Either these are old masters recycled for DVD to save money, or better elements aren't available or weren't provided to CBS/Paramount. (I suspect they're just trying to save dough.) On smaller sets Cannon looks okay (just) but this release is a very far cry from CBS DVDs releases of contemporary shows like Hawaii Five-O and Mission: Impossible, to say nothing of other QM titles like The Invaders or The Streets of San Francisco.

Audio is mono English only with no subtitle options. The set is spread over four single-sided discs.

Act Four

The only supplement is bland episodic promos on selected episodes. It'd be nice if CBS brought in a TV historian or a writer and/or director like Richard Donner for an audio commentary to discuss the show but, so far, no dice.

Epilogue

Cannon - Season One, Volume Two has mediocre transfers of sometimes routine but occasionally above average material, and star William Conrad is fun to watch in every episode regardless of its quality. Though something of a mixed bag, it's Recommended.

* One of the great things about the opening credits is that the names of the guest stars are read aloud, educating the viewer about the correct pronunciation of actors' names, as in Cesare Danova (CHEYZ-are-ray Da-NOVA).

　 Film historian Stuart Galbraith IV's latest book, Japanese Cinema, is now available for pre-order.