Code 3 (1957) User Reviews (2)

Definitely Worth a Look

[kidboots · 8/10 · 7 March 2013]

"Dragnet" ushered in a myriad of nitty gritty police dramas, it seemed every department could boast of it's own show - "Racket Squad", "Federal Men" etc. "Code 3" was a realistic look at police procedure and it was good but not good enough to erase memories of just how innovative "Dragnet" was.

The first thing I noticed about the few episodes I have was just how old Tom Brown looked!!! In the early 30s he was so fresh faced, he even played Gilbert Blyth in 1934's "Anne of Green Gables", twenty years on he was distinctly looking his age. That was in the episode "The Rookie Sheriff" which starred Peter Van Eyck as an older rookie who just can't get used to the free and easy methods of training the American recruits. I also thought - what happened to those patient policemen?? In one scene Van Eyck explodes after a drunk disrespects his uniform and his fellow policemen give him a lecture about America being the land of the free, anyone can say what they want to the police - that's what makes America so great. What happened to those times???

"The Man With Many Faces" dealt with forgery. Whit Bissell plays a kindly accountant who will do anything to see his dying daughter gets the best of care - even if it means resorting to forgery. Sally Blane starred as the nurse. "The Sniper" has Ron Randall doing his best Humphrey Bogart impression as a surly real estate salesman who's career is going nowhere. There is a sniper loose in the county and Randall becomes a copycat trying to target his wife and frighten her into being submissive - the way he feels a wife should be. The last episode I have is "The Benson Case" which is set in a woman's prison and tells the story of Bonnie Benson, a woman with a hair trigger temper who is awaiting trial for beating an elderly man to death (I thought shades of Barbara Graham who would have been news at the time due to Susan Hayward's "I Want to Live") and her relentless efforts to track down a prison officer "plant" in her section. Ann Doran is the only "name" in this episode, she plays the kindly matron, always ready with a wisecrack and a cigarette.

"Code 3" can be found in "Best of TV Detectives" and is well worth a look.

Interesting 1950s crime drama

[Paularoc · 5/10 · 23 May 2012]

Code 3 (a term signifying an emergency and that police in patrol cars should use lights and sirens) was supposedly based on actual case files of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. I saw three episodes (The Man With Many Faces, The Rookie and The Sniper) on the Matinée Classics site. In each of these, actor Richard Travis as Assistant Sheriff made opening and closing remarks and the actual Sheriff of LA County, Eugene Bisciluz, ended the program with thanking the audience and other brief remarks. Travis was the only recurring actor in every episode (a few actors and their characters had two or three appearances). Evidently, the show was developed to compete with either Dragnet or Highway Patrol (sources differ as to which but it doesn't matter – there were a number of documentary like crime dramas on TV in the 50s). The show lasted one season. The biggest problem with it for me was that the Travis character added nothing to the show and thus the show had no lead actor or recurring support characters. The shows were good but now are nice to watch mostly for historical interest. The only television show from the 50s and 60s that I regularly watch is Perry Mason and it was a hoot to recognize so many actors who had played on that show in this one including Whit Bissell, Peter Leeds, Osa Massen and Fredd Wayne.