The Big Casing

"The Big Casing" is a really, really good episode of "Dragnet". The plot offers some wonderful twists and demonstrates that excellent forensic work was occurring back in the dark ages of the 1950s! I say this because shows like "CSI" and "NCIS" would make it appear like this aspect of police work is brand-new...which it certainly isn't.

The show begins with what appears to be a simple open and shut case of murder. A man says that his wife killed herself but the clues all make it appear as if he's lying and he killed her himself. After all, they constantly fought, he had a bad temper and it was his gun. But, as the episode progresses, you are struck by how the man INSISTS that in spite of this and so much more that he is innocent. Sergeants Friday (Jack Webb) and Jacobs (Barney Phillips) are just about to arrest the guy when they get a phone call from their forensics expert--and he has a few surprises to offer.

I really liked this episode. It was very well acted, had a great story and you could follow the forensics work step by step to see how they ended up dissecting the story. Fascinating and among the best episodes I've seen from the show. However, it sure was a lot more graphic than the later "Dragnet" series--which you'll most likely notice if you give this one a viewing.

Friday and Jacobs are called to the apartment of a man who claims his wife killed herself. However, the crime scene and the neighbors suggest murder.

This is a really good episode because of the way the boys and the crime lab worked together to solve the case. It looked simple on the surface, but became more complicated as time went on.

All of these episodes focus on minutia and the mundane aspects of police work, but that actually adds to the realism and keeps your attention as you wonder if that particular detail mattered.

I found this episode and others on www.archive.org. Recommended.

Webb and his partner are called to the scene of the shooting death of a woman. Her husband sits calmly on the couch and describes what happened - They had been fighting all day and then his wife grabbed his revolver out of the desk and shot herself in the kitchen. Apparently the couple argued constantly. The fights were so loud all of the neighbors were aware of their constant bickering. At one time the woman went to a neighbor's apartment claiming that she was so afraid of her husband that she thought he might kill her.

A preliminary investigation indicates that the husband is lying and that he was the one who killed her and that it was not a suicide as he claims. Yet, even after being confronted by the fact that the evidence does not support his claims he still insists his wife committed suicide. Complications ensue.

These early Dragnets don't have the budget that the later ones had in the late 60s and 70s. With just a couple of sets and very little action, this half hour show manages to be quite compelling.

So how do you rivet an audience when you've only got a couple of sets, a small cast, no women, and no action. Fortunately, Webb knows how. As director, writer, and main actor, he rivets us with a suspenseful plot, first-rate acting, and well-chosen close-ups. So, did Robertson (Bartell) murder his wife or did she commit suicide. The murder scene looks like he did it. Then too, neighbors say he did it, all the while he appears not to be grieving. But what will the lab say. Webb always understood the human drama behind crime. Here, his use of compelling close-ups during the grilling procedure really pulls us in. It's the personal level of what's at stake that really registers. Note too how Webb dwells a bit on the crime photographer photographing the crime scene. It may not be exciting, but it adds to the realism of Robertson's predicament. All in all, the various threads add up to an engrossing, if spare, human drama. Dragnet, the series, may have been airbrushed in many ways by its early '50's time period. Nonetheless, Webb was a master of the crime detection essentials as shown by this suspenseful entry.