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DVD The Set-Up
This riveting, gut-punching boxing picture plays out in something close to "real time." We are locked in with an over-the-hill pug (Robert Ryan) as he arrives at an arena for a match against a younger opponent. What he doesn't know yet is that his crooked manager has agreed to throw the fight for some gangsters--so Ryan has more than one battle on his hands as each bruising round goes by. At a lean, mean 72 minutes, The Set-Up manages to load the essential film noir themes into one potent package, excitingly delivered with no breathing room. Director Robert Wise would go on to make such mega-productions as The Sound of Music, which only makes you appreciate his economy here. And the movie's a fine showcase for tall, craggy Robert Ryan, one of the great under-sung actors in American movies, who was a boxer himself before becoming an actor. --Robert Horton
Simply put this is a masterpiece. Presumably the belated praise "The Set-Up" is owed will come its way with this new DVD release. Director Robert Wise has some very good films to his credit but this is tour de force. The camera work and editing are unparalleled. The film's myriad minor characters are magically revealed by short (but never choppy) camera shots. "The Set-Up" is the story of an aging boxer hoping that one last fight can turn around his career and thus his life. Shady gamblers and corrupt fight handlers have other ideas. The setting is the fictional Paradise City, a grimy, cynical fast-paced and totally unsentimental city. Much of the action takes place in the boxing arena featuring some of the best fight sequences ever shot. But a scene in a bar is memorable as are shots following the boxer's unhappy girlfriend. The movie is shot in real time, only 72 minutes, but what a 72 minutes it is. Never has so much of a story been told in so short a time. Adding to the value of this DVD is the accompanying commentary provided by Wise and Martin Scorsese. Scorsese is not only one of the great directors of all time but is also wonderful in the burgeoning field of DVD film commentary. He has forgotten more about film than most of us will ever know. His speaking style is not just insightful but engaging. Just listen to him explain "The Set-Up"s stylized realism. But watch "The Set-Up" first without the commentary, then enjoy and appreciate it even more with it. A great film lover's film.
Next stop, "Paradise City"!
This is one of the best boxing films of all time & has some truly intense fight scenes that would impress any Raging Bull fan! It is also a terrific film noir with two of the genre's underappreciated icons: Robert Ryan & Audrey Totter. Robert Wise's skillful direction, especially of the lengthy fight scene is flawless. Robert Ryan stars as an over-the-hill boxer who's been on a losing streak & who desperately wants to win a match so that he & his wife (Audrey Totter) will have more money. But it's much more than that. He also wants to regain his pride & self-respect. His manager has made a deal with the opposing fighter's team that Ryan will take a dive in the 3rd round. There's just one problem: Ryan doesn't know about the "set-up". What happens next is one of the most realistic boxing scenes in the history of cinema! You see the bloodthirsty & crazed fans screaming as Ryan tries to survive against a much younger fighter who's overly confident because of the "fix". As the fight progresses Ryan's opponent realizes that Ryan has no plans of taking a dive & things get ugly. The camerawork during the fight is incredible: I felt like I was in the ring & found myself flinching as Ryan took some hard punches. Don't worry, I won't spoil the ending! The dvd has a superb picture quality & an interesting commentary by director Robert Wise & Martin Scorsese. Although the film is only 72 minutes I think it's truly a great masterpiece, & I also recommend these: Body & Soul, Champion, & Raging Bull.
SUPERB FILM NOIR FROM ROBERT WISE IS A GREAT DVD!
Long before television's "24", Robert Wise gave us this 1949 film-noir classic, set in "real-time" against a boxing milieu.
An exceptional performance from Robert Ryan, with great support from a seasoned troupe of film favorites, THE SET-UP will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.
The DVD looks marvelous, the best I have ever seen of this film. It captures the essence of the RKO-noir look, and is genuinely film-like. Don't be swayed by these neophytes who negate a video transfer because it has "age-related artifacts". What hooey! Not every film has to undergo a million dollar digitization to look as good as it did when it was new, and THE SET-UP has surely never looked better!
An added treat are insightful commentary thoughts from the film's director Mr. Wise, and another legendary director who seems to like the movie. Some guy named Marty Scorsese. :)
A certified film noir classic, Criss Cross embraces the genre's darkness with an uncompromising tale of doomed lovers and multilayered betrayal. Reuniting with director Robert Siodmak after their success with The Killers, Burt Lancaster plays a love-struck loser who seals his fate when he returns to Los Angeles to find his ex-wife (Yvonne DeCarlo) eager to rekindle their love against all better judgment. She encourages their torrid affair but marries a mobster (Dan Duryea); to deflect suspicion, Lancaster lures Duryea into an armored-truck robbery, creating a vortex of greed and passion from which he cannot escape. Featuring the brief screen debut of Tony Curtis, Criss Cross is a stylish masterpiece of clashing fates and fatal attractions; Franz Planer's... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Burt Lancaster - Yvonne De Carlo Director(s): Robert Siodmak DVD Release Date: Released the 06 July 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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"Build my gallows high, baby"--just one of the quintessentially noir sentiments expressed by Robert Mitchum in this classic of the genre. Mitchum, in absolute prime, sleepy-eyed form, relates a complicated flashback about getting hired by gangster Kirk Douglas to find femme fatale Jane Greer. The chain of film noir elements--love, money, lies--drags Mitchum into the lower depths. Director Jacques Tourneur gets the edgy negotiations between men and women as exactly right as he gets the inky shadows of the noir landscape (even the sunlit exteriors are fraught with doubt). This is Mitchum in excelsis, with his usual laid-back cool laced with great dialogue and tragic foreshadowing. As for his co-star, James Agee immortally opined that Jane Greer "can best be described, in an ancient idiom,... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Robert Mitchum - Jane Greer - Kirk Douglas Director(s): Jacques Tourneur DVD Release Date: Released the 06 July 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The dark urban world of The Asphalt Jungle is one of the essential destinations in film noir, but be warned: despite tough guy Sterling Hayden's dreams of bucolic escape, there is no way out. John Huston directed this superbly calibrated crime classic, which displays his usual wry appreciation of fringies and down-and-outers. This time the task for Huston's eccentric ensemble is a jewel robbery, which--this being a Huston film--can't possibly work out as well as its plan. The cast includes Sam Jaffee, indelible as a criminal mastermind, and the pre-stardom Marilyn Monroe. Hayden plays the kind of mug he would revisit in Stanley Kubrick's The Killing, which is an informal homage to this film. And the film's look is definitive: both artful and gritty, it creates a noir... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Sterling Hayden - Louis Calhern Director(s): John Huston DVD Release Date: Released the 06 July 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The synopsis of this film is that a beautiful singer Mavis Marlowe (Constance Dowling) is separated from her alcoholic husband Martin Blair (Dan Duryea) and refuses to even let him visit her in her swanky high-rise apartment. This depresses Martin so much that he goes on a major bender, but on that same night Mavis is discovered murdered in her apartment by man named Kirk Bennett (John Phillips). While in the apartment, Bennett realizes that someone else is in the apartment, possibly the murderer, but somehow this person slips past Bennett. For some reason Bennett decides not to call the police but instead flees the scene of the crime but is seen by Mavis's maid. The police come to Bennett's home and break the news to his wife... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Dan Duryea - June Vincent - Peter Lorre Director(s): Roy William Neill DVD Release Date: Released the 06 July 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Alan Ladd is razor sharp as Raven, a contract killer who likes cats and kills witnesses. The first 15 minutes of this film is excellent noir. A hit man (Ladd) lives in a shabby hotel, when the smart mouthed maid enters to clean she slaps his kitten aside, prompting Ladd to knock her to the floor, tearing her dress. Ladd then proceeds to his first job in the film and on the way up the stairs en route to the apartment where his soon-to-be victim resides he encounters a girl in leg braces. Ladd is so good, as is the directing, we are not sure if he is going to retrieve the ball that has bounced out of her reach or blow her brains out with his Colt .32 pistol.
Also excellent is the photography, set between San Francisco and Los Angeles, many great shots include a gas works... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Veronica Lake - Alan Ladd Director(s): Frank Tuttle DVD Release Date: Released the 06 July 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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