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DVD Film Noir Classic Collection (The Asphalt Jungle/Gun Crazy/Murder My Sweet/Out of the Past/The Set-Up)
Some boxed sets claim to be definitive, but are haphazardly selected. Not this one. Four of the five titles here can legitimately lay claim to being essentials in the film noir canon, and the fifth, The Set-Up, is a terrific boxing picture with a strong noir atmosphere. If you're a fan of noir--or have no idea what it's all about--this collection is a treat.
Of course, none of these movies were made as "film noir." The term was coined later by French critics to describe the moody, anxious feel of postwar American movies, especially the genre that highlighted duplicitous dames and susceptible men lost in the criminal jungle. Indeed, the title The Asphalt Jungle conveys the edgy urban arena of these pictures. That film is John Huston's masterly 1950 account of a heist, with Sterling Hayden the disenchanted, noirish hero. Joseph H. Lewis's Gun Crazy (1949) is one of the most supercharged (and sexually perverse) of noir films, with John Dall and Peggy Cummins as young criminals in love. Murder, My Sweet (1944) is a straight adaptation of Raymond Chandler's novel Farewell, My Lovely. Amid the film's shadowy chiaroscuro, former musical comedy star Dick Powell makes a career-changing transition as Chandler's private dick, Philip Marlowe. Out of the Past puts Robert Mitchum (perhaps the quintessential noir actor) in trouble with gangster Kirk Douglas, complicated by classic femme fatale Jane Greer. Jacques Tourneur provides the evocative direction. And The Set-Up plays out an ingenious boxing tale in "real time," superbly enacted by (former boxer) Robert Ryan. --Robert Horton
Review(s): DVD Film Noir Classic Collection (The Asphalt Jungle/Gun Crazy/Murder My Sweet/Out of the Past/The Set-Up)
Not worth the time
Ordered this set for my Dad for his birthday. NO SOUND! Changed all the sound options and NO SOUND!
Terrific collection of vintage noir films!
If you enjoy film noir movies from the 1940's and '50s, then this is a great set. The box set contains 5 movies. The picture quality overall is near perfect - all in glorious black and white. Here are my reviews of the 5 movies:
OUT OF THE PAST
The storyline of this movie revolves around a rural gas station owner in Nevada named Jeff Bailey (Robert Mitchum). Bailey is dating a sweet and innocent girl named a Meta Carson (Jane Greer). One day a man comes to town looking for Bailey. As it turns out, Bailey has a secret past as a private detective who was once hired to find a beautiful and dangerous woman named Kathy Moffit (Jane Greer) for a corrupt millionaire named Whit Sterling (Kirk Douglas). The assignment went wrong in many ways, but Bailey is coerced back to do one more job for Sterling. From this point on there is an elaborate and convoluted scheme of deception and betrayal.
Overall, the film has a great film noir look to it and the story is gripping. Mitchum does a stellar job as the cunning detective and Jane Greer is absolutely irresistible. Kirk Douglas also sparkles in this movie. It's also worth noting that this movie was later remade in the early '80s starring Jeff Bridges and Rachel Ward in "Against All Odds".
The DVD quality is near pristine overall, but some small specs of film deterioration could be seen once in a while during the course of the movie. The only bonus feature is commentary by film noir author James Ursini.
Movie: A
DVD Quality: A-
THE ASPHALT JUNGLE
The basic plot of the movie is that a highly educated convict Doc Erwin Riedenschneider (Sam Jeffe) is just released from prison. He then organizes a team of dubious characters to rob a million dollars worth of diamonds and precious metals from a highly secured jewelry store. Riedenschneider decides he needs some muscle or a "hooligan", so he hires a big countryboy named Dix Handley (Sterling Hayden). Also, they include the financial and "fencing" services of a wealthy criminal attorney named Lon Emmerich (Louis Calhern). From that point on there is plenty of suspense and drama as the big heist unfolds.
This movie was directed by Hollywood legend John Huston. The story itself isn't the greatest in my opinion, but the look of the movie captures the full artistry of noir film making. The movie was filmed in the seedier part of urban Los Angeles. The use of shadows and local lighting in dingy inner city settings make this movie a cinematic masterpiece. My only personal criticism of the film is that Sterling Hayden character was miscast. He played the role of the tough guy but seemed to be too easygoing and lacked ruthlessness. The Doc Riedenschneider and Lon Emmerich characters carried this movie into the upper echelon of noir crime films with their intelligent, yet immorally criminal schemes. We also get to see some limited viewing of a young and very beautiful Marilyn Monroe.
The DVD transfer is excellent overall and very sharp. On occasion some very minor film deterioration can be observed. The picture quality is razor sharp. The look of the movie (just about all it was filmed at night ) is gorgeous. There is bonus commentary by author and noir expert Drew Casper and actor James Whitmore.
Movie: A-
DVD Quality: B+
THE SET-UP
The Set-Up is a real-time boxing movie. In other words, it's a 72 minute movie that shows a continuous 72 minute story. The star is Stoker Thompson (Robert Ryan) who's a 35 year old boxer in the twilight of his less than glorious career. Even though he's taken some bad beatings of late, he still remains confident that he still has a promising future ahead of him. The plot involves Stoker's manager accepting a $50 bribe that will insure that Stoker will lose tonight's fight against a young and up-and-coming boxer. But since the manager is too cheap and too certain that Stoker will lose anyway, he fails to let Stoker know that a fix is on. The rest of the movie progresses on with gripping suspense and drama with plenty of boxing action.
I really liked this movie a lot. The name of the town where the story takes place is Paradise City, but its the furthest thing from utopia. The dingy boxing arena is in an old area of town surrounded with rundown hotels, bars, dance joints and arcades. Just about all of the main characters and the boxing patrons in the movie are unlikable people, but the underlying theme for everyone is optimism - trying to win an expensive item in an arcade game, or placing a bet on a boxing match or winning a boxing match - all hoping for a better future.
The DVD transfer is superb. There are virtually no signs of film deterioration throughout the entire film. The black and white tones are pure and the picture is razor sharp. The use of shadows and directed light is magnificantly done. The dark, urban setting works magic in this film. There is bonus commentary by director Robert Wise plus added comments by Martin Scoresese.
Movie: A-
DVD Quality: A
MURDER, MY SWEET
The storyline of this movie is that a private detective, Phillip Marlow (Dick Powell), gets involved in the recovery of a stolen jade necklace. The job initially seems simple, but the investigation gets more convulated and dangerous as time goes on. During the job, Marlow encounters two very attractive women (Claire Trevor and Anne Shirley) who also make the movie very watchable.
Overall, its a beautifully filmed movie. It clearly has the classic film noir style, but the substance of the plot gets so complicated that at times its too hard to follow, and finally has to end by explaining a lot of the twist and turns. It's a lot more of a murder-mystery movie than an crime-action film. I still strongly recommend this movie, but if you are like me, you will probably have to watch it twice to pickup all the subtle details of the story.
The DVD quality is excellent overall, but some small specs of film deterioration could be seen once in a while during the course of the movie. It's not a perfect picture presentation, but near perfect. The only bonus features are commentary by film noir author Alan Silver and the original theater trailer.
Movie: B+
DVD Quality: A-
GUN CRAZY
The story starts with a teenage boy named Bart who is obsessed with guns. He's so obsessed that he has to steal one and gets caught and goes to reform school for four years. After finishing school he does four years in the army as a shooting instructor and then finally comes back to his hometown and sees his old friends. Bart (adult character played by John Dall) then goes with his friends to a carnival and sees a shooting exhibition by an attractive young blonde woman named Annie Laurie Starr (Peggy Cummins). He beats her in a shooting contest and then joins the act. From that point on, it sets the stage for strange romance, plus some action and adventure with the gun-happy couple.
This DVD was one of five DVD released by Warner Brothers in the Film Noir Classics Collection Volume 1. Unlike the four others, the acting and script seemed second rate compared to the other four. The main character Bart, didn't seem very convincing in his role. Also, the movie has the feel of one of those teen explotation movies from the 1950's preaching the evils of firearm use rather than a dark, crime film. But overall, the movie is still very watchable and at times quite entertaining.
The DVD picture quality was terrific. It was very rare to see a spec of film deterioration anywhere in the movie. The sound was satisfactory. The only bonus is commentary by Glenn Erickson.
Movie: B-
DVD Quality: A
Great Classic Dark Film Noir
these are some of the Greatest Classic Film Noir, well worth watching! Very Dark Black & white surreal atmosphere.
Great plots without the sex, blood & gore you see nowadays!
answer to Carlos question: bogart already has 2 of his very own Classic Collections! =) see:
The Bogart Collection (Casablanca/The Maltese Falcon/To Have and Have Not/The Big Sleep/The Treasure of the Sierra Madre)
ASIN: B0000TG48S
and
The Humphrey Bogart Collection (The Big Sleep/The Maltese Falcon/Casablanca/Key Largo)
ASIN: B00004XMRW
he's also in:
The Warner Gangsters Collection
ASIN: B0006HBV3M
Question:(I haven't watched the collection but..., May 11, 2005
Reviewer: Carlos Brantley "Cab" (CT) - See all my reviews
*what kind of a film noir collection doesn't have any Humphrey Bogart? His films are the epitome of the film noir genre and cannot be excluded from any collection of this genre.)
Related DVD's Film Noir Classic Collection (The Asphalt Jungle/Gun Crazy/Murder My Sweet/Out of the Past/The Set-Up)
For a knock-out combination of timeless entertainment and vintage studio history, you can't do much better than The Warner Brothers Gangsters Collection. In the 1930s and '40s, Paramount specialized in glossy comedies, MGM popularized lavish musicals, Universal produced signature horror classics, and Fox scored hits with sophisticated dramas. But it was Warner Bros. that generated controversy--if not always box-office profits--with so-called "social problem" films, and that meant gangsters. When viewed in their pre- and post-Prohibition context and in chronological order (Little Caesar and The Public Enemy, 1931; The Petrified Forest, 1936; Angels With Dirty Faces, 1938; The Roaring Twenties, 1939; White Heat, 1949), these six films... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): James Cagney - Humphrey Bogart - Edward G. Robinson DVD Release Date: Released the 25 January 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This silky smooth film noir pits gruff police detective Dana Andrews, stiff and blunt in his street-bred manners, against a cultured columnist and acidic wit (Clifton Webb at his prissiest) in a battle of wits during a murder investigation. The cop is a romantic hiding under a hard-boiled exterior who falls in love with the beautiful victim through the portrait that hangs in her apartment. Gene Tierney, whose heart-shaped face mixes the exotic with the girl next door, brings the poise and calm of a model to her role as the object of every man's gaze and the target of a killer. Laura, handsomely shot in dreamy black and white, is the first and best of Otto Preminger's cool, controlled murder mysteries. In the gritty world of film noir it remains the most refined and elegant example... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gene Tierney - Dana Andrews Director(s): Rouben Mamoulian - Otto Preminger DVD Release Date: Released the 15 March 2005 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.
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Film noir is such a rich cinematic zone that second-tier specimens compel nearly as much fascination as the classics. At a glance, Volume 2 of Warner Bros.' (ever-expanding, we hope) Film Noir Collection is a distinct step down from Volume 1--inevitable when you've launched your series with five landmark titles, including three outright noir masterpieces (The Asphalt Jungle, Gun Crazy, Out of the Past). But linger beyond that first glance, because the second set is a flavorful mix of sleazoid iconography (two vehicles for B-movie bad boy Lawrence Tierney), an offbeat outing for a major director (Fritz Lang in his Howard Hughes RKO period), Poverty Row production circumstances that encourage aggressively peculiar, verging-on-radical filmmaking (the... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Claire Trevor DVD Release Date: Released the 05 July 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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