Customer Reviews

Film Noir Classic Collection, Volume Two (Born to Kill / Clash by Night / Crossfire / Dillinger (1945) / The Narrow Margin (1952))

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had the privlege of borrowing this boxed set from a critic-pal of mine, as it hasn't hit the street yet. My copy is already on order.

After delivering one of the best boxed sets of 2004 with their first FILM NOIR COLLECTION, Warner Brothers once again hits the bell with a gorgeous collection of 5 stellar noirs, with great transfers and beautiful packaging.

Noir hero Lawrence Tierney stars in two entries here, the underrated BORN TO KILL, and the rarely seen Monogram programmer DILLNGER. He had an amazing screen persona, which makes it doubly sad that his personal problems put the kabosh on his screen career. But in these two films, he is at his best, especially in his breakthrough role in DILLINGER, which most certainly is a hard-boiled film noir that had to be made at B-studio Monogram, because the major studios weren't allowed to "glorify" criminals in that era.

My favorite film in the pack is Richard Fleischer's THE NARROW MARGIN, which moves along at a break-neck pace, and is presented here not only in a sparkling print, but with comments on the audio track from the director.

One of the greatest of all directors, Fritz Lang, created a tense and brooding drama of lust and betrayal with CLASH BY NIGHT, boosted by terrific performances by noir legends Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Ryan, and an early, but memorable performance by Marilyn Monroe who looks as magnificent as ever.

Last, but certainly not least, is the heralded classic CROSSFIRE, with Robert Mitchum and Robert Ryan, in a smoldering tale that deals with hatred, murder, and anti-Semitism. This was a breakthrough film, and comes with a great commentary track that features comments from its late, great director Edward Dmytryk.

No serious cinephile will be disappointed in this splendid collection.

The first set of the Film Noir Classic Collection was chock full of great movies, so I was naturally looking forward to the second set. Volume 2, happily, is also a good collection, not quite at the par of the first set but still with five decent-to-great movies. And if they play a little faster and looser with the definition of film noir in this set, that doesn't deprive the collection of its value.

First viewed (I tried watching them in chronological order) is Dillinger, a fictional biography of the real-life criminal John Dillinger. This movie stars Lawrence Tierney as the title character, a generally cold-hearted killer who is a cunning bank robber. For those most familiar with Tierney from his role as a crime boss in Reservoir Dogs, this is a showcase for the actor in his prime. The movie itself is more of an old-fashioned gangster movie (similar to the ones in the Warner Gangster Collection) than a true noir movie, but it is nonetheless good, though too much the B movie to be great.

Second is Crossfire, a more true noir film dealing with anti-Semitism. Starring three Roberts - Ryan, Young and Mitchum - it gets somewhat preachy towards the end which makes it merely good instead of great. Although the focus of the story shifts from character to character, the true star is Ryan as a hateful psychopath. Mitchum is good but underutilized and Young is competent but relatively boring.

The gem of the collection is Born to Kill, with Lawrence Tierney and Claire Trevor in a tale of classic film noir complete with femme fatales, murder and plenty of shady characters. Tierney plays a man on the lam after killing his girlfriend and her date (an ill-conceived attempt to get Tierney jealous). Soon he meets Trevor, but finding her engaged, woos and marries her wealthy step-sister. That doesn't stop Trevor and Tierney from their own star-crossed romance and soon enough there is more death. Directed by Robert Wise (also responsible for The Set-Up, and in other genres, The Day the Earth Stood Still, West Side Story and Sound of Music), this is one of the classics of the noir genre.

Almost as good is Narrow Margin, the one movie with lesser stars such as Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor. The story is about a cop escorting a reluctant witness on a train ride from Chicago to Los Angeles; also aboard the train are killers who don't know what the witness looks like, but are certain that McGraw is protecting her. This leads to mix-ups and plot twists that are ironic but rarely comic. This is one of the great "train thrillers," a neat sub-genre that includes such classics as The Lady Vanishes and North by Northwest.

Finally, there is Clash by Night. Although the use of lighting and dialogue is noirish, this movie is not film noir but rather a soap opera with a romantic triangle of Barbara Stanwyck as the woman with the past, Paul Douglas as her benevolent but rather simple husband and Robert Ryan as the callous friend who insinuates himself into her life. Marilyn Monroe has a small role but as always, steals her scenes. Playing her boyfriend is Keith Andes, a guy who was supposed to be the next big thing but never made it.

All the discs come with commentaries that are often illuminating. Born to Kill and Narrow Margin are five-star flicks; the others are four stars. That averages to 4.4, but I will round up because of the extras. Even if these are not all truly film noir, this is a great collection and well-worth the viewing if you enjoy classic movies.

Although this set is not loaded with as many classics as Warner's first noir box (I don't think the quality of that box set can ever be equalled), it is loaded with fine examples of the genre.

I am sure some reviewers (some already have) will criticize the films in this box and in future Warner fim noir box sets. Something those people need to understand is that Warner likely does not own the rights to many of the films that they may want to see included - Criterion released "Thieves Highway", Fox released "Nightmare Alley", and many other classics, including "Double Indemnity" are owned by some company other that Warner and have not released those films yet.

Personally, I feel that any release of classic noir, especially with the care and extras that Warner gives it, is worth five stars.

Overall this is a highly recommended set of five different movies. All are digitally remastered, but some could have used some restoration and that's why I'm giving the box set four stars instead of five. It's still a must have package for the classic noir fan. If you have even the slightest interest in buying any two of the five movies offered, then it well worth buying the box set and not the individual DVDs. Here are my reviews of the five DVDs included in this package:



BORN TO KILL

The story starts in Reno, Nevada where Helen Brent (Claire Trevor) receives a divorce. She goes home to a boarding house and overhears a young woman named Laury discussing her love life with an older, drunken woman named Mrs Kraft. At one point, Laury tells Mrs. Kraft that she is going out with a different man tonight simply to make her steady boyfriend Sam Wilde (Lawrence Tierney) jealous. Sam runs into the dating couple later that evening at a casino. Later that night Sam confronts Laury's date in the boardinghouse kitchen and a violent fight insues and Sam, in impressive fashion, kills the other man. Laury then comes in the kitchen and discovers the body and then Sam kills her. Shortly thereafter Helen returns home and finds the dead couple but for some reasons decides not to call the police and instead takes a train to San Francisco. Just by coincidence, Sam takes the same train and sits with her and this sets up a turbulent, yet fascinating relationship between the two for the rest of the movie.

I really enjoyed this movie for a number of reasons. First, the beautiful Claire Trevor plays a morally bankrupt golddigger, but does it with such superficial charm and grace. Second, there are some other memorable performances by Walter Slezak who plays an articulate, but morally depraved detective and Elisha Cook Jr. does a fine job as Sam's pint-sized sidekick. But most of all, Lawrence Tierney does a great job as the quintessential tough guy who knows what he wants and brazenly goes after it. He clearly displays raw acting talent, but his dead cold stares and his overtly blunt directness, is what makes him so perfect for this role.

For those of you who are not familiar with Lawrence Tierney, in the early '90s he played the leader of a crime gang in the movie Reservoir Dogs. But another memorable role worth mentioning was that he once played Elaine's tough, no-nonsense father on an episode of Seinfeld. According the commentary on the Seinfield DVD, Tierney scared the cast so badly that they never had him back on. Apparently Tierney stole a butcher knife from Jerry's TV kitchen and hid it under his jacket. When Seinfeld asked him about it, Tierney pulled out the knife and started making the Psycho slashing-violins sound. On the Born to Kill commentary, director Robert Wise mentions that Tierney was an intimidating tough guy in real life and was repeatedly arrested for getting in fights in bars. In fact, Wise mentions that they used a stunt double for Tierney in the fight scene, not because they were afraid that Tierney would get hurt - far from it; they were afraid that he couldn't restrain himself once the fight scene started.

The picture quality is near-immaculate. Negative wear is virtually nonexistent. The sound is satisfactory. The DVD bonus features include commentary from noir expert and author Eddie Muller plus some audio sound bites from director Robert Wise.

Movie: A

DVD Quality: A



NARROW MARGIN

The story is about a widow of a gangster who is living in Chicago and needs to appear in Los Angeles to testify against men who conducted illegal activities in connection with her late husband. Two cops are assigned to bring her to Los Angeles on a train and suspect that a crime syndicate will try to prevent her from testifying. As a result, there's lots of action and adventure soon to follow.

Charles McGraw stars as Detective Walter Brown and gives one of the best performances I've seen in a long time as a tough, no-nonsense cop. With his rough, baritone voice and large muscular frame, he takes on some very formidable adversaries, yet holds his profession in high esteem. The rest of the main characters in this film also play their roles convincingly. This is an entertaining story from start to finish with lots of action and twists in the plot. The script is smart and original. There is also some great photography work inside the train. This film is a must see for any movie fan, even those not familiar with post-WWII crime noir films.

The picture quality is near pristine. Very little negative wear or damage can be observed. The sound is excellent, especially considering all of the sound effects one would expect from a train ride.

Movie: A

DVD Quality: A-



CROSSFIRE

The story opens with a man who was beaten to death in a fistfight in his apartment. The police show up headed by Captain Finley (Robert Young) and begin to unravel the mystery of who killed this person. A small group of military men, including Robert Mitchum and Robert Ryan, are linked directly or indirectly to the crime scene and now Finley has to sort out who are the suspects and who is innocent. After interviewing the suspects, Finley believes he's found the motive and the murderer.

I would classify this movie as a mystery, and it slowly meanders in several different directions with very little drama until the very end. The story has one major merit because it confronts a serious social problem, but the execution of the plot, including the knowing exactly what happened as the murder unfolded, plus the weak, flawed and even disturbing police work raises more questions than answers. Without revealing too much more, the police did get the right man, but how they went about it was very unconvincing for me. I'll give this film a qualified recommendation simply because it is decades ahead of its time in social awareness of a serious problem, but if you are looking for an action packed, well-written noir crime movie, you'll probably be disappointed.

The DVD quality is decent. The film was not restored, but did show short segments of negative wear once in a while, but nothing too distracting from the overall presentation. The sound is fine too.


Movie: C+

DVD Quality: B



DILLINGER

This film is about a real life bank robber John Dillinger who is arguably the most notorious robber in the history of American and earned the nickname "Public Enemy #1". From my brief research on the internet, the movie appears to be relatively true to form. From the early `30s until his death in 1934, Dillinger wreaked havoc across America with his brutal bank robberies and daring prison escapes.

The film itself moves fast, but is only 70 minutes long. There is little character development and the action is continuous and rarely dull. Lawrence Tierney stars as John Dillinger. This was his screen acting debut and he does little to set the acting world on fire. Even in scenes of major confrontation, Tierney seems expressionless and lacks emotional body language. Perhaps this was by design by the director. But if you are fan of vintage gangster films, I'm confident that you will be entertained and pleased with action and drama.

The DVD was remastered but not restored and unfortunately there was a significant amount of film damage. There were five or six scenes with at least 3 or 4 seconds of severely damaged footage. The remastering helped make the picture look sharp but tiny specs of deterioration were still prevalent throughout the film, but that wasn't a major deal compared to the noticeably larger scratches. Warner has historically been one of the better studios for film restoration and they obviously decided to not fix up this film. Due to the limited market of a DVD like this, I'm sure the payoff wasn't there to restore an entire movie, but if they would have at least fixed the severely damaged frames, that would have been sufficient for me.

Movie: B-

DVD Quality: C



CLASH BY NIGHT

The storyline revolves around Mae Doyle (Barbara Stanwick) who returns to a Northern California fishing community after a ten-year hiatus. She left that town hoping to find a wealthy or prestigious man to marry, but her dreams never materialized. Upon returning she runs into an old acquaintance, Jerry D'Amato (Paul Douglas), at a bar and they later start dating even though they have very little in common. Jerry is hardworking and stable, yet a boring simpleton. Mae is fickle and shallow. Jerry introduces Mae to his best friend Earl (Robert Ryan) who is cantankerous yet very extroverted - pretty much the exact opposite of Jerry. From this point on in the movie, the human dynamics these three people go all over the map and develop into an enthralling plot for the viewer.

I was initially taken off guard with the way the film ended, but I couldn't get it out of my head for the rest of the day and realized it took a very brave direction with the issues it confronted. Furthermore, the movie is probably more representative of today's social landscape than it was when the film was made and has some hard-hitting commentary for the consequences of people's actions. There is however, one scene that is clearly politically incorrect by today's standards where Earl imitates a Chinese person. The movie also contained some refreshing scenes of a young Marilyn Monroe who plays the girlfriend of Mae's brother. Overall I give the film a solid recommendation for viewing.

The DVD is remastered but not restored and as a result, the black and white transfer is sharp but occasionally tiny spots of film deterioration can be observed. The sound is fine. The DVD comes with commentary by Peter Bogdanovich, with audio interview excerpts of director Fritz Lang.

Movie: B

DVD Quality: B

My husband and I enjoyed all of these movies.
The quality of each was really good. No streaks, pauses, blurs.
Perfectly satisfied with the quality of all.

No doubt, it is thrilling to see all these movies in one great WB style set. We have come to expect the best from Warner Brothers releases. They are doing a great service to all movie lovers. I have some complains, though on the selection of the movies for the 'film noir' set. 'Clash by Night' and 'Dilinger', for example, can barely be called film noir. There are some other prime examples of the film noir style that are screaming to get released: 'On Dangerous Ground', 'Caught', 'They Live by Night', 'Dark Mirror', 'Where the Sidewalk Ends', 'Whirlpool', 'Angel Face', 'Cry of the City', 'Human Desire', 'Christmas Holiday', 'Secret Beyond the Door', to name just a few. Surprisingly, all the mentioned movies are available on DVD in Europe (England, France, Spain) in PAL format. How come these movies are not released in the USA? I have bought a region-free DVD to be able to enjoy these great movies. Who knows how many generations it will take to see them released in the United States? What a shame!

I was fairly new to film-noir when Vol 1. of the Film Noir Classic Collection came out, and I was treated to five of the greatest films I'd ever seen. That set was enough to make me drool, and when a follow-up was announced, I was ecstatic!

First, the good news. Rather than the same big-time films noir that everybody and his brother have seen a million times (Double Indemnity, Kiss Me Deadly, etc.), we get a lot more of the less talked about, but often just as wonderful noir films of the era to enjoy, most of them produced by RKO, notorious for their countless contributions to the genre.

Now for the bad news, which there isn't very much of. One of the films in this set ("Clash By Night") just doesn't belong here. It doesn't feel right, this romantic drama along the lines of "A Streetcar Named Desire" being mixed in with fast-talking, hardboiled PI's and pencil-mustached gangsters. And another film here ("Born to Kill") is just a an obnoxious film to watch, with great direction, but an irritating performance by Claire Trevor, and a cast of characters who seem almost ridiculously shallow.

Still, if you're thinking of getting at least two of these films, you may as well buy the whole set, because the price is incredible and, who knows, you might just like all five films.

As for the remaining three, they're totally awesome and make the whole set exceedingly worthwhile. It's true that the first set was all-gems, and this one has a clunker or two, but the great ones here are so rare and so unbelievably good that to not investigate them would be criminal.

"Dillinger" is phenomenal. Lawrence Tierny plays the real-life bank robber John Dillinger in a role that was absolutely perfect for him. This one reminds me a great deal of "White Heat" in that you see the shifting dynamic of a gang as they form in prison and continue their business partnership on the outside, where a battle of wills to dominate the gang ensues.

"Crossfire" is a huge treat. This is one of those big-time classics that they missed the first time around, but thankfully, brought to us at last in glorious black & white. Robert Ryan is terrifying, and Edward Dmytryk's directorial prowess is evident with every shadow on the wall and every nuance of the lighting.

"The Narrow Margin" is one of those obscure films that, once you see it, you wonder why you never heard of it sooner. The common theme of claustrophobia and nowhere to hide is played to the hilt in this one, with some awesome tricks of the camera and very moody lighting. Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor give two outstanding performances.

Bottom line: If you liked the first box set, you'll probably love this one too! And if you never saw the first one, what on Earth are you waiting for?!?!

This set illustrates the diversity of Noir films. Crossfire and Narrow Margin develop plot complexities handled in very dynamic ways that propel the film. Born To Kill, Dillinger, and Clash center on strong but flawed personalities and the viewer watches them self destruct over the course of the film. The filming of Clash strongly suggests the stage play from which it came. Individual performances are fascinating. Barbara Stanwyck in Clash is delightfully hard edged and cynical. Marie Windsor in Margin is gorgeous and a very good actress. Robert Young in Crossfire is unexpectedly forceful. Robert Ryan is always threatening and relentless. Robert Mitchum plays the somewhat weary, seen it all before character of many of his early films. Lawrence Tierney is perhaps the stiffist actor to ever be filemd. Two of his films is one too many.

THE ENTIRE FIVE-FILM COLLECTION
Movies: ****1/2 DVD Transfers: ***1/2 Extras: ****

BORN TO KILL
Movie: **** DVD Transfer: ***1/2 Extras: ***

CLASH BY NIGHT
Movie: ***** DVD Transfer: *** Extras: *****

CROSSFIRE
Movie: ***** DVD Transfer: *** Extras: ***1/2

DILLINGER
Movie: **** DVD Transfer: **** Extras: ***

THE NARROW MARGIN
Movie: ***** DVD Transfer: ****1/2 Extras: *****

Overall, the five films included in the "Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 2" are great films that deserve to be released on DVD and appreciated by a new generation of viewers, as well as existing fans. While aficionados may debate whether specific titles belong in the collection (even Peter Bogdanovich, who contributes the audio commentary for "Clash by Night", believes that the film he is discussing is not a true film noir per se), there is no doubt that each selection features key attributes (morally compromised characters, shadowy night scenes, etc.) that are typically found among the genre's most representative films, and each - at a minimum - is thoroughly entertaining.

Unfortunately, the quality of the film-to-DVD tranfers varies considerably from title to title, with "Crossfire" and "Clash by Night" looking somewhat shoddy in places, and "The Narrow Margin" appearing crisp and clean throughout. Similarly, the bonus features (particularly the audio commentaries) on some titles are thought-provoking and engaging ("The Narrow Margin" and "Clash by Night") while others are less interesting ("Born to Kill" and "Dillinger").

As a collection, I personally recommend the set both for its entertainment value, and for the savings it offers versus purchasing each selection separately. (And for a more in-depth analysis of the virtues and faults of the individual titles, I suggest that you look each one up separately to see the more specific comments that various reviewers - including myself - have made.)

Another very good Noir collection,though maybe not as good as Vol 1 but fans should not be disappointed."Crossfire"on its own is worth the purchase. The DVD quality of each transfer is excellent and never mind the other reviews about lack of features etc,what the heck,a few bucks for 5 movies?,a snip!.Anyhow roll on Vol 3