Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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289 of 293 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Welcome to Film Noir paradise!!!, January 12, 2005
Well, "Noirist", I understand your frustration with Amazon for not listing the contents of this collection. These public domain film noirs have been released countless times already, but never have so many been offered for such a small price. Keep in mind that they ARE public domain movies, so don't expect perfection in picture or sound quality, although on this collection they're offered in 5.1 Surround Sound (which is nice).
Disc 1 on this 3-disc collection contains "Too Late For Tears", "The Man Who Cheated Himself", and "The Stranger".
Bonus features on this disc are a photo gallery & vintage film noir poster gallery (I LOVE those classic posters!). I'm a little puzzled by the various "Casablanca" posters being included in the film noir poster gallery, though!
"Too Late For Tears" (1949) stars Lizabeth Scott (one of the best femme fatales!) & Dan Duryea & is a great tale of greed and murder.
"The Man Who Cheated Himself" (1950) stars Lee J.Cobb & Jane Wyatt and is a forgettable low-budget crime drama. The picture and sound quality in this movie were simply awful.
"The Stranger" (1946) stars Orson Welles (in a wonderfully sinister role!), Loretta Young, and Edward G. Robinson (in a rare good guy role) & is truly a great classic.
Disc 2 contains "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers", "The Hitch-Hiker", and "Quicksand". Included on this disc is a featurette "About Film Noir" (which isn't very impressive).
"The Strange Love of Martha Ivers" (1946) is one of my favorite noirs of all time, and stars Barbara Stanwyck (in an unforgettable femme fatale role!), Van Heflin, Kirk Douglas (in his debut, I believe), and Lizabeth Scott. It's about a woman with a troubled past that eventually catches up with her.
"The Hitch-Hiker" (1952) is directed by the great Ida Lupino and stars Edmund O'Brien, Frank Lovejoy, and William Talman. It's a suspenseful tale of a psychotic hitchhiker who holds two men captive.
"Quicksand" (1950) stars baby-faced Mickey Rooney, Jeanne Cagney, and Peter Lorre (who gets too little screen time) and is an adverage but enjoyable tale of a good guy who's led astray by a femme fatale.
Disc 3 contains "Detour", "The Scar", and "D.O.A.". There are also a few theatrical trailers on this disc.
"Detour" (1945) stars Tom Neal & Ann Savage and represents ultra low-budget noir at its best! It's yet another tale of a man who's downfall is brought on by a deadly woman. By the way, I've compared this with my Alpha dvd of "Detour" and this IS a better restored version.
"The Scar" A.K.A. "Hollow Triumph" (1948) stars Paul Henreid (one of the stars of 1942's "Casablanca") and Joan Bennett, and is a depressing tale of a mobster on the run who finds out (the hard way) that changing identity was not a good escape!
"D.O.A." (1949) is one of the best examples of ultra low-budget film noir, and stars Edmond O'Brien, Pamela Britton, and Luther Adler. A man is poisoned and tries to solves his own murder before he dies!
If you haven't already bought these movies on other dvd editions, this is the best deal and I highly recommend it to all fans of classic film noir.
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41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent overview of public domain Film Noir!, May 7, 2005
Other reviews will break these DVDs down film-by-film, and no reviewer can honestly compete with the fine job done bt ace reviewer Forehand in that regard. What I want to impress upon you is that despite these films' public domain status, relative obscurity, and (almost always)B-movie budgets you could not ask for a better way to obtain 13 hours' worth of gritty film noir entertainment. For, unlike most genres, film noir was a style that didn't need expensive sets, costumes, music, or special effects. It's the writing and the direction that make film noir work - and the 9 films contained on these DVDs have excellent writing and direction. You may not recognise the names of many of the lead actors, but you will remember all nine of these movies upon seeing them.
Audio and video quality are acceptable. These are most likely TV prints intended for your local "Late Late Movie" and as such, contain scratches and a sometimes harsh mono soundtrack. St. Clair Entertainment are more honest about this than are other public domain providers. There are useful chapter stops in all the movies,and each DVD features a slightly different, customized menu. As a bonus (and bonuses on public domain discs like these are rare), we have a Film Noir Poster Gallery, a collection of movie trailers, and a mini-documentary overview of the genre. The only debit is a lack of subtitles. I imagine many of the people buying this DVD set may be older, and having subtitles is a courtesy that is always welcome.
If these films were restored, and contained subtitles, this would be a 5-star set and could easily command three times the price it's getting now. As it is, "Classic Film Noir" is an amazing bargain. Anyone interested in moody crime melodrama would be well-advised to seek out this collection. If you've recently seen "Sin City" and would like to check out classic film noir, start here!
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84 of 106 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
5 film noir collections compared, June 10, 2005
This is mainly a contents listing of 5 box sets of film-noir collections. Quality is excellent for the Warner box--the films are not public domain and were remastered. The four other collections are of public-domain films, some of which were fixed up somewhat. Film quality is variable (dropouts, scratches, cropped images, fuzziness, low contrast). Most films are quite watchable, and there are some very good versions, especially if low price is considered (e.g., Hitch-hiker--only on CLA9). However, there are some marginal issues (e.g., Red house--only on FN10) and some extremely bad issues (e.g., Man who cheated himself--only on CLA9).
Ratings based on video-audio quality and emphasizing value for money: 5* = CLA1; 4* = CLA9, KIL5, MY10; 3* = FN10
COLLECTIONS--SUMMARY:
*** CLA1 = Film noir classic collection (Warner, 2004) [5 movies, 1944-50] $49.95 list. Extras: 5 film commentaries; 1 introduction; 2 trailers. Note: Volume 2 with 5 more noir films will appear in 7/05.
*** CLA9 = Classic film noir (St. Clair, 2005) [9 movies, 1946-53] $9.95 list. Extras: poster gallery (in color); featurette (About film noir, TT5:00); 7 trailers (TT16:00)
*** FN10 = Film noir: 10 movies (Brentwood, 2004) [10 movies, 1934!, 1945-52] $19.95 list. Extras: 40 trailers (4/disk)
*** KIL5 = 5 film noir killer classics (Questar, 2004) [5 movies, 1945-49] $29.95 list. Extras: The posters of film noir (in color, TT3:50); 2 featurettes (What is film noir?, TT13:00; Femme fatale, TT7:53); 38 Film noir trailers (TT1.58:07)
*** MY10 = Mystery classics: 50 movie pack (Treeline, 2004) [10 film noir movies, 1945-54, 40 other movies, 1931-52] $34.95 list. Extras: none
COLLECTIONS--CONTENTS:
Asphalt jungle, The (1950) = CLA1
Borderline (1950) = FN10 Note: at best marginally film noir!
Call it murder (aka Midnight) (1934) = FN10 Note: a 1934 film, not film noir!
Detour (1945) = CLA9 FN10 KIL5 MY10 Note: right-hand-drive vehicles in first scene a goof of film, not a reissue mistake!
D.O.A. (1950) = CLA9 FN10 KIL5
Gun crazy (aka Deadly is the female) (1949) = CLA1
He walked by night (1948) = FN10 MY10
Hitch-hiker, The (1953) = CLA9
Hollow triumph (aka The scar--UK) (1948) = CLA9
Impact (1949) = MY10
Kansas City confidential (1952) = FN10 MY10
Man who cheated himself, The (1950) = CLA9
Murder, my sweet (aka Farewell my lovely) (1944) = CLA1
Out of the past (1947) = CLA1
Quicksand (1950) = CLA9 MY10
Red house, The (1947) = FN10 Note: rural film noir!
Scarlet Street (1945) = FN10 KIL5 MY10
Second woman, The (1951) = FN10 MY10
Set-up, The (1949) = CLA1
Strange love of Martha Ivers, The (1946) = CLA9
Stranger, The (1946) = CLA9 FN10 KIL5 MY10 Note: The separate Roan Group issue (with Cause for alarm, 1951) is superior.
Suddenly (1954) = MY10
Too late for tears (aka Killer bait) (1949) = CLA9 KIL5 MY10
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