Customer Reviews

The Samuel Fuller Film Collection (It Happened in Hollywood / Adventure in Sahara / Power of the Press / The Crimson Kimono / Shockproof / Scandal Sheet / Underworld U.S.A.)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

We now finally have the details on the seven films that will be in this collection:

It Happened in Hollywood (1937) - Fuller's second film. Richard Dix stars as a silent Western star who is put out of work by the coming of talking pictures, since in the early days the technology can't be taken outdoors. He loses his career, his ranch, everything. After his fall he encounters a small boy who still adores him.

Adventure in Sahara (1938)-Much like Mutiny on the Bounty except it is set in the desert.

Power of the Press (1943) - From 1925-1935 Hollywood had made many anti-war films. This is one of those films that tried to reverse that trend with a tale about the dangers of isolationism.

Shockproof (1949, directed by Douglas Sirk) - About a parole officer in love with a parolee. This is against the rules of his profession, so the parole officer fixes it so the parolee can work in his home tending to his mother. However,the parolee just may be using him and may still be in love with her gangster ex-boyfriend. Don't blame Sam for the ending. The studio rewrote it.

Scandal Sheet (1952)- Newspaper reporters investigate the death of a woman and determine not only that it was murder but who the murderer is, which turns out to be quite interesting.

The Crimson Kimono (1959) - A stripper is shot in the streets of L.A. and it's up to Glenn Corbett and James Shigeta as two cops to determine the killer. The whole investigation enables a tale that only Fuller could tell about interracial love along with the cast of strange people that often fill Fuller's stories.

Underworld U.S.A. (1961) - A teenager sees her father killed by four gangsters. Twenty years later the crime remains unsolved by the police and the gangsters have risen to the top of the underworld. The daughter, now a grown woman, sets out for revenge. Both written and directed by Fuller.

There is yet no word on extra features.

This is an interesting collection that really shows Fuller on a journey during his career. The early films really don't resemble the work of Fuller as we know it from about 1950 forward, but the first two films were made when Fuller had less creative control over his work, so you have to appreciate what he does with material he is handed in his early years. There is an outstanding documentary - "The Men Who Made the Movies - Sam Fuller" - that really shows what made the director tick in his own words , but I don't believe that Sony has the rights to that one so I doubt it will be available here. If you get a chance, though, watch that first before you get into these films.

I'm not here to discuss film content, which is probably excellent. I am here to discuss the difficult packaging which plagues this set. Not only are the DVDs stacked on top of each other in twos, but the lower discs have edges that are positioned BELOW the spindles!

I had major difficulty sliding the four lower DVDs out without breaking them (I did crack the outer packaging twice). I should have pushed down on the lower release button BEFORE attempting to slide the discs from underneath the spindles. I'm neither adroit nor mechanically minded, so the packaging was a challenge to me. Others will probably have less trouble than I experienced, as long as they are careful.

I still hate this packaging, and would rather have slim cases in a wraparound. That would avoid the potential for breakage that I described above.

The film transfers look quite good for the most part.

The content has been provided by another reviewer. As to the packaging, I found no great problem. Six of the discs are arranged in the overlapping format seen with many box-set digipaks these days. The discs in my set were easily removed, although I really hate to have to remove the top disc to get at the bottom one on the panels.

Unlike the recent William Castle "box set," this one is actually more of what I would consider a box set. It's twice as thick as the Castle "box," and each movie gets its own disc (unlike the two-per-disc format in the Castle "box."

What idiot at Columbia came up with this packaging? DVD's are stacked on top of each other. That combined with the discs practically being imbedded in plastic makes it inevitable that nicks and scratches will result. Samuel Fuller fans are a very dedicated lot, yet also demand high quality. It appears the studio was banking on the dedication aspect, while agnoring the quality part. How many years have we waited for the "The Crimson Kimono" on DVD? ...and when it is released, it's accompanied by crappy packaging - not in a public domain issue, but by the originating studio that bills itself as top of the line.

To the executives at Columbia Pictures, you should be ashamed of yourselves!

Sam Fuller has an artist's eye that you can really see in his films. He is one of the few that can capture the reality of the 'Underworld' without making a mockery of it.
He also brings the audience in to see the real L.A., n ot just Sunset Strip, but downtown, like the real Main Street and Little Tokyo and let's the location become another character of its own.
This is a must for any film lover or friend, even if they have never heard of Sam or his films.
I am a 28 year old female that normally does 'girly stereotypes', and went to see a screening of Underworld U.S.A. and Crimson Kimono. I am now a die hard fan! I use this as an example that he spans all sexes and generations.
Enjoy!

These are some films I've been waiting literally thirty years to see on DVD; finally, Sony/Columbia scours the vaults, and puts them out.

Three films stand out for me: Phil Karlson's superb SCANDAL SHEET, based on the novel by Fuller entitled THE DARK PAGE; the underrated thriller SHOCKPROOF, smoothly directed by Douglas Sirk, which is, again, based on a storyline by Fuller; and, as the topper to the package, Fuller's brilliantly violent UNDERWORLD USA, with a great performance by Cliff Robertson as young punk Tolly Devlin in the lead, and Robert Emhardt as the grossly overweight syndicate head whom Tolly ultimately destroys.

SCANDAL SHEET, with a searing performance by Broderick Crawford in the lead as corrupt newspaper editor Mark Chapman, is also especially recommended. I ordered this set immediately, and I urge you to do the same; these three films alone are worth the price of admission.

Now, seriously, if Sony/Columbia would just release Joseph H. Lewis's MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS on DVD, and while they're at, a complete set of all eight 1940s classic noirs in THE WHISTLER series, many of them directed by William Castle, we'd be our way to some real understanding of the noir films of the period. Are you listening, corporate people?

Five stars all the way.

I only seen Adventure in Sahara and Shockproof. And even if these are the only two movies that I like. Truthfully it was still worth the price because they were very entertaining and exciting. And I liked the ending of Shockproof. So as I looked forward to seeing the other movie The Crimson Kimono, to my surprise there wasn't a cd for that movie. Instead they duplicated underworld u.s.a. What a bumer. Emailed BoothillSales, with no reply to my complaint. Well I guess I lost out, but will not be dealing with this company again.

I preordered this set as soon as I knew it was available--been waiting a long time for UNDERWORLD U.S.A. Anyone reading this probably already knows how good and how important Sam Fuller's work is. My purpose is to say that I had no trouble whatsoever with the spindles, cases, or any other aspect of the packaging, unlike an earlier reviewer. Don't be put off. And transfer quality is good .

Ok so here we have Underworld U.S.A., a fairly late entry into the world of Noirs being released in 1961 with Cliff Robertson in the lead role, no less. An impressionable youngster (age 14!) witnesses his crooked father's murder (in shadow). Why he and his mother-surrogate rush outdoors to see it only to confirm to one another that they mustn't admit what they had seen if they want to live is beyond me. I mean, if you live in this neighborhood wouldn't it be best to just remain inside? More to come on the charming absurdities of this movie. Anyway, the boy recognizes one of his father's assailants and the lengths he goes to for his revenge is how the story unfolds.
This movie attempts to show us how the underworld (drugs, prostitution, ganbling) is run just like corporate America. This is where the campy fun comes in...committee meeting where it's decided that they need to post more pushers near the schools because the teenage dope addict is the new wave of their business plan; calculations involving the number of teenaged girls available for capturing into their prostitution ring, etc. Absolutely hilarious. One of the assailants, now an underworld kingpin, hires our anti-hero without recognizing who he is, commenting in an aside that it's nice to see kids so dedicated to their fathers and he wished that his own son were so devoted! I say! Along for the ride are a number of charming segues, my favorites being the cut from an image of a dead child on the street to a dead turkey being pulled from a bag; the arson fire of a car (and a live adversary) to the crime kingpin lighting a cigarette and the final denoument of our anti-hero, stumbling and dying over a trash can that says "Keep our city clean" on it.
The movie has some pretty gruesome scenes (as described above) that are all played out by Gus (Richard Rust) who is truly a scary character and the most sobering thing about the movie. He looks like a bland, blonde angel but is truly a demented sicko along the lines of a Richard Widmark or Dan Durea character but without the cackling glee. What ever happened to this actor?
Anyway, it is of note that the main character in this movie, Tolly Devlin, is portrayed as an immature, emotionally childlike man. This is in contrast to preceeding noirs where the male characters are tough full grown mature males. Maybe this is the first in a long downward slide to the juvenile fodder we get today, aimed to please the 14-year old boy audience.
Anyway. Excellent photography, lovely fragile women, nasty bad guys and a plot driven by burning revenge. 4 stars.

I confess, that I have a thing about box set films.
While I like the concept of boxing great or even good movies together, for one
price. This is seldom done.
Usually you will get one or two decent films (depending on the number of discs), with the rest being either passable or duds! Case in point the Sam Fuller Collect. (Only 3 of the films are worth viewing.) If this is the standard for box sets, then I urge that after a short period of say 2 years. The films in such sets should be offered individually for a nominal price. That way you would have a choice to purchase a particular film or the entire set.