Customer Reviews

Film Noir 10 Movie Set

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

 

 

The ten titles from this collection of film noir features from the the 1940's and early 1950's are as follows.

1. THE STRANGER--Orson Welles & Edward G. Robinson (1946)
2. BORDERLINE--Fred MacMurray & Raymond Burr (1950)
3. HE WALKED BY NIGHT--Richard Basehart & Jack Webb (1948)
4. CALL IT MURDER (aka MIDNIGHT)--Bogart & Henry Hull (1934)
5. THE RED HOUSE -- Edward G. Robinson (1947)
6. D.O.A.--Edmond O'Brien (1950)
7. KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL--John Payne & Lee Van Cleef (1952)
8. DETOUR--Tom Neal & Ann Savage (1946)
9. THE SECOND WOMAN--Robert Young & John Sutton (1951)
10. SCARLET STREET--Edward G. Robinson & Dan Duryea (1945)

I have to disagree with reviewers who were disappointed by the quality of the transfers on the ten films in this set. I agree that the quality is not superb. But given the very low price per film, I didn't expect pristine remastering. I just wanted to sample a large number of films noir quickly and at a low cost, and this set allowed me to do that. All of the films, while not perfect, are definitely in watchable condition. If after watching them all, you find a few favorites, then you can go out and buy the fancier, remastered versions on an individual basis. (Though I note that even those versions do not always come out perfect--check out the sometimes disappointed reviews for the remastered "Detour" for example.)

What I do want to praise is the choice of films in this set. While sometimes eccentric ("The Stranger" is not really a film noir), they do provide a good introduction to the genre. Two of the films, "D.O.A." and "Detour" are considered must-see classics for film noir buffs. Getting to watch them is worth the price of the collection in and of itself. Many of the other films are also film noir classics.

My only real complaint is the box that the discs come in. While all five discs fit into one box, the box itself makes it difficult to pop the discs out and has a tendency to fall apart. I may end up moving these to their own jewel cases eventually.

First a rating of the films, favorite to least favorite:

1 DOA (10/10) Very good example of film noir with lots of the elements of the genre. A very complex story with great characters that make it worth watching over and over again.
2 Scarlet Street (10/10) The most dark and bleak film here, a very close tie with DOA. Probably the most emotionally powerful film in this set, if you like gloomy endings, watch this one first!
3 Detour (9.5/10) One of the best film noirs, even compared to the movies made on a better budget. Also, like the two movies above, tends to end with a very dark mood.
4 The Stranger (9/10) I enjoyed this one quite a bit, great, stark visuals create a expressive noir-ish atmosphere. The transfer here is rather dark, but it works well in my opinion.
5 Kansas City Confidential (8.5/10) Among the best B noir I have seen. Plenty of shady, violent characters, a good plot and lots of good noir camera work.
6 The Red House (8/10) A different type of film noir, made in the country. Still manages to create a noir/suspense atmosphere. Can feel a little overlong at times, the acting of Edward G. Robinson helps this one along.
7 He Walked By Night (7/10) More of a straight up crime/detective movie, but plenty of noirish elements.
8 Call it Murder (aka Midnight) (7/10) Made in 1934, this is certainly the oldest movie in the set and looks great for its age. In general this is a pretty good movie, but lacks many of the elements of real film noir in my opinion.
9 Borderline (7/10) Feels like Hitchcock could have made this one, but lacks the noir atmosphere. More of a light-hearted police drama than a hard-boiled noir.
10 The Second Woman (4/10) I didn't enjoy this one much. It feels like film noir but it also feels like a bad remake of Rebecca, something which annoyed me greatly as that is one of my favorite films. The constant musical references to Tchaikovsky, while odd, worked.

The picture and sound quality on these movies tends to be pretty good. Everything is certainly of "watchable" quality. Some movies fare better than others, The Stranger and some sections of The Red House could use some restoration and remastering. I bought this set the same time I bought another set "The Ultimate Film Noir Collection," I would say the movies on this set look slightly better than those on that one. Both are good collections though.

The movies I plan to come back to are DOA, Scarlet Street, Detour, The Stranger, Kansas City Confidential and possibly The Red House. He Walked By Night was a decent movie, but not my favorite kind of noir. Borderline was a "charming little movie" but its one of the least memorable on the set. Call It Murder is indeed a great movie by almost any standard, especially for its time, but it does not feel like noir at all...perhaps its just included so Bogarts name could be on the cover of the set? I had big hopes for The Second Woman but it was the biggest let down of the set.

A final note about the packaging, some have complained that it has fallen apart on them, but it hasnt been the case with mine at all. Maybe I got lucky, but the box as a whole seems fairly sturdy. Recommended.

I ordered this DVD set and was disappointed to see that the film quality of some of the movies (Kansas City Confidential, The Red House) was poor. There were many dropouts and it looked like the film had faded. On the other hand, some of these movies are rarely shown on tv, not even Turner Classics, so many of these movies I had never heard of before. I would rather have a poor version of the movie than no version. At least one of the movies is a good copy (Suspicion) which looks like it was remastered. On the whole, not a bad deal, but I am a noir fanatic, so you should also read the other reviews before purchasing.

This is a very poor video quality and I don't see any reason to purchase this set. The price is really very low, but you don't get more than you paid for.

It would help us if Amazon would list the titles in this collection of ten films

I have seen one or two of the films mentioned by your customers, D.O.A. for example, just wonderful... but there is no complete list. How can we avoid duplication if we don't know what we are buying? (Just a thought.)

i found most of the movies here to be good,a few clinkers but all were fun. i still marvel at how many people complain about the quality of the transfers on these sets. now if the movies are un watchable thats one thing,but for the price to expect grade a transfers is ,well,stupid on their part because at this low price you know they aren't always going to be great. if that is what you want just don't buy these sets!!!!!!!!!!!! for everyone else,check it out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you just want to follow the plots, this set is a cheap way to see 10 good films. I think the richness of deep blacks and whites are a major component of the film noir experience and and for me they add immeasurably to the viewing. After all, the black/white nature of the films contribute to the whole noir culture. If you agree with me on this point, don't buy this set. The transfers are a washed-out wimpy grey. I found this annoying and trashed the set. You may not care so much about the richness of the transfer, and in this case you will be pleased with some of the selections.

A reasonably good selection of noir films, particularly for the price (Detour, DOA and He Walked By Night are worth the price by themselves). While we have not viewed all of the movies yet, the ones we have watched were of very adequate quality.

My only complaint is the total piece-of-trash box they put this in. Ours arrived with three of the five disc holders broken, and the discs were badly scuffed from banging around in this box loose during shipping. I wondered if they would even play, but it does not seem to have effected their performance. Once it has been opened and closed three or four times, the plastic case itself comes to pieces. This packaging is crap!

Good films and worth the price, but get yourself five individual jewel cases in advance because you're going to want to fling this sorry box as far as you can.