Customer Reviews

Film Noir Collection, Vol. 1

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

 

 

The Fox film noir collection is an "Amazon.com exclusive" consisting of 9 DVDS in their individual cases (alas including individual shrink wrap, which one tediously has to remove) presented in one blister pack. The nine titles are:
*** BATCH 1 (DVDs released 3/05): Call Northside 777 (1948); Laura (1944); Panic in the streets (1950)
*** BATCH 2 (DVDs released 6/05): House of bamboo (1955); Nightmare alley (1947); Street with no name (1948)
*** BATCH 3 (DVDs released 9/05): House on 92nd Street (1945); Somewhere in the night (1946); Whirlpool (1949)

The film restorations are superbly done. The DVD cases are in uniform format, being part of the "Fox film noir" series. Each title has a film commentary (Laura has two) plus other extras, minimally a trailer. In addition, each title has a 4-page booklet with these sections: "the lineup," "the look," "the scoop," "the story," and "scene selection."

The DVDs list for $14.95 each and currently Amazon sells them for around $10 each. Amazon sells the 9-DVD collection for $74.99, which works out to $8.33 for each DVD. Certainly, not all titles are of the caliber of Laura (1944), but this collection is a must-have for the firm-noir aficionado.

Incidentally, BATCH 4, was released 12/05 and consists of: The dark corner (1946); Kiss of death (1947); Where the sidewalk ends (1950). BATCH 5 will be released in 3/06: Fallen angel (1945); House on Telegraph Hill (1951); No way out (1950)

Alain Silver & Elizabeth Ward's "Film noir: An encyclopedic reference to the American style" (1992, 3rd ed.) lists 32 noir titles by Fox. Hence we can probably expect from Fox another 20 or so titles in the "Fox film noir" series. If these 32ish titles all materialize in this excellent series, it will be a big chunk both out of one's purse and DVD shelf space.

Nobody else has actually run through each of the films and given a brief description. I do that plus I provide a rating as given by a popular movie database.

Call Northside 777, (1948) 7.4/10 - Stars James Stewart as a reporter investigating a 10 year old murder conviction.
Laura, (1944) 8/10 - Dana Andrews is a cop in love with the portrait of a murdered woman.
Panic in the Streets, (1950) 7.3/10 - Stars Richard Widmark as a physician working with police to find a killer infected with the plague.
House of Bamboo, (1955) 6.7/10 - This is not really a noir and is a remake of "Street with No Name". It is set in Japan and shot in Technicolor.
Nightmare Alley, (1947) 8/10 - You won't see this one on TV often, but it's great. Tyrone Power is a scam artist in a carnival who sets his sights on higher stakes.
Street with no Name, (1948) 7.3/10 - Lloyd Nolan is an FBI inspector who uses an undercover agent to infiltrate a band of thieves led by Richard Widmark.
House on 92nd Street, (1945) 7/10 - Won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in which an FBI agent infiltrates a German spy ring.
Somewhere in the Night, (1946) 7.2/10 - An amnesiac whose face was damaged in combat goes searching for a missing man and finds his identity to be surprising.
Whirlpool,
Dark Corner, (1946) 7.1/10 - Lucille Ball plays a secretary helping her boss find out who framed him. A good and unusual role for Lucille Ball.
Kiss of Death, (1947) 7.6/10 - Victor Mature is a thief who has to rat out another criminal due to personal circumstances. The other criminal (Richard Widmark) takes it personally. Widmark won an Oscar for his performance, and the film won Best Original Screenplay.
Where the Sidewalk Ends, (1950) 7.8/10 - Mark Dixon (Dana Andrews) is a cop that accidentally kills a suspect and frames a well-known criminal for the killing.
Fallen Angel, (1945) 7.2/10 - Eric Stanton (Dana Andrews) frequents a restaurant and falls for a waitress there (Linda Darnell). He marries a different woman for her money, hoping his new found wealth will impress the waitress. Shortly afterwards, the waitress is killed and Stanton investigates and solves the murder.
The House on Telegraph Hill, (1951) 7/10 - Victoria Kowelska (Valentina Cortesa) survives a German concentration camp and takes on the identity of a woman there who does not survive so that she can gain passage to the U.S. Once there, she moves into a house she has inherited from the dead woman's aunt. However, her life is still in danger.
No Way Out, (1950) 7.5/10 - Nominated for Best Screenplay Oscar. Sidney Poitier plays a prison doctor who tries to save the brother of a criminal but fails. The surviving brother (Richard Widmark) is out for revenge.
I Wake Up Screaming (1941) 7.4/10 - Frank Christopher (Victor Mature) is being framed for the murder of a waitress that he turned into a Hollywood star and then deserted him. He turns to the dead girl's sister (Betty Grable) to help him solve the crime.
House of Strangers (1949) 7.4/10 - Edward G. Robinson is a banker whose sons turn against him and take the family business away from him after one of the sons goes to jail for trying to tamper with a witness in an effort to clear his father. The jailed son returns from prison ready to avenge his father and deal with his brothers, but the other sons are determined to strike first.

My personal opinion is that all of these films are good to very good with the exception of "House of Bamboo". That movie is just too much of an obvious remake of the much better Street with No Name. One thing that Fox often does with its classics - and the films in this group are no exception - is to provide a commentary track. That's something that Warner, Fox's closest competitor in classic films on DVD, doesn't do as consistently as Fox does. That plus the entertainment value of the films definitely makes these 17 noirs worth your time.

I haven't yet purchased these titles & was just about to, until I checked up on what's included with the current bundle (March 1 2007) that Amazon is offering. As previously mentioned, this is not a box set (misleading description from Amazon), but rather a bundle of the first 17 titles in Fox's noir series. I purchased the Warner Bros.' boxes 1-3 (and reviewed them there) which I thought were an excellent value for the money (when on sale, roughly 6 - 7$ per disc). I've held off on these since the price is higher. This bundle discounts the titles to about $8 per disc, which is better than the usual price for each, but a local retailer often sells these titles for 7.50 - 10.00 (with a buy 3 get 1 free sale). Still I would have jumped on this price had this been a bonafide box set with the slimmer DVD cases, but these regular dvd's will take up quite a bit of real estate in my storage. Moreover, the more recent titles aren't included (missing titles: Boomerang, 14 Hours, Shock, Vicki, all released last year). If Fox would release all the titles to date (plus the next releases: Hangover Square & The Lodger) in slim cases & a box at a comparable price I'll jump, otherwise I'm holding out for a better deal.

This set misses out no.16 "Boomerang". It got recalled at the eleventh hour by Fox because of a legal tangle.
You can find it on sale for $45.00 on amazon marketplace, because it was actually printed and ready to go.
Clearly a few boxes have found their way out the back door!!!!
But despite that wee dissapointment you'll love the rest.
Hopefully Fox will sort out the mess soon..... and then you can plug the gap without having to shell out silly money.

I have watched about half of these movies & so far all of them have been very good, in fact, much better than I expected. I find Dana Andrews to be a very compelling leading man & the actresses in all of these are superb as well. I hope Fox will resolve their issues with "Boomerang" which is #16 in the set, (which is not included with your purchase) so that I can add this one to the collection. My only complaint is that this collection is not really a boxed set. It is simply 17 great film noir DVD's shrink-wrapped together. However, this is a great value & lots of these titles are being released for the first time in this set. Highly recommended for those who like the genre.

Math is not my best skill admittedly, but 800 dollars does seem a little much for 17 films noir. Isn't that more than 40 dollars a film?

For some reason the Fox Noir release Dark Corner (Mark Stevens, Lucille Ball, Clifton Webb, William Bendix) doesn't get much coverage under the typical outlets for obtaining these Fox Noir titles, Amazon included. I didn't even know the title was even out there, but it is, and it is quite a Noir gem. I say this without hesitation because I was never a Lucy fan at all. But in this one, she's actually pretty cool. Too bad she went goofy in later life (I guess it paid the bills).
If you like the Fox Noir series and Noir in general, don't forget this one too. I got mine from Tower Records (seems hard to find for some reason). The famous "peering through the venetian blinds" scene that you see stills of all the time, that's Mark Stevens. A somewhat overlooked actor in Noir circuit, but he can hold up to any of the other more noted ones in my opinion. Check it out.

This is one real good collection of classic movies. Thanks to Amazon for packing them together as a single bundle, which saved me lot of money as shipping charge. This along with Film Noir Collection, Vol. 2 will be a great addition to any DVD collection.

The quality of DVDs are very good with sharp picture and sound. Most of the DVDs have additional special features and the rest only have theatrical trailer.

We purchased these because we are fans of film noir. Fortunately, most of these we have not seen. We also like watching these films because some of them have some very good tension build up without any big bloody knifings or shootings or big chase scenes with trucks and boats and cars blowing up. We especially like the write-up included with each film. It gives you a bit more of the story within the film and background on making the film and the stars in the film. It's fun to read before the film and look for what they mentioned. Quality of the films is also very good - clear crisp pictures. They are a nice change of pace and I would recommend them to others.

I picked up this set for $123.00 and I've noticed they've now raised the price to over $200.00.It's worth what I paid for it.