Customer Reviews

Humphrey Bogart: The Essential Collection

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great collection for the avid or passing Bogart fan. Price, picture and extras are all first rate...

BUT...I just purchased this set in Canada and noticed two of my discs were missing content and one movie wasn't even included. Here's what I found:

Disc 2: Dark Victory / Virginia City - This set uses double-sided DVDs. The Dark Victory side is missing the commentary track by James Ursini & Paul Clinton, as well as the Featurette 1939: Tough Competition for Dark Victory listed on the box. There might be more content missing because the menu doesn't match. It also starts right into the movie without the menu coming up first like it should. (You have to stop the movie for the menu.)

Disc 6: Casablanca / The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - The Casablanca side is missing the two commentaries and the intro by Lauren Bacall listed on the box. Again, it starts right into the movie without the menu coming up. On The Treasure of the Sierra Madre side, the movie is missing altogether - as well as the commentary, etc. referred to on the box. Instead, the menu reads "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - Special Features Disc 2" and has some features not listed on the box. It also says "Additional Special Features on Disc 1." (It appears Warner Brothers accidentally transferred the wrong disc over from their 'Sierra Madre' Special Edition DVD set to press this disc.)

I'm not sure how widespread these mistakes are - but hopefully, WB Customer Service can arrange for replacement discs for me or anyone else out there with the same problem and get this mess straightened out.

...and every one of these films are already available - at least in DVD collections - previously put out by Warner Brothers. There is not one new release in the set. What it does do is put back into circulation several individual titles that have gone out of print. At least Warner Brothers has not entirely shut off their supply of classic films new to DVD, but it is down to a trickle if you don't count the Warner Archive.

Do note that several of Bogart's films are being released on Blu-Ray, so if high definition classics are your thing you might want to rethink the following:
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Maltese Falcon
These two are due out on Blu the same time that this collection is being released. What differentiates Humphrey Bogart's career from other Warner legends such as Errol Flynn and James Cagney is that Bogart was in films for over ten years and largely as a supporting player before he finally broke through into leads in consistently good films, thus he has twenty films that are not on pressed DVD to which Warner Brothers holds the rights. The following Bogart films are under the control of Warner Brothers and have never been on DVD:
Love Affair (1932)
Big City Blues (1932)
Two Against the World (1936)
China Clipper (1936)
Isle of Fury (1936)
The Great O'Malley (1937)
Swing Your Lady (1938)
Men Are Such Fools (1938)
Racket Busters (1938)
King of the Underworld (1939)
Oklahoma Kid (1939)
You Can't Get Away With Murder (1939)
It All Came True (1940)
The Wagons Roll at Night (1941)
The Big Shot (1942)
Conflict (1945)
The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947)
Chain Lightning (1951)
The Enforcer (1951)
Crime School is available via the Warner Archives.
Granted, quite a few of these are B or even B- pictures and/or have Bogart in a supporting role but they're still Bogart films. It would be nice to see at least a few of them be released properly.

If you're a hard-core fan of Bogie's finest film work, I would still recommend the multi-disc collections of some of the titles of "The Essential Collection", over this new release (there are excellent special editions of "Casablanca", "The Maltese Falcon", "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", and other classics). If, however, you want an overview of Humphrey Bogart's remarkable career at Warner Brothers, I can't think of a better collection to buy. Warner Home Video creates wonderful 'packages' for features, including commentaries, newsreels, trailers, and vintage cartoons, radio broadcasts, and short film features, and the inclusion of the terrific TCM documentary, "The Brothers Warner", on the tempestuous careers of Jack & Co., Bogie film bloopers (on occasion, Bogie's reactions on flubbing a line were unprintable, but funny!), the minature one-sheet advertising recreations and correspondence, and the book, of course...well, there are a LOT of incentives to shell out the money for this compilation!

The films offered are certainly the best of the Warner years, with all four of his teamings with wife Lauren Bacall, his John Huston classics, his 'Murderers' Row' years with Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, and George Raft, his most successful films with Bette Davis ("The Petrified Forest", "Dark Victory" and "Marked Woman"), and his laughably bad attempt at a Mexican accent ("Virginia City"...Westerns were simply not his forte!). Naturally, "Casablanca" is here (as well as a few of the film variations it inspired), yet surprisingly, Bogie's richly-layered post-war Noir portrayals are largely ignored (I was surprised "The Two Mrs. Carrolls" and "Dead Reckoning" were left out). Still, the choices are outstanding.

If you are just beginning to 'discover' the actor many consider Hollywood's greatest star, I strongly recommend you check out his post-Warner's performances, as well. Films like "In a Lonely Place", "The African Queen" (his Oscar winner), "Sabrina", "Beat the Devil", "The Caine Mutiny", and "The Harder They Fall" are every bit as impressive as the output from his days sparring with Jack Warner...

Enjoy a magnificent film star!

First off, let me say, I love this set. I previously owned the first version of the Signature set (The Bogart Collection (Casablanca/The Maltese Falcon/To Have and Have Not/The Big Sleep/The Treasure of the Sierra Madre)), and will be giving it to a friend. Fantastic to own so many great Bogart flicks -- all those on the Signature Collection, plus rarer gems like They Drive By Night.

As I was giving my Signature set one last look before giving it away -- watching all the 2nd disk stuff that isn't in The Essentials -- in the case of Casablanca and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, I got what I expected: The Essentials included all the data from the first disk, but not the second. Fine... better to get 24 movies instead of 5, even if it means giving up a few bonus features.

In the case of "The Big Sleep" however, they included instead what was on the B side of that two-sided disk: the inferior prerelease 1945 version, not the better 1946 theatrical release. There was a reason WB held up the release for a year, because the 1945 version simply isn't as good. The 1945 release was the bonus selection in the Signature Collection, but in The Essentials, they pass it off as the main feature.

Looking at the comments in response to the 3-star review "A Few Bugs In Bogart", it is apparent that WB's quality control is lacking, and different copies of The Essentials have different versions of the DVDs. (It is also apparent from those comments, that requests to WB to replace this disks are not always successful -- I will be trying my luck on that.)

To tell which version of "The Big Sleep" you have, go to chapter 18. If you see Lauren Bacall wearing a ridiculous looking veil (presumably in mourning after the death of her family's chauffeur), you too have the wrong version.

I was thrilled when this set came out, but am disappointed that "The Big Sleep", my favorite Bogart movie of all time, will no longer be my favorite on this set.

I am 30 years old, and a fan of contemporary crime and action flicks, but I never have neglected the classics, and among the classics, no one stands out more so that Humphrey Bogart. A man's man in the truest sense, he was a tough guy, more in attitude and can do that in physical brawn. He was cool, but not arrogant, handsome, but not good looking. Simply, he was a true action star and a role model for guys of all times. Stars like Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Mickey Rourke, even Sylvester Stallone owe a debt to Bogie. As for the films, oh, yes, these are films, not just movies or flicks, these are to be savored. As for the films, they're a mixed bag, some of are only good, a number are great, all have Bogie, and anything with him is worth watching and easily watched. So if you've never seen these films, or only a few this is a must purcahse: CASABLANCA, THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, HIGH SIERRA, THE BIG SLEEP, KEY LARGO, THE MALTESE FALCON, THE PETRIFIED FOREST, THE ROARING TWENTIES, masterpieces all. Fans of Goodfellas, Mean Streets, The Godfather, even The Expendables, should gives these classics a chance. After all these decades, Humphrey Bogart is still the man.

24 Timeless Humphrey Bogart Warner Bros. Movies on 12 Discs. Bonus 13th Disc: Feature-Length Documentary The Brothers Warner, Chronicling the Fabled Family History of the Studio That Launched Bogart to Stardom The Petrified Forest (1936) Black Legion (1937) Marked Woman (1937) Kid Galahad (1937) The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938) Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) Dark Victory (1937) The Roaring Twenties (1939) Invisible Stripes (1939) Virginia City (1940) Brother Orchid (1940) They Drive by Night (1936) High Sierra (1941) The Maltese Falcon (1941) All Through the Night (1941) Across the Pacific (1942) Casablanca (1942) Action in the North Atlantic (1943) Passage to Marseille (1944) To Have and Have Not (1944) The Big Sleep (1946) Dark Passage (1947) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) Key Largo (1948)

Small box, big purchase. This is an awesome gift for those that love Boggie! Lots of extras and a very nice package! The DVD's are brand new and the post cards are awesome!

That's all I have to say. Brilliant films, brilliant value, even the box is pretty good.

(This bit's just me increasing the word count)

WHAT CAN I SAY. ITS HUMPHREY BOGART AND THE BEST OF HIS MOVIES. FROM THE 1930S THRU 1940S. GREAT TO BE ABLE TO JUST PICK ONE OF HIS AND SIT BACK AND WATCH IT. HE WAS A ONE AND ONLY.

This hefty collection is by no means an exhaustive survey of Bogart's acting career... but its a mighty fine way to cover some of the highlights oh his time at Warner Brothers. Sure, you miss out on some of his other work on classics like African Queen and yes, there's a few of what could be considered his B-movie appearances, but still, I can think of many worse ways to spend a rainy night in:)