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67 of 68 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Marlowe lives, September 29, 2004
This review is from: Philip Marlowe, Private Eye Collection (DVD)
Powers Boothe is perhaps the best Marlowe ever, and that's saying a lot. He's smart, world-weary, and sardonic, tossing off Chandler's scintillating lines with aplomb. Talking about an upwardly mobile lowlife, Marlowe remarks, "The guy had a mansion in Bel Air and all the old-world charm of a cop beating up a drunk."
This DVD set includes all 11 episodes of the HBO series: the five from 1983 and the six from 1986. The 1986 episodes have cheesy opening titles and closing credits, but possess a much stronger noir sensibility than the earlier eps (fine as those are). Classic noir chiaroscuro is much in evidence in the later installments, while the first five eps are slightly marred by conventional studio lighting. Throughout the series, attention to detail is excellent. The darker shades of 1938 Los Angeles are vividly brought to life.
One oddity: the sound is weirdly unbalanced in a few episodes. However, two versions of the soundtrack are provided (Dolby 5.1 and 2.0), and at least one of the two is always fine.
Enthusiastically recommended in any case.
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Marlowe EVER, December 20, 2005
This review is from: Philip Marlowe, Private Eye Collection (DVD)
I was watching my old tapes of this series last night. I taped it off HBO, and loved it. The tapes are worn and stretched, so I thought I'd check to see if the series was available on DVD. God bless Goldhl!!
Powers Boothe is, without a doubt, the best Marlowe ever. Bogart was good, but he's more of a Sam Spade than a Philip Marlowe. Powers Boothe managed to take an icon, and not exactly breathe new life into it, but breathe Chandler's vision of Marlowe into it. I had a difficult time at first with Kathryn Leigh Scott, since I kept seeing her as Maggie Evans in Dark Shadows. But once I got past that, she was actually quite good. The sets and costumes are certainly authentic, the cars are fabulous, and the music, with it's wonderful jazz bass line, sets the tone magnificently.
I just wish they had the funds to do all of Chandler's short stories.
Very very very highly recommended. I only gave this five stars because Amazon doesn't give the option to give six.
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25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Marlowe lives, March 1, 2004
This review is from: Philip Marlowe, Private Eye Collection (DVD)
Powers Boothe is perhaps the best Marlowe ever, and that's saying a lot. He's smart, world-weary, and sardonic, tossing off Chandler's scintillating lines with aplomb. Talking about an upwardly mobile lowlife, Marlowe remarks, "The guy had a mansion in Bel Air and all the old-world charm of a cop beating up a drunk." This DVD set includes all 11 episodes of the HBO series: the five from 1983 and the six from 1986. The 1986 episodes have cheesy opening titles and closing credits, but possess a much stronger noir sensibility than the earlier eps (fine as those are). Classic noir chiaroscuro is much in evidence in the later installments, while the first five eps are slightly marred by conventional studio lighting. Throughout the series, attention to detail is excellent. The darker shades of 1938 Los Angeles are vividly brought to life. Note that this item is *not* "Vol 3" as listed; it's a "3 Vol Set" containing three DVDs. Also, the sound is weirdly unbalanced in a few episodes, but since two versions of the soundtrack are provided (Dolby 5.1 and 2.0), one or the other is usually fine. Enthusiastically recommended in any case.
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