Ultimate Film Noir Collection

Great Films, Great Buy!

This is a great buy for a collection of 18 film noir movies. There are lesser-known ones as well as ones that feature stars such as Orson Welles, Ava Gardner, Frank Sinatra, Ida Lupino, Mickey Rooney, George Raft, Yul Brynner and Lizabeth Scott. A few of these I'd seen before (TCM), but most were unknown to me. I enjoyed all of them. The only thing I do want to warn people of is that these films are NOT restored, so they have been transcribed onto DVD format with all the flaws that occur to old film over sixty or so years in storage. Basically, sometimes the sound doesn't match or is hard to hear, there are poor editing sequences (keep in mind the low budget of most noir movies), some damage to the picture and crackling plus visible lines. I would like to see these films restored (I know some already have restored and preserved versions available, such as "The Stranger") but all of these issues are a minor inconvenience. If you are used to watching newer or only restored films you may find it annoying at first, but the movies themselves are a real treasure. My personal favorite is "The Man Who Cheated Himself", which contains some haunting footage of Fort Point in San Francisco, a full eight years before Hitchcock's "Vertigo". "Too Late for Tears", "Suddenly" (with Sinatra as a wannabe presidential assassin), "He Walked By Night" and "The Scar" are also new personal favorites. I can't recommend enough what a great deal this is for 18 really enjoyable movies. April 5, 2008

poor quality

This is a pretty good collection of film noir, but the picture and sound quality and rough editing and splicing of some of the films sucks. Some of the movies are pretty cheesy,such as Too Late for Tears and The Big Bluff, and are a great reflection of how rapidly Hollywood was cranking these out postwar. Others are top notch and will be familiar to film buffs, such as D.O.A., The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, The Hitchhiker, and one of my favorite Edward G. Robinson films, The Stranger. Still others are not as well know, including one of my favorites in this collection, Kansas City Confidential.
This collection would be a lot better if the sound and picture quality were improved (esp. the latter) on some of the films. Its a major distraction. December 28, 2007

Contents of Ultimate Film Noir Collection (18 films, 1939-55, on 6 DVDs)

Ultimate Film Noir Collection (18 films, 1939-55, on 6 DVDs)
SOURCE: St. Clair Entertainment Vision; UPC: 777966861593; DVD Release 02/27/2007
Contains:
Disk #1: Too late for tears (1949) / Man who cheated himself, The (1950) / Stranger, The (1946) / bonus = poster gallery
Disk #2: Strange love of Martha Ivers, The (1946) / Hitch-hiker, The (1953) / Quicksand (1950) / bonus = featurette "About film noir" (5 min)
Disk #3: Detour (1945) / D.O.A. (1950) / Hollow triumph (AKA The scar--working title) (1948) / bonus = movie trailers
Disk #4: Jigsaw (1949) / Whistle stop (1946) / He walked by night (1948) / bonus = movie trailers
Disk #5: Chase, The (1946) / Big bluff, The (1955) / Kansas City confidential (1952) / bonus = poster gallery
Disk #6: Port of New York (1949) / Suddenly (1954) / Buried alive (1939) / bonus = radio show (23 min--"Trouble is my business" by Raymond Chandler, broadcast 5 Aug. 1947, w/ Van Heflin as Philip Marlowe)
NOTE:
Disks 1-3 previously issued 1/2005 by St. Clair as Classic film noir, UPC 777966883694
Disks 4-6 previously issued 11/2006 by St. Clair as Classic film noir, vol. 2, UPC 777966874395
These two earlier sets are available separately from Amazon for about $10 each.

All three sets are reissues (in 5.1 sound) "re-mastered for best possible picture quality" from public domain (PD) films. Considering the low price for 18 classic film-noir films from 1939-55 and the fact that this set has some interesting extra features, this is good value for the money. I've watched several films and found their video quality quite watchable, although this is variable, as with all PD issues.

The 6 DVDs are included in 6 DVD slim cases, each of which has on the back side brief information on the films. The slim cases are housed in a lightweight cardboard slipcase. DVD cases and slipcase are white, which is somewhat incongruous for film noir. However, this St. Clair edition is very nicely done.

Incidentally, St. Clair recently reissued some of its other material in similar (white, slim cases, etc.) appearing sets: sets on Alfred Hitchcock, westerns, WWII, romance, silent greats, horror, etc. June 22, 2007

Great Package of Films

Picked this collection up mainly because of the packaging - most of the collections of this type are usually crammed into one of those huge flimsy multi-disc DVD cases. This package has six DVDs with each in its own thin-case. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that the discs themselves were single-sided and not double like some of the other packages that I've had experience with. Now about the films themselves - I must admit that I've only watched a few of them so far, but both films were of excellent quality - leastwise given what was probably available for source material. Each disc does come with a "bonus feature", which range from photo galleries of movie posters, to an audio recording of a radio play - plus there are trailers and a feature short titled "About Film Noir". All-in-all, I'm very happy with the purchase. May 13, 2007

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