Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 4 (1950)

A Surprisingly Good Collection

I've bought all the series, this being the fourth. I thought they might be stretching things a bit. The scripts are a bit ragged, but there is a terrific range of points of view. The transfers are nice, and all the commentaries had something of value, which doubles the running time.

All these films reflect the era. They are about men and women, relationships, but women are amazingly empowered in this era. Noir is about corruption. There is always a price tag on sexual exploration. Everyone uses sex, but they never show any sex.

Much of the acting is sound, even if the style is dated. The impressionism of Noir can be quite beautiful, especially when they bothered to shoot in the real world and not with process or a stage. The seedy world was much broader in these movies. There were layers of degraded humanity. The corrupt people are more comprehensible. Today there is a hard, mega-violent edge that fills the gap. In these movies, bad people are shown in a social context. These films sought more understanding, apparently. Characters travel from one level to another, collapsing into the corruption, many times.

Well done set.

May 4, 2008

widescreen?

loved this set.
did anybody, besides myself, notice that "illegal" was presented in wide screen format? February 11, 2008

I Remember When I Saw That.

I bought Volume 4 because it was sold as a "deal" with another 50's film that I remembered and bought.

It was quite an experience seeing films that I had watched as a teenager. I was impressed with the crisp black and white photography. It was like going through an old family album looking at the early pictures of actors such as Robert Mitchum in "The Big Steal," Edward G. Robinson in "illegal," "Farley Granger in "They Live by Night," and Sterling Hayden in "Crime Wave". Even though they are all crime movies, they have a certain sweetness that is reminiscent of earlier Anerica. If you want something different, perhaps a bit of nostalgia, this set offers ten hours of viewing.

All of the DVD's played well using my Samsung player. November 12, 2007

Strongest of Noir Collections To Date

My guilty pleasure is film noir, so even though I had never heard of a single one of the films featured in Film Noir Collection Vol. IV, I bought it anyway just as I have bought and mostly enjoyed the previous three. After viewing this entire set the week it arrived, I came to the conclusion that overall, this is the strongest of the four film noir classic collections issued to date.
I won't rehash the films. The reviewer that currently is "most helpful" has done a creditable job. But I will comment on each film and sometimes why I like them.
1)Act of Violence: Cowardice under pressure in a Nazi prison camp comes back to haunt successful contractor/family man Van Heflin as he is stalked by one of his former fellow prisoners. The movie is filled with suspense and the ending is a surprise. Five stars.
2)Mystery Street: Ricardo Montalban is excellent as the dogged and resourceful detective who tracks down the killer of a scheming whore whose skeleton is found on Cape Cod. Five stars.
3)Crime Wave: An ex-con trying to go straight is forced back into crime by some escaped ex-jailmates who have precipitated a rash of hold-ups to finance their existence on the lam. Lots of harrowing moments as the police close in. Five stars.
4)Decoy: Gene Gillie is perfect as an avaricious and vicious femme fatale who will stop at nothing to get her hands on a cache of money. She is a real piece of work. Five stars.
5)Illegal: Edward G Robinson stars as an attorney on his way back up after hitting bottom when he resigned following the execution of a man he had wrongly prosecuted and convicted as DA. He makes amends defending lowlifes and soon finds himself enmeshed by intrigues involving the new DA and a man he had long wanted to prosecute when he himself was DA. Many twists of the plot and Robinson proves his mettle by pushing the envelope on the law. He always had to win and his final case will show you just how far he was willing to go! Five stars.
6)The Big Steal:Kind of a goofy noir that takes place, like some other Robert Mitchum films, in Mexico. Lots of fun and misadventure as Mitchum tries to track a suitcase full of stolen money. Not quite noir in my book though. Four stars.
7)They Live By Night: Farley Granger is excellent as a mild-mannered escaped con who is pressured by fellow escapees into participating in more crimes. He runs off with the daughter of one of the convicts' brother, marries her and wants to go straight, but he just can't. Real noir, there is no happy ending. Four stars.
8)Side Street: Farley Granger stars as a day-dreaming part time mail carrier who succumbs to momentary weakness and greed, setting in motion a chain of events that nearly cost him his freedom and later his life. The voice-overs detract ever so slightly. Four stars.
9)Where Danger Lives: Robert Mitchum stars as a doctor who falls for a dangerously psychotic patient convincingly played by Faith Domergue. His bad judgement nearly costs him dearly. Some silliness along the way detracts. Four stars.
10)Tension: Hoo boy, can anyone top Audrey Trotter's performance as a sneering, faithless, gold-digging trollop or Richard Basehart's transformation from a trollop's doormat into a man of purpose and resolve? Basehart's character Warren Quimby reminds me of the old Charles Atlas ads where a bully humiliates a wormy guy in front of his girlfriend at the beach and the guy gets revenge by taking Atlas' body-building course then returning to confront the bully and physically avenge himself.
The film is filled with twists of plot as Basehart struggles internally between the new and the old Quimby. And Trotter is scheming and hateful to the end. In many ways, this is the best of the set. Five stars.
If you are a fan of film noir which I must assume you are because you are reading this, this is a set you will return to over and again. I haven't seen all the extras yet and so cannot comment on those, but the quality of the films alone make this a set well worth owning. Five stars overall.
November 1, 2007

Where Danger Lurks

Compared to the other volumes in the 'Film Noir' series, this one is solid and contains a number of good films. You get ten movies here, with most being in the 2 1/2 to three star range. Volume one is by far the best, and no film here and compete with those, but if you like film noir then you will enjoy volume 4. Robert Mitchum stars in two, and teams up with Jane Greer again in 'The Big Steal'. However, this is lightweight compared to their great classic, 'Out of The Past'. His other film is 'Where Dangere Lives', with gorgeous Fairth Domergue, which is classic noir with Domergue being the fatal lure in a very interesting plot. My favorite film in this volume is 'Decoy', which is totally outrageous and features the most dazzling bit of femme fatale you'll ever see in this genre...courtesy of Jean Gillie. Edward G. Robinson, one of my favorite actors, is in top form in "Illegal". Sterling Hayden, who is masterful in volume one of this collection in 'The Asphalt Jungle', returns for 'Crime Wave', this time as a policeman! Also, Audrey Totter stars in 'Tension' and of course she is one of the great ladies of film noir and its always a pleasure to watch her work. This is a great value and you'll enjoy these suspenseful and entertaining films. October 6, 2007

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