Film Noir Classic Collection: Volume Five

While I can't vouch for any of the movies in this set I'm sure they're up to the usual Warners standard. The last set had 10 films all with commentary. The below description is taken from Turner Classic Movies website and does not list all of the special features but does give a description of the films (all are in glorious black & white):Cornered (1945):From England to continental Europe to Buenos Aires, ex-RCAF pilot Dick Powell stalks the Nazi collaborator who murdered his bride. But one fact constantly surfaces during his quest: no one can describe the mysterious man. Joining Powell in the film shadows are the director and other key talent behind Murder, My Sweet of the year before.Special Features: Cornered trailer.Runtime: 102 minutesRating: NRFilm Specs: B&W 4x3 1.37 standard aspect ratioLanguage: English MonoSubtitles: EnglishDesperate (1947):Desperate is the first of seven atmospheric noirs directed by Anthony Mann. Steve Brodie is a postwar every man who accepts what he thinks is an honest trucking job, only to find he's the driver in a botched heist that puts Brodie and his bride (Audrey Long) on the run from the cops and the cons who planned the job (including chief thug Raymond Burr).Runtime: 73 minutesRating: NRFilm Specs: B&W 4x3 1.37 standard aspect ratioLanguage: English MonoSubtitles: EnglishThe Phenix City Story (1955):Corruption, brutality and vice plagued Phenix City, Alabama, for 100 years, so who would dare to change it? Based on real-life events and filmed on location in what was called Sin City USA, director Phil Karlson's semi-documentary tells the jolting tale of those who risked their lives to bring the burg's syndicate of thugs and murderers to justice.RT: 100 minutesRating: NRFilm Specs: B&W 16x9 Widescreen 1.77Language: English MonoSubtitles: EnglishDial 1119 (1950):An asylum inmate escapes to the city, where he takes hostages at a local dive, guns down a bar employee and warns authorities his captives will be next if the doctor whose testimony first put him away doesn't arrive within the hour. A bit of casting irony goes with the movie's then-novel use of TV news coverage: actors Marshall Thompson, William Conrad, Keefe Brasselle and Leon Ames would have significant career ventures in television.Special Features: Includes Dial 1119 theatrical trailer.RT: 75 minutesRating: NRFilm Specs: B&W 4x3 1.37 standard aspect ratioLanguage: English MonoSubtitles: EnglishArmored Car Robbery (1950):Richard Fleischer directs this brute-force milestone about a deadly heist and the battle of wits and firepower between a fugitive gangster (William Talman) and his stripper moll (Adele Jergens) and a bulldog cop (Charles McGraw), out to avenge his partner's death, who uses hidden microphones, lab work and his own well-honed instincts to close the net.RT: 68 minutesRating: NRFilm Specs: B&W 4x3 1.37 standard aspect ratioLanguage: English MonoSubtitles: EnglishCrime in the Streets (1956):Following a turf rumble with a rival group, a street gang leader (John Cassavetes) tells his gang to do what they've never done before: kill a snitch. Reginald Rose wrote and Don Siegel directs a jazz-riffing screen version of a tale first seen on TV and co-starring James Whitmore and Sal Mineo.RT: 91 minutesRating: NRFilm Specs: B&W 16x9 Widescreen 1.77Language: English MonoSubtitles: EnglishDeadline At Dawn (1946):A gangster's sister lies dead. All clues point to sailor Bill Williams as the murderer. Slated to depart for duty at dawn, the swabbie, aided by good-hearted dime-a-dancer Susan Hayward and affable cabbie Paul Lukas, has mere hours to prove his innocence. The tangy Clifford Odets script is based on a novel by William Irish (pseudonym of Cornell Woolrich).RT: 83 minutesRating: NRFilm Specs: B&W 4x3 1.37 standard aspect ratioLanguage: English MonoSubtitles: EnglishBackfire (1950):Vincent Sherman directs this gripping yarn about recovering war veteran Gordon MacRae's quest to prove pal Edmond O'Brien innocent of murder. Aiding him is his resourceful nurse Virginia Mayo. And a secretive doctor, a lively undertaker, a desperate gambler, a dying witness and a haunting Viennese melody all lead them to a shocking climax.RT: 91 minutesRating: NRFilm Specs: B&W 4x3 1.37 standard aspect ratioLanguage: English MonoSubtitles: English

Since I already own and enjoy the previous four volumes of the Warner Brothers Film Noir Classic Collection, this fifth volume was eagerly anticipated. Well, I've watched all eight films twice and the set turns out to be a decidedly mixed bag. As others have said, not all of these films are true noir and a couple of them were actually fairly lame. Here's what I like from first to worst:1) Armored Car Robbery: This is the cream of the crop. Excellent noir, hardbitten characters, and no sentimental nonsense that interferes. Good story, great locations, strong performances.2) The Phenix City Story: Not true noir but a gripping tale about city openly corrupt and controlled by a vicious cabal of ruthless criminals quick to murder anyone who seriously opposed them and to randomly thrash anyone suspected of thinking about it. It takes a few courageous men led by a crusading lawyer to finally bring real law and order to a town that had suffered under the criminal syndicate for a century. Best of all, the basic story is a true one. The lead-in interviews are distracting and obnoxious but the movie itself is a winner. Note black characters in sympathetic and even heroic roles, very unusual for the times. The protagonists and the antagonists play their roles to the hilt!3) Desperate: Another good noir that has Raymond Burr in fine form as the ruthless head of a gang that tricks a truck driver into participating in a warehouse burglary that goes sour when a cop stumbles on the scene and is killed. The gang-leader's brother faces the death penalty and Burr wants the truck driver to take the rap...or else! The ending is sweet vindication for the driver and for justice.Here's where it gets harder to choose...which is worst?4) Dial 1119: Though hardly noir, I kind of enjoyed this tale of an escaped mental ward patient who seeks to kill the doctor who had him committed. He has no compunction about killing anyone who stands in his way because he believes his imagined war-time experiences have given him the right to kill. The lead man here does a credible job of acting deranged and will keep the viewer wondering who will be next to reap his wrath until finally the tables are turned on him.5) Cornered: A convoluted tale of a man seeking the Nazi collaborator who killed his wife during the war. And the trail leads...to Argentina! Hard to follow at times, this film will take several viewings to figure out who is who and what is what.6) Backfire: More of a romantic mystery with noirish touches, this movie has its share of odd twists but some of the goofy touches keep it from being the kind of movie it could be were it better written.7) Deadline at Dawn: Unbelievably silly tale of a sailor, a dime-a-dance girl, a meddling taxi driver and a dead body. There is an element of romance here, but the sailor is hapless and hopeless and the taxi driver a pontificating fool. Where'd they dredge this one up?8) Crime In the Streets: An almost unimaginably hokey tale of juvenile delinquency that threatens to blossom into outright criminality. Full of stock characters including the inevitable crusading do-gooder. The gang fight that opens the film is a joke and the film goes rapidly downhill from there. Give this rubbish one star.Despite my misgivings about a couple of the films, overall I found the set enjoyable. But for the price, extras could have been provided. Commentary by industry insiders often elucidates that which seems dense and impenetrable. I am already looking forward to Volume 6. But please, Warner Brothers, make it a noir!

Partially my bad for not reading the descriptions more closely, but seriously, Amazon should require that the format is in the name of the product for these darn things.**Here it says "Film Noir Classic Collection - 33 Films [Blu-ray]" when it should say "Film Noir Classic Collection - 33 Films [Burned on Demand Blu-ray] or something like that.**Sure, I got some good movies out of the deal all at once, but I would NOT have ordered this had I known it was a lousy burned disc set. Just not my style.

Excelentes películas del cine negro. Film noir

This is the fifth in Warner Home Video's collection of notable film noir titles; this collection gathers titles from the 1940s through the 1950s, and shows the range of styles which "film noir" encompassed. CORNERED and DEADLINE AT DAWN are two examples of the careful studio style of the 1940s, with highly controlled lighting in studio constructed sets. THE PHENIX CITY STORY and CRIME IN THE STREETS show the semi-documentary style of the 1950s. BACKFIRE and DESPERATE are examples of the ingenuity of film noir in that the intricate, twisted plots are embedded in low-budget films which use the limited resources in amusing ways. These titles aren't the more famous film noir titles (DOUBLE INDEMNITY, THEY LIVE BY NIGHT, CROSSFIRE) but they show how film noir developed from the heyday of the Hollywood studio system of the 1940s to the "independent" productions of the 1950s. This is a fine collection for anyone interested in American film from the 11940s and 1950s, not just for fans of the film noir style. One caveat is that this collection is a little short on extras; these are films which would benefit from commentaries which would place them in their cultural context.

Disappointing 5th volume from Warners feels like a step too far with seemingly no material left that could be regarded as pukka noir.For the recordArmored Car Robbery(1950)My reason for buying the set.Charles McGraw plays a determined cop out to avenge his partner's death by catching criminal mastermind William Talman.Highly regarded cult item has it's moments and exterior work plus Talman are excellent but McGraw surprisingly doesn't convince.He and director Fleischer would fare far better 2 yrs later with the brilliant Narrow Margin.Backfire(1950)Unconvincing soaper has super cast(Virginia Mayo, Viveca Lindfors, Edmond O'Brien)pretty much wasted in a tepid missing person mystery.Hardly noir.Cornered (1945)Hollywood vet Edward Dmytryk delivers a well turned tale of revenge with Dick Powell on top form as a pilot scouring Buenos Aires for the man he holds responsible for the death of his wife during WW2.Quite exciting well cast drama.Crime In the Streets(1956)Early social drama from Don Siegel centres on teen murderer John Cassavetes and the fallout from his crime.Notable cast includes Sal Mineo and Mark Rydell as Cassavetes chums and is more social commentary than noir.A bit too long as well.Desperate(1947)Lesser Anthony Mann is noirish albeit a little too tidy and with a happy ending to boot.Independent trucker Steve Brodie finds himself on the run after a gang of crooks use his truck against his wishes for a robbery that goes wrong.Passable on the whole with Raymond Burr particularly effective as gang boss.The scene in Brodie's lodgings with the "final meal"is suitably tense.Dial 1119(1950) At 75 minutes this ok suspenser concerning a mad killer holding a bunch of bar patrons hostage is the pick of the bunch with decent tension generated throughout.Deadline at Dawn(1946)Pedigree Source(Cornell Woolrich)and adaptor(Clifford Odets)together with the always excellent Susan Hayward just about keep this tale of dopey sailor suspected of murder from falling on it's backside.Brooding atmosphere helps somewhat but this is tepid stuff.Phenix City Story(1955)The underrated(well by me anyway)Phil Karlson keeps this faintly noirish docu style tale of crusading lawyer returning home to clean up his old town well paced with Richard Kiley and John McIntire struting their stuff to good effect.Coming with no extras worthy of the name,Vol 5 is a threadbare affair and feels like the end of Warners efforts in this area.This studio which has put out some excellent noir/gangster boxsets(almost all R1)in the past has blundered here with a very indifferent set.Vols 1 and 2 of this series are essential purchases,Vols 3 and 4 are worthy and Vol 5 should strictly be avoided.

As a devoted collector of this admirable series, I was disappointed at the lack of extras ( which has been a welcome feature of all previous volumes )but I decided to buy it anyway because I feel this one series that deserves support. Of the eight films, one in particular "Crime In The Streets" is not only the weakest in the set, it's one of the worst and most boring films I've ever seen. On top of which, it is not even a "Film Noir." Whoever had the lame brain idea of including it in this package should be taken for a ride on a dark night and suitably disposed of.Of the remaining seven, the selection is somewhat better. Although not top drawer, most of this package is reasonably entertaining. "Cornered" starring Dick Powell is an atmospheric post-World War 11 thriller directed by the reliable Edward Dmytrik that holds the interest despite slightly sluggish pacing. An early Anthony Mann film "Desperate"(1947) is a fast-moving little thriller that has a most satisfactory ending. And when it comes to fast-moving, it would be hard to beat"Armored Car Robbery" (1950) with Charles McGraw hot on the trail of the robberswho alo killed his partner. The whole plot is executed and sewn up in just 68 minutes under the efficient direction of Richard Fleischer. The other three films"Deadline At Dawn" (1946)( written by the redoubtable Clifford Odets stars the gorgeous Susan Hayward ), "Backfire" (1950) directed by Vincent Sherman starring a non-singing Gordon MacRae and a top notch cast and "The Phenix City Story"(1955) all deliver the goods and make this set reasonably worthwhile. But I hope the next volume of dark deeds will be more consistent.

This review is for the Film Noir Classic Collection, Volume 5. It is for the regular DVD edition, not the DVD-R Warner Archive edition. I do not know whether the DVD-R edition has all the same features, or the same quality of image and sound. (The regular DVD edition is now out of print, and on the marketplace is usually much more expensive than the Archive edition, but I got a good deal on it. If you shop around and are patient, you might be able to do the same.)There are 8 films in the collection. All have audio only in the original English language, but all have optional subtitles in English, French, or Spanish. There are no special features worth mentioning, except for trailers for the films, and only two of the films include even that.The 8 films are arranged on 4 disks, paired in themes rather than run in chronological order of release. The films included -- set forth here in this review in their original order of release, are:Cornered (1945)Deadline at Dawn (1946)Desperate (1947)Backfire (1950)Armored Car Robbery (1950)Dial 1119 (1950)The Phenix City Story (1955)Crime in the Streets (1956)Only Cornered and Dial 1119 are accompanied by their trailers.The aspect ratio of the first six films is 1:33 to 1, the original ratio. The aspect ratio of the last two is 1:66 to 1, which may have been the original ratio (though the IMDb says it was 1.85 to 1). The first six films have the squarish shape of an old TV show, with wide black bars on the left and right; the last two have black all around the frame (left, right, top, bottom) to achieve the 1.66:1 ratio, though if you choose, you can select the appropriate Zoom setting on your TV and they will occupy the whole rectangular screen, with only a very slight loss of image at the sides and top and bottom, a slight loss you wouldn't even notice unless you compared the two settings on freeze-frame.All of the presentations are excellent for video and audio, almost like new movies to watch. There are none of the scratches, hissing, etc. typical of older films. There might be some minor imperfections which someone very conscious of these things would notice, but there is nothing obvious. The sound comes through clearly at normal levels. The noirish photographic style (used in almost all the films, even the ones that aren't really noir in contents) comes out beautifully, and they are a joy to look at. The subtitles are a good size.The main complaint that could be levelled against the set is that very few of the 8 films are pure "noir." Only a few of them have anything close to a femme fatale, for example, and others a really of a different genre. The Phenix City Story is a realistic semi-documentary crime story, and Crime in the Streets is a tale of juvenile delinquency done in the "socially conscious" style of the late 1950s. Nonetheless, the luscious black and white photography typical of noir (great contrasts of light and dark, night scenes, use of shadows, etc.) is found in most of the films. If you are willing to accept that this is really a collection of mostly noir-flavored rather than pure noir films, you can sit back enjoy all of these films as great crime dramas, with good plots, often great dialogue, and great set design and photography -- as well as a host of your favorite noir/crime leading actors and supporting players.I like all of these films; there is not a bad one in the lot. The two later films are of genres that are not my favorite, but they are very well done examples of those genres. As for the others, the film Cornered is more a tale of international intrigue than a true noir, but is still excellent, and the film Dial 1119 is more a tale about aberrant criminal psychology, but again is excellent. It's hard to say which film is the best. I like the noirish dame portrayed by Adele Jergens in Armored Car Robbery; she's pitch-perfect in this genre. Lola Lane is a great noirish villainness in Deadline at Dawn, though she's only got a small part; but Susan Hayward's tough heroine in the same film makes up for the shortfall. Desperate is a good thriller about an innocent man caught up in a web of crime against his will (kind of noirish, in that the character is selected for bad luck by fate), and Backfire has a great, convoluted plot which keeps you interested right to the end.This set is highly recommended for those who like either crime or noir films from the 1940s and 1950s. Of the first five sets in this series (Film Noir Classic Collection), I have sets 1, 2, 4, and 5, and all are excellent. I haven't bought set 3 yet because the films in that set look less interesting to me. Set 4 is probably the best bargain, with 10 films and lots of special features including commentaries -- and virtually all of the 10 films are excellent. But sets 1 and 2 contain a number of recognized noir classics, with some special features, and are worth getting. This set is almost as good as sets 1, 2, and 4; the films are almost as good; its main defect is lack of special features. But it is still a great DVD product.

Though this is not one of my favourite collections of film noir, it nevertheless delivers good solid entertainment for any film noir fan. The overall quality of these films is somewhat mixed, but they all have that great typical film noir feel to them.My favourite film in this collection is Deadline at Dawn. No surprise here, given the talent involved in this film. A very good movie, it stars Susan Hayward and Paul Lukas, with the screenplay written by the very talented Clifford Odets. There is great suspense and mystery in this film along with solid performances from the all the actors involved. A great who-dun nit film noir.My next two favourite films in this collection would be Cornered and Desperate. Cornered is all about the interaction and fine performances of Dick Powell and Walter Slezak. Their star power is what makes this film entertaining, since the story by itself was rather weak and silly.Desperate gives us a chance to marvel at the great talent of Raymond Burr, who at this time during his pre-Perry Mason career was one of the best villains on the silver screen. As usual, he gives a great performance of a criminal obsessed with revenge. Film Noir veteran Steve Brodie does a good job in the lead.The final two films I enjoyed in this collection were Backfire and Armored Car Robbery. In Backfire, I continually felt disappointed that it wasn't Edmund O'brien in the lead, who after all, is one of the greatest film noir lead actors in history. In this film, his role is very minor, and unfortunately, Gordon McRae does not have the talent and charisma to carry a film noir. Why O'brien wasn't in the lead role, I will never know. The film also has a fine performance by largely unappreciated Dane Clark, who does the most with a weak script for his character.Armored Car Robbery has Charles McGraw as the good cop, which takes some getting used to, since he is up there with Raymond Burr as one of the great villains in film noir history. The film is above average in presenting us with a criminal mastermind, but the story is so uneven in its overall quality. At times, the story is very good, and then veers to the ludicrous. They should have done better with the overall quality of this story, since it had much material to work with.

I was happy with my purchase. No problems at all! A must have for fans of film noir! Loved it!