Humphrey Bogart - The Signature Collection, Vol. 2 (The...

Buy This Item Humphrey Bogart - The Signature Collection, Vol. 2 (The... by Warner Home Video  Available from Amazon  $43.99  on 11-16-2008     Includes: The Maltese Falcon (Three-Disc Special Edition), Across the Pacific, Action in the North Atlantic, All Through the Night, and Passage to Marseille. Reader Reviews In the 5 Bogart movies, this DVD collection features the Warner Brothers production machine at its peak with the great photography, editing, directing, and fast talking that characterized Warners. I have always greatly enjoyed all of these Bogart films. Random notes, observations, in no particular order: The 1931 Maltese Falcon, while not up to the 1941 version, requires a viewing. Many of the set-ups seem to have inspired Huston in his remake. The film's main problems are the slower paced talk, with an emphasis on diction, probably due to a lack of confidence in the recording system of the day, and the veering from the book at the end. Searching the girl for the $1000 is an important moment in the book that this earlier version has and the 1941 lacks. This fidelity to the book is important. In the 1941 version Spade takes Bigid's word, and then fingers Casper Guttman. Spade displays more faith in the girl than we do. The 1936 version, despite some talent, is a misfire from the word go, with the casting of Warren William in the lead. What's he smiking about? Of the short subjects, most impressive was Jammin' the Blues, a simple music short, nicely directed and photographed. The cartoons for this set all came out before Warners great animation era, but are interesting. The transfers for the films are outstanding, as Warners DVD's ususally are. I view these at 84 inches, projected by a DLP 720P projector and in the close-ups, I can still see the pores in Borart's mug. The feature on Falcon seems to indicate that WB remade Falcon because of the first two features failing. The first feature had decent reviews and did okay at the box office. Jack Warner called "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" the greatest picture I have ever seen. It was remade as an episode of Cheyenne 7 years later. WB bought stories. A good story could be and would be recycled to obtain maximum value, that's all. Some of the model work can be discerned in "Action in the North Atlantic" and "Passage to Marseille", but does not bother me. Frankenstein's henchman, Dwight Frye, plays Wilmer Cook in Maltese Falcon (1931), and does well, but the role is a bit smaller than in the 1941 version. "Passage to Marseille" is somewhat infamous for the flashback within a flashback within a flashback. That sounds more awkward than it is. I always know where I am in the film, unlike, say, the John Wayne flashback film, "Wake of the Red Witch."

Humphrey Bogart - The Signature Collection, Vol. 2 (The... Available from Amazon Price: $43.99 Updated on 11-16-2008.

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