- Actors: James Stewart, Richard Conte, Ginger Rogers, Van Heflin, Gene Tierney
- Directors: Henry Hathaway, Joseph M. Newman, Nunnally Johnson, Otto Preminger, Rouben Mamoulian
- Writers: Elizabeth Reinhardt, Hugh Wheeler, Jack McPhaul
- Format: Colour, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
- Language English
- Region: Region 1 (US and Canada DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3 - 1.33:1
- Number of discs: 4
- Classification: Unrated (US MPAA rating. See details.)
- Studio: 20th Century Fox
- DVD Release Date: 4 May 2010
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- ASIN: B003B3V0RA
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 51,497 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
These are all fine films that, because they are boxed together, are a fine bargain. However, I must drop a star, not because of the quality of the films or even the transfers (which are excellent), but because of the sheer arbitrariness of the compilation.
The real classic and main 'come on' is, of course, Laura and it is for that same reason that many will have purchased this already as a single item.
The films also lack any other form of rational consistency which means, when carried out as a general policy, one is constantly trying to avoid duplication when purchasing other boxed sets.
The four films do not share the same stars nor the same director nor even the same decade or even format - they are not even all in black and white!
However, apart from these 'outside the box' criticisms, they are all fine films with interesting casts - and two of them I would place in the classic category (you can guess which is the second one).
So, as the saying goes, if you do not already own these films and do not think it will compromise the purchase of future box sets, if these films are to your taste, this purchase is a steal!
The real classic and main 'come on' is, of course, Laura and it is for that same reason that many will have purchased this already as a single item.
The films also lack any other form of rational consistency which means, when carried out as a general policy, one is constantly trying to avoid duplication when purchasing other boxed sets.
The four films do not share the same stars nor the same director nor even the same decade or even format - they are not even all in black and white!
However, apart from these 'outside the box' criticisms, they are all fine films with interesting casts - and two of them I would place in the classic category (you can guess which is the second one).
So, as the saying goes, if you do not already own these films and do not think it will compromise the purchase of future box sets, if these films are to your taste, this purchase is a steal!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
8 reviews
23 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Film Noir Collection
25 Jun 2010
Amazon Verified Purchase
This volume is film noir aka crime drama/mystery.
While these were all new titles to me; I liked them.
I watched all these movies and featurettes today.
Black Widow (1954) stars Ginger Rogers with Gene Tierney.
Kindly gentleman is framed for murder of young woman.
I've always liked Ginger Rogers dancing with Fred Astaire in musicals.
I've not cared much for her comedic roles but liked this very different role.
This is color, 95 minutes and in letterbox.
Includes two biographies:
Ginger Rogers at Twentieth Century Fox
Gene Tierney: Final Curtain for a Noir Icon
Call Northside 777 (1948) stars James Stewart.
Reporter reluctantly concludes wrong man is in jail for cop killing.
This is B&W, 111 minutes and in fullscreen.
Includes a movietone news clip about premiere.
Dangerous Crossing (1953) stars Jeanne Crain.
On transatlantic cruise a newlywed says her husband is missing
but due to lack of his existence she is thought to be losing her mind.
This is B&W, 76 minutes and in fullscreen.
Includes featurette Peril at Sea: Charting a Dangerous Crossing
Laura (1944) stars Gene Tierney with Vincent Price.
A supposed murder victim becomes the murder suspect.
This is B&W, 87 minutes and in fullscreen.
Includes two excellent A&E Biographies:
Gene Tierney: A Shattered Portrait
Vincent Price: The Versatile Villain
While these were all new titles to me; I liked them.
I watched all these movies and featurettes today.
Black Widow (1954) stars Ginger Rogers with Gene Tierney.
Kindly gentleman is framed for murder of young woman.
I've always liked Ginger Rogers dancing with Fred Astaire in musicals.
I've not cared much for her comedic roles but liked this very different role.
This is color, 95 minutes and in letterbox.
Includes two biographies:
Ginger Rogers at Twentieth Century Fox
Gene Tierney: Final Curtain for a Noir Icon
Call Northside 777 (1948) stars James Stewart.
Reporter reluctantly concludes wrong man is in jail for cop killing.
This is B&W, 111 minutes and in fullscreen.
Includes a movietone news clip about premiere.
Dangerous Crossing (1953) stars Jeanne Crain.
On transatlantic cruise a newlywed says her husband is missing
but due to lack of his existence she is thought to be losing her mind.
This is B&W, 76 minutes and in fullscreen.
Includes featurette Peril at Sea: Charting a Dangerous Crossing
Laura (1944) stars Gene Tierney with Vincent Price.
A supposed murder victim becomes the murder suspect.
This is B&W, 87 minutes and in fullscreen.
Includes two excellent A&E Biographies:
Gene Tierney: A Shattered Portrait
Vincent Price: The Versatile Villain
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Must-See Film Noir Classics
1 Sep 2010
Four disc DVD set of classic noir films from the 20th Century-Fox library. Each film is pressed on a separate disc with several bonus features. Great set for anyone looking to build a classic film library, or just someone who loves classic film noir.
Black Widow (1954/Color/91 minutes/Widescreen)
Murder mystery starring Van Heflin, Ginger Rogers and Gene Tierney. Special features include a commentary track, featurettes on Ginger Rogers and Gene Tierney, interactive pressbook, theatrical trailer, isolated score track, still galleries, and trailers for other Fox Noir films. Warning: the included featurettes can potentially spoil other Tierney/Rogers films for you.
Call Northside 777 (1948/B&W/111 minutes/Fullscreen)
Crime drama starring Jimmy Stewart as a beat reporter trying to free an innocent man. Special features include a commentary track, premiere newsclip, theatrical trailer, and trailers for other Fox Noir films.
Dangerous Crossing (1953/B&W/76 minutes/Fullscreen)
"Locked Room" or "missing person" style mystery set on a cruise liner. Stars Jeanne Crain and Michael Rennie. Special features include a commentary track, featurette on the making and history of the film, interactive pressbook, isolated score track, theatrical trailer, still galleries, and trailers for other Fox Noir films.
Laura (1944/B&W/87 minutes/Fullscreen)
Murder mystery starring Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb and Vincent Price. Special features include two commentary tracks, A&E network "Biography" specials on Gene Tierney and Vincent Price, a deleted scene, an extended version of the film, and the theatrical trailer. Warning: the included "Biography" episodes can potentially spoil other Tierney/Price films for you.
Black Widow (1954/Color/91 minutes/Widescreen)
Murder mystery starring Van Heflin, Ginger Rogers and Gene Tierney. Special features include a commentary track, featurettes on Ginger Rogers and Gene Tierney, interactive pressbook, theatrical trailer, isolated score track, still galleries, and trailers for other Fox Noir films. Warning: the included featurettes can potentially spoil other Tierney/Rogers films for you.
Call Northside 777 (1948/B&W/111 minutes/Fullscreen)
Crime drama starring Jimmy Stewart as a beat reporter trying to free an innocent man. Special features include a commentary track, premiere newsclip, theatrical trailer, and trailers for other Fox Noir films.
Dangerous Crossing (1953/B&W/76 minutes/Fullscreen)
"Locked Room" or "missing person" style mystery set on a cruise liner. Stars Jeanne Crain and Michael Rennie. Special features include a commentary track, featurette on the making and history of the film, interactive pressbook, isolated score track, theatrical trailer, still galleries, and trailers for other Fox Noir films.
Laura (1944/B&W/87 minutes/Fullscreen)
Murder mystery starring Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb and Vincent Price. Special features include two commentary tracks, A&E network "Biography" specials on Gene Tierney and Vincent Price, a deleted scene, an extended version of the film, and the theatrical trailer. Warning: the included "Biography" episodes can potentially spoil other Tierney/Price films for you.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Bought it for Laura
7 Sep 2011
I recently bought this set at Costco for $8.99 for one reason, and one reason only: Laura. This classic has been one of my favorite films noir ever since I saw it years ago, so I was delighted to find it at such a cheap price, and with three others interesting looking films noir thrown in, to boot!
So, did the set live up to my expecations? Well, kind of. I had never even heard of the three other movies included in the set (Black Widow, Call Northside 777 and Dangerous Crossing), so I really didn't know what to expect. After watching all the movies in the set, I'm sort of in two minds about it (though, on the whole, I'm glad I bought it). The only really great one was Laura; Call Northside 777 was good; Black Widow was enjoyable, but I wouldn't go so far as to actually call it good; and Dangerous Crossing was, frankly, atrocious.
I'll give a short synopsis and review of each one:
Black Widow (1954)
-Synopsis: An ambitious young female writer commits suicide in the apartment of a male friend, a famous Broadway producer. Or was it murder?
-Review: Going into this, my thoughts were that this was basically going to be All About Eve with murder (and camp). After having seen it, I still think that's a fairly accurate summation, but I also thought it would be, well, really bad. I was pleasantly surprised. Sure, Nancy Ordway is no Eve Harrington, but the dialog is fairly snappy and the central mystery keeps you guessing. All in all, what promised to be an amusingly bad melodrama turned out to be a fairly engrossing whodunit (though don't get me wrong, it's extremely melodramatic). Not a movie I would buy on its own, but it's entertaining and enjoyable enough to merit being included in this boxset.
-Rating: 3/5
Call Northside 777 (1948)
-Synopsis: An ace reporter reopens an eleven year old case of cop killing, and reluctantly comes to the conclusion that the convicted man is innocent. Based on a true story.
-Review: I went into this one with fairly high expectations. Not only does it star James Stewart, of whom everyone is a fan, but the idea of a copkiller being wrongfully convicted is always an intriguing one, as it deals so closely with the possibilities of police and government corruption. When a police officer is killed, his or her fellow policemen will, naturally, feel revengeful and want to punish whomever did it, but this often clouds their judgment and gets in the way of them doing their job correctly, as they want to make a quick arrest and get an even quicker conviction. This sometimes mean the wrong person is held accountable, which is exactly what this movie is about.
The acting is uniformly excellent, with Jimmy Stewart and Kasia Orzazewski being the stand-outs as the reporter and the mother of the convicted man, respectively. There are no stereotyped characters; you can even understand the viewpoints of the cops who are impeding the reporter's investigation. It's a good, solid film, definitely the second best of the bunch, after Laura. Well worth your time.
-Rating: 3.75/5
Dangerous Crossing (1953)
-Synopsis: A newlywed couple boards a yacht for their honeymoon, but the husband seemingly vanishes into thin air. No one else on the boat has seen him, and they think his frantic bride is either lying or insane. Think The Lady Vanishes, only bad.
-Review: Ugh. Based on the synopsis, this movie seemed like it would be half-decent. Boy, was I wrong. I don't want to go to in-depth because that would spoil it, more so than for the other movies in the set, but this was just awful. My main problem with it was that we, the audience, were supposed to be on the lead character's (played by Jeanne Crain) side. We were supposed to be rooting for her to prove that she was not crazy and that she really did have a husband who had mysteriously vanished. You see, the main storyline was not her husband's disappearance, but the other passengers and the crew believing her to be crazy. She had to go about finding her husband and proving everyone wrong. But here's the thing: after having seen the movie, I STILL am convinced that the lead character was psychotic. I don't know if it was Crain's acting or Leo Townsend's writing, but just 20 minutes into the movie I figured she was an escapee from an hospital for the criminally insane (there's a smile she gives at about the 27 minute mark that's absolutely chilling). In a movie of this kind, it is imperative that the audience's sympathy be entirely with the person whom everybody else thinks is crazy, otherwise the whole movie falls apart, which is what happened here. Not even Michael Rennie (Klaatu from The Day the Earth Stood Still) could save this unholy mess of a film.
There is one good thing about this movie, though, and that is the cinematography. The movie's set on a boat, mostly at night, so there's fog and darkness everywhere, which creates a very eerie setting, almost beautiful in its sinisterness. Too bad the rest of the movie was so terrible.
-Rating: 1.5/5 (That .5 is for the cinematography.)
Laura (1944)
-Synopsis: A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he is investigating.
-Review: What can I say that hasn't been said before? An acknowledged classic in the film noir genre, and for good reason. This movie is, to coin a phrase, practically perfect in every way. The acting (with the notable exception of Gene Tierney, who's always been good at standing around and looking pretty, and not much else) is fantastic, the dialog witty, the score beautiful and the twists memorable. Like I said, there's not much I can say about this brilliant film that others haven't already said, so I'm not going to say much in this review, only that Laura is the reason I bought this set, and the reason it's such a good investment. If you haven't already seen it, stop reading this review at once and do so. You won't regret it.
-Rating: 4.5/5
All in all, with this set you get four movies, one great, one good, one enjoyable and one bad, for just a few dollars. There are worse deals out there.
So, did the set live up to my expecations? Well, kind of. I had never even heard of the three other movies included in the set (Black Widow, Call Northside 777 and Dangerous Crossing), so I really didn't know what to expect. After watching all the movies in the set, I'm sort of in two minds about it (though, on the whole, I'm glad I bought it). The only really great one was Laura; Call Northside 777 was good; Black Widow was enjoyable, but I wouldn't go so far as to actually call it good; and Dangerous Crossing was, frankly, atrocious.
I'll give a short synopsis and review of each one:
Black Widow (1954)
-Synopsis: An ambitious young female writer commits suicide in the apartment of a male friend, a famous Broadway producer. Or was it murder?
-Review: Going into this, my thoughts were that this was basically going to be All About Eve with murder (and camp). After having seen it, I still think that's a fairly accurate summation, but I also thought it would be, well, really bad. I was pleasantly surprised. Sure, Nancy Ordway is no Eve Harrington, but the dialog is fairly snappy and the central mystery keeps you guessing. All in all, what promised to be an amusingly bad melodrama turned out to be a fairly engrossing whodunit (though don't get me wrong, it's extremely melodramatic). Not a movie I would buy on its own, but it's entertaining and enjoyable enough to merit being included in this boxset.
-Rating: 3/5
Call Northside 777 (1948)
-Synopsis: An ace reporter reopens an eleven year old case of cop killing, and reluctantly comes to the conclusion that the convicted man is innocent. Based on a true story.
-Review: I went into this one with fairly high expectations. Not only does it star James Stewart, of whom everyone is a fan, but the idea of a copkiller being wrongfully convicted is always an intriguing one, as it deals so closely with the possibilities of police and government corruption. When a police officer is killed, his or her fellow policemen will, naturally, feel revengeful and want to punish whomever did it, but this often clouds their judgment and gets in the way of them doing their job correctly, as they want to make a quick arrest and get an even quicker conviction. This sometimes mean the wrong person is held accountable, which is exactly what this movie is about.
The acting is uniformly excellent, with Jimmy Stewart and Kasia Orzazewski being the stand-outs as the reporter and the mother of the convicted man, respectively. There are no stereotyped characters; you can even understand the viewpoints of the cops who are impeding the reporter's investigation. It's a good, solid film, definitely the second best of the bunch, after Laura. Well worth your time.
-Rating: 3.75/5
Dangerous Crossing (1953)
-Synopsis: A newlywed couple boards a yacht for their honeymoon, but the husband seemingly vanishes into thin air. No one else on the boat has seen him, and they think his frantic bride is either lying or insane. Think The Lady Vanishes, only bad.
-Review: Ugh. Based on the synopsis, this movie seemed like it would be half-decent. Boy, was I wrong. I don't want to go to in-depth because that would spoil it, more so than for the other movies in the set, but this was just awful. My main problem with it was that we, the audience, were supposed to be on the lead character's (played by Jeanne Crain) side. We were supposed to be rooting for her to prove that she was not crazy and that she really did have a husband who had mysteriously vanished. You see, the main storyline was not her husband's disappearance, but the other passengers and the crew believing her to be crazy. She had to go about finding her husband and proving everyone wrong. But here's the thing: after having seen the movie, I STILL am convinced that the lead character was psychotic. I don't know if it was Crain's acting or Leo Townsend's writing, but just 20 minutes into the movie I figured she was an escapee from an hospital for the criminally insane (there's a smile she gives at about the 27 minute mark that's absolutely chilling). In a movie of this kind, it is imperative that the audience's sympathy be entirely with the person whom everybody else thinks is crazy, otherwise the whole movie falls apart, which is what happened here. Not even Michael Rennie (Klaatu from The Day the Earth Stood Still) could save this unholy mess of a film.
There is one good thing about this movie, though, and that is the cinematography. The movie's set on a boat, mostly at night, so there's fog and darkness everywhere, which creates a very eerie setting, almost beautiful in its sinisterness. Too bad the rest of the movie was so terrible.
-Rating: 1.5/5 (That .5 is for the cinematography.)
Laura (1944)
-Synopsis: A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he is investigating.
-Review: What can I say that hasn't been said before? An acknowledged classic in the film noir genre, and for good reason. This movie is, to coin a phrase, practically perfect in every way. The acting (with the notable exception of Gene Tierney, who's always been good at standing around and looking pretty, and not much else) is fantastic, the dialog witty, the score beautiful and the twists memorable. Like I said, there's not much I can say about this brilliant film that others haven't already said, so I'm not going to say much in this review, only that Laura is the reason I bought this set, and the reason it's such a good investment. If you haven't already seen it, stop reading this review at once and do so. You won't regret it.
-Rating: 4.5/5
All in all, with this set you get four movies, one great, one good, one enjoyable and one bad, for just a few dollars. There are worse deals out there.
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