Best Of Warner Bros. 20 Film Collection: Thrillers (1931 – 2010/DVD Box Set)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B Films: B
Over the
last 90 years, Warner Bros. (later with New Line Cinema) have delivered
classics in all genres and continuing their celebration of nine decades in the
business, are issuing 20-film collections showing off their amazing track
record of critical and commercial successes.
This time
out, we get Thrillers that are all must-see films and though all are available
on Blu-ray, the studio is only going to issue these sets on DVD, Here are the 20 titles this time around,
including links to the films we have already covered in the formats we got…
Along
with Howard Hawks’ original Scarface
with Howard Hughes and United Artists, Warner (in part by breaking sound into
film presentation permanently) created the gangster genre and William Wellman’s
Public Enemy (1931, also issued on
Blu-ray) put a young James Cagney permanently on the cinematic map as a cruel
gangster involved in illegal booze, loose women and crime all around. The film is constantly referenced (including
on The Sopranos) and is a stunning
work that not enough people have seen.
Jean
Harlow, Mae Clarke and Joan Blondell are an unforgettable trio here and the
film holds its power, in part thanks to a great script, to the performances all
around and the great journeyman director Wellman in his early prime.
Extras
include a feature length audio commentary track by the great film scholar
Robert Sklar, plus the “Leonard Maltin
Night At The Movies” series that include the 1931 Edgar Bergen short The Eyes Have It, some live action
shorts, a newsreel, 1954 Re-release “forward” telling us how evil Cagney’s
character is as if that would negate the immoral goings on in the film, Blonde
Crazy trailer and the classic 1931 Merrie
Melodies black and white cartoon short “Smile Darn Ya, Smile!”
The Maltese Falcon (1941) we covered it on Blu-ray
at this link, with all the same extras:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10397/The+Maltese+Falcon+(1941)+++The
More
unusual is the more complex, strange case of two version of Howard Hawks’ film
of Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep
(1946, also issued on Blu-ray) with Bogart as Philip Marlowe helping a rich
woman (Lauren Bacall) figure out who is murdering whom in a film the studio
jumped into to make sure it would be a hit and the Warners, et al, made the
right calls. A great mystery film in
both versions and the kind of ambitious production a major studio today would
rarely dare to try out.
In the
extras, we get a Theatrical Trailer and documentary with UCLA film scholar
Robert Gitt comparing both versions entitled The Big Sleep Comparisons: 1945/1946.
Alfred
Hitchcock’s Strangers On A Train
(1951. also issued on Blu-ray) was part of an interesting run he had at the
studio that had hits, misses and his great 3D film Dial ‘M’ For Murder (now out in the Blu-ray 3D format), but this is
also based on a Patricia Highsmith novel, co-scripted by Raymond Chandler and
was Hitchcock’s favorite film as two men (Robert Walker, Farley Granger) sick
of their lives make a cold agreement to kill off a person for each other so
they can have better lives, but this will not work out as easily as their
silent sneaking would make them think.
We only
get the “Final Release Version” of the film here, so you’ll have to get the DVD
set or Blu-ray to see the slightly longer, slightly different British version,
but it remains a very effective thriller and worth seeing in either cut.
Extras
include a Theatrical Trailer and a feature length audio commentary track by
Peter Bogdanovich, Joseph Stefano, Andrew Wilson & many more and excerpt of
a Hitchcock Interview all worth seeing and hearing after watching the film.
North By Northwest (1959, actually made by MGM) we
covered it on Blu-ray at this link, but this DVD only has the Ernest Lehman
audio commentary track:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9171/North+By+Northwest+-+50th+Anniver
Dirty Harry (1971) we covered it on Blu-ray
at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7078/Dirty+Harry+%E2%80%93+Ultimate
Extras
include trailers for all five films in the series, a feature length audio
commentary by filmmaker/Eastwood associate/biographer Richard Schickel, vintage
Dirty Harry's Way promo short,
interview gallery, with Patricia Clarkson, Joel Cox, Clint Eastwood, Hal
Holbrook, Evan Kim, John Milius, Ted Post, Andy Robinson, Arnold Schwarzenegger
and Robert Urich. For your reference,
the Blu-ray has all this and more.
Dog Day Afternoon (1975) we covered it in the
now-defunct HD-DVD format which has the same transfer as the in-print Blu-ray
at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5321/Dog+Day+Afternoon+(HD-DVD)
Unfortunately,
you only get the Theatrical Trailer and Director Sidney Lumet’s great feature
length audio commentary, but the HD-DVD and Blu-ray have more.
Lethal Weapon (1987) here in its better year
2000 Director’s Cut we covered an awful copy of the lesser theatrical cut on
the now defunct HD-DVD format at this link, which only has a Theatrical Trailer
as an extra:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3946/Lethal+Weapon+(Warner+HD-DVD/The
Tim
Burton’s Batman (1989) may have been
a big hit, had Jack Nicholson going overboard in a whole new way and remains as
well promoted a film as any in motion picture history, but 24 years later and
counting, we can now see more than ever that it is really a wholesale hijacking
of Frank Miller’s graphic novel The Dark
Night Returns, which was a shockingly dark, liberal revelation in the midst
of the original Reagan Era. Batman here
(played by comic actor Michael Keaton) is somewhat impotent no matter what he
does and the Sam Hamm script mocks the history of the character Batman.
Since it
involved more death, armor and weapons, not many people noticed, plus Anton
Furst’s production design was impressive, but the film has aged in odd ways and
never did get out from under the shadow of the 1960s series (in part on purpose
to make fun of it in the most arrogant way, which caught up with this revival
by its fourth and final film) and it has aged oddly. We do get some good supporting acting and Kim
Basinger obviously looks good (though her character Vicki Vale is written in
slyly anti-feminist terms) so see it for the time capsule it is and think of
what it is saying about masculinity.
A Tim
Burton feature length audio commentary track is the only extra.
GoodFellas (1990) covered in the now defunct
HD-DVD format at this link in transfer similar to the first two Blu-rays
issued:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3690/Goodfellas+(HD-DVD)
The only
extras on this DVD of the brilliant gangster crime classic, which was not a big
hit when it was first released, are the two now-vintage audio commentary
tracks.
The Fugitive (1993) recently issued in a new
Anniversary Blu-ray edition, here is our coverage of the film in the now defunct
HD-DVD format, but with the same extras as that early disc and its Blu-ray
counterpart:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3795/The+Fugitive+(1993/HD-DVD)
Natural Born Killers (1994 Director’s Cut) reviewed on
Blu-ray at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7214/Natural+Born+Killers+(1994/Blu-ray/W
A feature
length audio commentary track by Oliver Stone plus an intro by Stone are the
only extras, which is less than the Blu-ray.
The film was more prophetic than anyone realized at the time.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994) reviewed on Blu-ray at
this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8072/The+Shawshank+Redemption+(Warner
Stills
and a theatrical Trailer are sadly the only extras, but the Blu-ray has many
more.
David
Fincher’s Se7en (1995) was a huge
hit for New Line and put him on the map of artistic hitmakers as a young naïve
detective (Brad Pitt) teams up with a highly knowledgeable older detective
ready to retire (Morgan Freeman in one of his greatest role) hunting down a
very sick serial killer (a then unknown Kevin Spacey) who is killing based on
the seven deadly sins. One of the only
serial killer films of the time to match Silence
Of the Lambs, it h9oldssa up extraordinarily well.
There are
no extras in this edition, though Criterion did an old 12” LaserDisc edition
with the works and special adjustment instructions so your video image would
look like 35mm film copies that retained its silver content so the film had its
special darker look. The DVDs have not
followed and it is uncertain if the Blu-rays ever will, though New Line
retained all the extras they let Criterion use.
A new 4K version of this film is needed.
Heat (1995) reviewed on Blu-ray at
this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9457/Heat+(1995/Warner+Blu-ray)
Three
Theatrical Trailers and a feature length audio commentary track by Director
Michael Mann are the only extras here, though the Blu-ray has more.
Though Curtis
Hanson got many raves for L. A.
Confidential (1997) and Kim Basinger won an Academy Award for her work, the
film has not aged well, was never as good as many said it was and is not as
discussed as you would think for all the hype it got at the time. Based on James Elroy’s novel, the book might
make for a fine read, but the film could never shake being in the shadow of
Polanski’s Chinatown
(1974, now on Blu-ray and reviewed on DVD elsewhere on this site) making any
shocking revelations here pale by comparison.
Guy
Pierce, Kevin Spacey and Russell Crowe make surprisingly effective early turns
here and the look of the film is not bad, but I found it (Chinatown or not) more predictable than many not and some were
actually offended I said that at the time,
Seeing it now, I’d say they could not admit they were overrating
it. Still overrated to this day, it was
at least ambitious, but now you can see for yourself in either format.
Extras
include a feature length audio commentary track with a dozen people (mostly
actors in the film), Trailer Gallery and isolated 5.1 Jerry Goldsmith Score.
The odd
history of Director Tony Kaye’s film American
History X (1998) had Kaye fighting with New Line over the film, suing them
to be abler to re-cut the film, but even when it got good reviews, kept up with
the suit until Edward Norton got an Academy Award nomination for playing a Nazi
Skinhead who finds out the hard way what a fraud his life has been and the film
even did business.
It is not
a great film and I even thought the portrayal of Nazi Skinheads did not go far
enough despite some gruesome violence, but Kaye let his suit go on so long that
by the time he dropped it, he was finished in Hollywood never to make another
film and maybe if he spent that energy on another film, he’d have made it as an
important filmmaker because this still has some good moments.
I found
it an odd choice for this set, but here it is.
Extras only include a Theatrical Trailer and Deleted Scenes.
The Dark Knight (2008) reviewed in its
Blu-ray/DVD edition at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7891/The+Dark+Knight+(2008/Batman/War
Amazingly,
there are no extras.
Inception (2010) reviewed in a Blu-ray/DVD
set at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10617/Inception+(2010/Warner+Blu-ray+w/
Extras
include four “Extraction Mode Focus Points” featurettes: The Inception Of
Inception, The Japanese Castle: The Dream Is Collapsing, Constructing
Paradoxical Architecture and The Freight Train.
The Blu-ray has more.
The Town (2010) reviewed in two Blu-ray
versions…
Ultimate Collector’s Edition
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11487/Ransom+Baby+(1973/Mya/E1+DVD)/
Extended Edition
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10664/The+Town+(2010/Warner+Blu-ray)
Only The Real People Of The Town and Ben Affleck: Director & Actor
featurettes are featured here as the only extras, though both Blu-rays offer
more.
The 1.33
X 1 black and white image quality on Enemy,
Falcon, Sleep and Train look
pretty good for their age and come from prints with real silver content in
them, as good as they can look in standard definition on DVD here. The anamorphically enhanced image on the
other 16 films are fine for DVD, but newer 4K transfers will be needed for
these films in the near future and I would add that Afternoon, GoodFellas
and The Fugitive especially could
look better.
The lossy
Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono on Enemy, Falcon, Sleep, Train and Afternoon are not bad for their age,
but can have weak spots, something their lossless versions on Blu-ray can also
still have, but not as much. The lossy
Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes on the rest of the DVDs are fine, but some (Dirty Harry, Lethal Weapon, North by
Northwest, GoodFellas and Batman (1989)) are not originally 5.1
films and it shows.
Otherwise,
this is a nice starter set for someone not in the know and cheaper than getting
all the Blu-ray editions. Most are
classics, so it is a solid enough set, though I might have made a few
substitutions…
-
Nicholas Sheffo
