Classic Film Noir 9 Movie Pack (1949) Review

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(More customer reviews)Well, "Noirist", I understand your frustration with Amazon for not listing the contents of this collection. These public domain film noirs have been released countless times already, but never have so many been offered for such a small price. Keep in mind that they ARE public domain movies, so don't expect perfection in picture or sound quality, although on this collection they're offered in 5.1 Surround Sound (which is nice).

Disc 1 on this 3-disc collection contains "Too Late For Tears", "The Man Who Cheated Himself", and "The Stranger".
Bonus features on this disc are a photo gallery & vintage film noir poster gallery (I LOVE those classic posters!). I'm a little puzzled by the various "Casablanca" posters being included in the film noir poster gallery, though!
"Too Late For Tears" (1949) stars Lizabeth Scott (one of the best femme fatales!) & Dan Duryea & is a great tale of greed and murder.
"The Man Who Cheated Himself" (1950) stars Lee J.Cobb & Jane Wyatt and is a forgettable low-budget crime drama. The picture and sound quality in this movie were simply awful.
"The Stranger" (1946) stars Orson Welles (in a wonderfully sinister role!), Loretta Young, and Edward G. Robinson (in a rare good guy role) & is truly a great classic.
Disc 2 contains "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers", "The Hitch-Hiker", and "Quicksand". Included on this disc is a featurette "About Film Noir" (which isn't very impressive).
"The Strange Love of Martha Ivers" (1946) is one of my favorite noirs of all time, and stars Barbara Stanwyck (in an unforgettable femme fatale role!), Van Heflin, Kirk Douglas (in his debut, I believe), and Lizabeth Scott. It's about a woman with a troubled past that eventually catches up with her.
"The Hitch-Hiker" (1952) is directed by the great Ida Lupino and stars Edmund O'Brien, Frank Lovejoy, and William Talman. It's a suspenseful tale of a psychotic hitchhiker who holds two men captive.
"Quicksand" (1950) stars baby-faced Mickey Rooney, Jeanne Cagney, and Peter Lorre (who gets too little screen time) and is an adverage but enjoyable tale of a good guy who's led astray by a femme fatale.
Disc 3 contains "Detour", "The Scar", and "D.O.A.". There are also a few theatrical trailers on this disc.
"Detour" (1945) stars Tom Neal & Ann Savage and represents ultra low-budget noir at its best! It's yet another tale of a man who's downfall is brought on by a deadly woman. By the way, I've compared this with my Alpha dvd of "Detour" and this IS a better restored version.
"The Scar" A.K.A. "Hollow Triumph" (1948) stars Paul Henreid (one of the stars of 1942's "Casablanca") and Joan Bennett, and is a depressing tale of a mobster on the run who finds out (the hard way) that changing identity was not a good escape!
"D.O.A." (1949) is one of the best examples of ultra low-budget film noir, and stars Edmond O'Brien, Pamela Britton, and Luther Adler. A man is poisoned and tries to solves his own murder before he dies!
If you haven't already bought these movies on other dvd editions, this is the best deal and I highly recommend it to all fans of classic film noir.


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The Star / Zvezda (2002) Review

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(More customer reviews)I had seen some Russian war films while on travel in Asia and was impressed with how well done they were, so I took a chance on The Star and was glad I did. The story of a reconnaissance team's mission behind German lines is, for the most part, realistically depicted and soldiers, in particular, will enjoy this film. The degree of accuracy in weapons, equipment, tactics, and movement is very high. The studio really had some depth of resources when it came to period weapons and equipment. No doubt, much of this was captured originals. The tanks - of which there were quiet a few - appeared to be soviet with a variety of detailed visual modifications to make them resemble Tiger's, Panthers, and Mark
IVs. The actors were clearly well coached in their roles by knowledgeable technical advisors. The action occurs in the woods, weeds, swamps, mud, and streams of eastern russia. A good use of location far beyond the studio back lot. The standard compromises for unbelievable daring and heroics, the need to speak loud enough for the audience to hear, and staging action in broad daylight so that there will be something other than shadows for the audience to see all apply, but are dealt with plausibly. Relatively little dialog is needed because the director is up to the job of conveying the story of the mission visually. You can really tell what is happening in the action and pursuit scenes both day and night. Good cinematography and a very good transfer to DVD. There a subtitles, but they are not intrusive. The Russian language adds to the realism and immersion. Yeah, it's violent on the R-rated level and not for the kids. The Russian soldiers are stereotypically heroic patriots. There are no German characters, at least that live long. The Germans are depicted as evil targets to be interrogated and disposed of. Those that are on screen for any time at all are well costumed and acted, but, much as in the Dirty Dozen, they receive little sympathy and are a poor insurance risk. But they are not assumed to fools and prove quiet capable of systematically hunting down team Star. The use of brief narration to replace the standard enemy headquarters scene where the German staff would react to the incursion and order counter measures is a bit hokey due to the odd translation which is Russian accented English and does not sound like a German battle report, but allows the focus on the team, now on the run, to remain unbroken.

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LANGUAGE (AUDIO): RUSSIAN (DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1.) SOUNDTRACK ONLY; SUBTITLES: RUSSIAN. War, Russia, 2002, 93 min. A true WWII story about a small scout group with radio sign /The Star/ (Zvezda) which got a task to find place of German tanks concentration. Two previous groups were lost and nobody knew where and how. The third group is completed by scouts from different fronts. /The Star/ goes in both dark of night and obscurity understanding that enemy waits them leaving no chances to return... Director: Nikolai Lebedev; Cast: Igor Petrenko, Artyom Semakin, Aleksei Panin, Aleksei Kravchenko, Anatoli Gushchin, Amadu Mamadakov, Yuri Laguta, Yekaterina Vulichenko, Andrei Yegorov, Oleg Gushchin

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