If a Man Answers

Customer Reviews:

delightfuly witty.......2007-09-11

My mother and I watched this movie together and could not stop laughing. Not only is it full of amazing chemistry between Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee, but we also enjoyed the many little tricks that women do to keep their marriage sizzling.

Fabulous!!!.......2007-07-08

This movie is fabulous. I remembered seeing this movie when I was in my early twenties and I never forgot it. I bought it to watch with my 26 year old daughter. We both enjoyed it. The costumes were beautiful! The actors enchanting! The plot exciting!

IF A MAN ANSWERS.......2007-07-05

SANDRA DEE AND BOBBY DARRIN WERE GREAT AS COUPLE MAKING MOVIES TOGETHER.BUT THIS MOVIE IS A DIAPPOINTMENT BECAUSE ITS STORY LINE IS STUPID. THE TITLE IS SILLY, IT GOES ON FOREVER THOUGH THE ACTUAL MOVIE IS AN HOUR AND A HALF BUT IT DOES SEEM LONGER. THEIR PREVIOUS MOVIE THAT GREAT FEELING IS FUNNIER AND MORE ENTERTAINTING. THE ONLY GOOD THING ABOUT THIS MOVIE IS ITS GOT THEM AS THEIR MAIN CHARACTERS. OTHERWISE IT WOULD BE A FLOP............. DISAPPOINTING BIG TIME.

funny and surprising.......2007-06-30

A college friend had this movie. I have to say at first I was skeptical. But after watching this film, I've bought two-one's for my sister. Even my family was skeptical at first, but once we've seen it we've love it! If you enjoy older films will humorous underlining tones and jokes and how couples play tricks on each other-then you'll love this too!

Sandra Dee is great!.......2007-06-26

I love Sandra Dee and everytime I watch this movie it makes me laugh. Too bad they don't make movies like this one anymore.

Hammer Film Noir Collector's Set (Bad Blonde / Blackout / The Gambler and the Lady / Heat Wave / Man Bait / Stolen Face)

Average customer rating:

Just ok.
Great fun for the lover of UK 50's films
Noir, British style
Bad Blondes of Film Noir.
"Hammer & VCI Film Noir Collection of Six Classic British Noir (1950's) "

Hammer Film Noir Collector's Set (Bad Blonde / Blackout / The Gambler and the Lady / Heat Wave / Man Bait / Stolen Face)
Starring: George Brent , Marguerite Chapman , Raymond Huntley , Peter Reynolds , and Eleanor Summerfield
Director: Terence Fisher , and Reginald Le Borg
Manufacturer: Vci Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000FMGTQC
Release Date: 2006-08-29

Description

In 1950, Hammer Films set up a deal with American Producer Robert L. Lippert to produce low-budget crime dramas to be made in the UK. Lippert would send over a shop-worn Hollywood star or promising American newcomer to give the films box-office appeal in the states, supported by the usual fine casts of British character actors that make most British movies worth watching. This five-year arrangement produced over a dozen well-made little B-noirs that seemed to have fallen through the film history cracks…..until now. VCI AND Kit Parker Films are happy to offer another look at these dark, moody pictures made by the company that became one of Britain's most prolific film producers of the 1960's, many directed by Hammer's top director, Terence Fisher, cutting his teeth on mystery and suspense. The Collector's Set contains the Hammer Film Noir Volumes 1 thru 3. Bonus Features: Scene Selection| Bios| Promo Trailer| Photo Gallery| Bonus Comments: The World Of Hammer Noir by Richard M Roberts. Specs: 3-DVD9s; Dolby Digital; 457 minutes; B&W; 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio; MPAA - R; Year - 1953, 1952, 1954; SRP - $29.99.

Customer Reviews:

Just ok........2007-02-12

A good introduction to "B" films. These are late 1940's (actually from the 50s) dramas with some noir elements. The films look great--as if they haven't been seen in 50 years--which is probably the case, since they're not too exiting.

I won't give a running commentary like some reviewers but I thought Heat Wave was pretty fair. The story is essentially the same as The Postman Always Rings Twice but its well done and not as slow as the other films. Hillary Brook, who went on to superstardom with Abbott & Costello, was quite a dish and gives a great performance.

Dane Clark, a prominent figure in many Hammer/VCI movies is perfectly adequate but like the movies themselves, a bit lightweight. Robert Mitchum he ain't.

All in all, good transfers and a lot of content for the money. Or course there is better noir available (even from VCI, for example Blond Ice) and I know of at least one Hammer non-horror film that's quite good, The Four Sided Triangle.

Great fun for the lover of UK 50's films.......2007-01-10

Great English character actors with a lone American star (usually up and coming or on the way down)...but all still full of great talent, Barbara Payton was excellent. There are literate film noir style scripts with interesting twists that keep you guessing, and low budget sets but with creative shooting. And it is fun to see the exterior shots of London from the 50's.
Getting to see films like these were not feasible until DVD, thank you to the inventors of DVD!

Noir, British style.......2006-11-25

Back in the `30s and `40s, many movie studios had their specialties. Warner Bros. was known for its gangster and "social problem" films; MGM did the musicals, and Universal did the monster movies. Later, in the `50s and `60s, Britain's Hammer Films got a reputation for being a good horror house, starting with The Curse of Frankenstein and continuing for a couple of decades of Frankenstein, Dracula and other movies. Before Curse of Frankenstein, however, Hammer didn't yet have the horror identity and during this time, it made other types of films, including crime movies. The Hammer Film Noir collection brings together six such movies from the early 1950s; while not really awful, they do demonstrate that Hammer Films's strengths were elsewhere.

Bad Blonde features Barbara Payton as the title character, married to a wealthy but slovenly middle-aged boxing manager. In a story that more than slightly resembles The Postman Always Rings Twice, she seduces a boxer and convinces him to murder her spouse. As with many of these of this films, the English actors come off a bit stiff; certainly John Garfield and Lana Turner did this same plot better. The second film on the first disc is Man Bait in which George Brent gets entangled in a blackmail attempt and is later framed for murder; in the hands of a Hitchcock, this innocent-man-wrongly-accused plot is a classic; in lesser hands, however, it is merely passable.

The second disc has Stolen Face, a strange mix of Pygmalion and a crime story. A plastic surgeon, unable to be with the woman he loves, alters the face of a female convict to look like his love and then marries her. Unfortunately, cosmetic surgery doesn't take the crook out of the girl. This film features the most familiar faces for American viewers: Paul Henreid of Casablanca fame (and who also was involved with a different sort of double identity movie with The Scar) and Lizabeth Scott from Too Late For Tears and The Strange Love of Martha Ivers. Unfortunately, their skills don't completely save this movie which has a rather flaky ending which relies on an accident.

The other movie on this disc is the best in the set, Blackout, which features Dane Clark as a down-on-his-luck American in London who wakes up after a drunken bender to find he is married to a beautiful and wealthy woman. Of course, she has something up her sleeve, and when her father turns up dead, he winds up on the run. Clark's wise-cracking character helps elevate this film above the others in this set.

Clark is also in The Gambler and the Lady on disc three as one of the title characters (hint, he's not the lady). He's a minor gangster trying to go legit and gain acceptance from who he considers his social betters. His pretensions alienate his dancer girlfriend even as he starts going out with a member of the nobility (the Lady of the title). He also gets entangled with more serious mobsters who are trying to muscle into his territory. Though not as good as Blackout, this movie is also improved by Clark. The final film, Heat Wave, is basically the same story as Bad Blonde, except the lead character is a writer instead of a boxer.

With the exception of the four-star Blackout, all these others rate from a low three stars to a high three stars. The extras in the set are relatively minor: a few trailers, some minor commentaries (typically less than five minutes a movie) and some brief biographies/filmographies. Overall, this set rates three stars. It's not bad stuff, but for good film noir, you need to go elsewhere. This set is really only for die-hard fans of the genre who want to see some movies that are relatively obscure.

Bad Blondes of Film Noir........2006-09-25

This is a must have set for any noir fan and beautiful femme fatales. The quality is excellent since these films were transferred from original studio prints. Immediately after watching this set I looked up some of the beautiful ladies featured in these films. I was familiar with drop dead gorgeous Barbara Payton who sadly died in 1967 due to alcolism. Barbara stars in "Bad Blonde," one of the better femme fatale story noirs in this set. Another beauty is Hillary Brooke in "HeatWave,") aka "Lady Across the Lake". Hillary is so damm tempting as a bad tall blonde married to a rich guy she would sooner see dead, playing the field with other men and torturing her poor husband's heart. These women are still fataly desirable to any man. I expect Hammer will release the other six noirs that were made by Lippert Studios in the early 50's. I look forward to that.

"Hammer & VCI Film Noir Collection of Six Classic British Noir (1950's) ".......2006-08-28

VCI Entertainment and Kit Parker Films present "Hammer Film Noir Collector's Set, Vol. 1-3" (1952) --- (Dolby digitally remastered)...Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe Hollywood crime dramas that set their protagonists in a world perceived as inherently corrupt and unsympathetic...Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography, while many of the prototypical stories and much of the attitude of classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Depression...the term film noir (French for "black film"), first applied to Hollywood movies by French critic Nino Frank in 1946, was unknown to most of the American filmmakers and actors while they were creating the classic film noirs..the canon of film noir was defined in retrospect by film historians and critics; many of those involved in the making of film noir later professed to be unaware at the time of having created a distinctive type of film.

First up we have "BAD BLONDE" (1953) (81 min. B/W)...under director Reginald Le Borg , producer Anthony Hinds, book author Max Catto, screenplay by Guy Elmes and Richard H. Landau , music score by Ivor Slaney ...the cast includes Barbara Payton (Lorna Vecchi), Frederick Valk (Giuseppe Vecchi), John Slater (Charlie Sullivan), Sid James (Sharkey), Tony Wright (Johnny Flanagan), Marie Burke (Mother Vecchi), Selma Vaz Dias (Mrs. Corelli, Vecchi's sister), Enzo Coticchia (Mr. Corelli), George Woodbridge (Police Inspector), Bettina Dickson (Barmaid), John Brooking (Barnes) . . . . . our story based on a novel by Max Catto is very close to "The Postman Always Rings Twice", but this time the male lead is a boxer...Barbara Payton is blackmailing Tony Wright into killing her husband Frederick Valk, will he go through with it...only the final scene will tell, Valk is a scene stealer and gives it all he's worth.

Second on the collection is a Lippert Picture release "MAN BAIT (1952) (84 min. B/W)....under director Terence Fisher, producer Anthony Hinds, screenplay by James Hadley Chase and Frederick Knott, musical score by Frank Spencer ....the cast includes George Brent (John Harman), Marguerite Chapman (Stella Tracy), Raymond Huntley Clive Oliver), Peter Reynolds (Jeffrey Hart), Diana Dors (Ruby Bruce), Eleanor Summerfield (Vi), Meredith Edwards (Inspector Dale), Harry Fowler (Joe, clerk), Conrad Phillips (Detective Todd), Nelly Arno (Miss Rosetti, clerk), David Keir (Mr. Quince, clerk), Eleanor Bryan (Mary Lewis, clerk), Isabel Dean .(May Harmon), Jack Faint (Club Manager), Harold Goodwin (Frank, the waiter) . . . . . our story involves blackmail and murder with George Brent who runs a bookstore where employee Marguerite Chapman is in love with him...but wait there is more, a sexy untrusting good-looking Diana Dors who also works in the bookstore who has eyes for her boss...Brent has an invalid wife who needs an operation abroad and so cashing an insurance policy to pay for the operation everything seems like it will pan out, hold on it gets better, as Dors sees a good for nothing Peter Reynolds shoplifting, but doesn't tell boss...Dors and Reynolds become close, Reynolds has Dors blackmail Brent when he kissed her in a moment of letting his guard down...what will he do, can he keep this away from his wife Isabel Dean, can Chapman help him clear himself as Dors is found murdered and Brent is the prime suspect...all in all the best performance in this film noir is Diana Dors, completely natural and believable . . . . .there's a great deal of entertainment here for all the film noir fans out there...all courtesy of VCI Entertainment, who in my humble opinion is the best there is in restoring early serials and features like this one.

Third feature on the bill we have "BLACKOUT" (1954) (87 min. B/W)...under director Terence Fisher, producer Michael Carreras, screenplay by Richard H. Landau, novel by Helen Nielson, Cinematographer Jimmy W. Harvey, music score by Ivor Slaney ...the cast includes Dane Clark (Casey Morrow). Belinda Lee (Phyllis Brunner), Betty Ann Davies (Alicia Brunner), Eleanor Summerfield (Maggie Doone), Andrew Osborn (Lance Gorden), Harold Lang (Travis), Jill Melford (Miss Nardis), Michael Golden (Inspector Johnson), Alfie Bass (Ernie) . . . . . our story has an exceptional cast, with one of my favorite film noir actors Dane Clark, who can get into more trouble in only a few reels of this flick...in this better than average "Brit Noir" our drifter Clark is up to his neck with a frame up, murder suspect, mind games, plus he needs to clear his name in this psychological thriller "Murder by Proxy" was the British title..the beautiful blonde Belinda Lee is throwing 500 pounds around and Clark is the pigeon...where did the blood on his coat come from, and who has been murdered, will he be left holding the bag...don't leave the theatre you're about to find out who's who in this classic film noir plot.

Fourth film is a Lippert Picture release "STOLEN FACE" (1952) (72 min. B/W)....under director Terence Fisher, producer Anthony Hinds, screenplay by Martin Berkeley and Richard Landau, Walter Harvey (Cinematographer), musical score by Malcolm Arnold ....the cast includesPaul Henreid (Dr. Philip Ritter), Lizabeth Scott (Alice Brent/Lilly), Andre Morell (David), Mary Mackenzie (Lilly), John Wood (Dr. Jack Wilson), Susan Stephen (Betty), Arnold Ridley (Dr. Russell), Everley Gregg (Lady Harringay), Cyril Smith (Alf), Janet Burnell (Maggie), Grace Gavin (Nurse), Diana Beaumont (May), Alexis France (Mrs. Emmett), John Bull (Charles Emmett), Dorothy Bramhall (Miss Simpson), Richard Wattis (Wentworth) . . . . . our story has heroine Lizabeth Scott is playing a dual role, the good, the bad and the ugly...Paul Henreid is believable as the plstic surgeon who can't seem to do anything right, professionally or with his love life...can a different face change a person, or will trouble surface and begin to eat away at the players of this "Film Noir"...is love or murder in the future of the Hammer film crew...don't take another step, as you're eyes are about to be opened and the mystery right in front of your nose... . . .there's a great deal of entertainment here for all the film noir fans out there...all courtesy of VCI Entertainment, who in my humble opinion is the best there is in restoring early serials and features like this one.

Fifth feature we have "THE GAMBLER AND THE LADY" (1952) (72 min. B/W)...under director Pat Jenkins, director, producer and screenplay by Sam Newfield, producer Anthony Hinds , book author Max Catto, screenplay by Guy Elmes and Richard H. Landau , Walter Harvey (Cinematographer), music score by Ivor Slaney ...the cast includes Dane Clark (Jim Forster), Naomi Chance (Lady Susan Willens), Meredith Edwards (Dave Davies), Thomas Gallagher (Sam), Eric Pohlmann (Arturo Colonna), Anthony Forwood (Lord Peter Willens), Kathleen Byron (Pat), Martin Benson (Tony, Pat's dance partner), George Pastell (Jacko Spina), Julian Somers (Licasi, club manager), Max Bacon (Max), Mona Washbourne (Miss Minter), Jane Griffiths (Lady Jane Greer), Anthony Ireland (Richard Farning), Enzo Coticchia (Angelo Colonna) . . . . . our story opens with Dane Clark a casino owner opening as gambling house right in the middle of the mob locals, which doesn't set well with either side...wanting to climb the ladder of the English upper class, he falls in love with one of them...are the upper class accepting or laughing at him, is he in danger of losing his business, friends and even his life...wonderful scenes from Dane Clark in this crime dama mixed with various themes of celebrity status, betrayal and suspense . . . .there's a great deal of entertainment here for all the film noir fans out there...all courtesy of VCI Entertainment, who in my humble opinion is the best there is in restoring early serials and features like this one.

Sixth and final feature is another fine Lippert Picture release "HEAT WAVE" (aka: "The House Across the Lake") (1954) (68 min. B/W)....under Director / Book Author / Screenwriter Ken Hughes, producer Anthony Hinds, Jimmy W. Harvey (Cinematographer), musical score by Ivor Slaney ....the cast includes Alex Nicol (Mark Kendrick), Hillary Brooke (Carol Forrest), Susan Stephen (Andrea Forrest), Sid James (Beverly Forrest), Alan Wheatley (Inspector MacLennan), Paul Carpenter (Vincent Gordon), Hugh Dempster (Frank), Peter Illing (Harry Stevens), John Sharp (Mr. Hardcastle), Joan Hickson (Mrs. Hardcastle), Gordon McLeod (Doctor Emery), Monti DeLyle (Head Waiter), Cleo Rose (Abigail), Howard Lang (Inspector Edgar), Harry Brunning (Railway Porter) . . . . .our story has Alex Nicol who has experienced down and out luck all his life...Hillary Brooke who can manipulate men within her life even murder...Brooke is about to be cut out of her husbands will and has no time for him to die of natural causes...both actors and supporting cast are convincingly good, with outstanding direction and screenplay by Ken Hughes...this post war film noir sets the bar high for other films to measure up to.

BIOS:
1. George Brent (aka: George Brendan Nolan)
Date of birth: 15 March 1899 - Shannonsbridge, County Dublin, Ireland
Date of death: 26 May 1979 - Solana Beach, California
2. Hillary Brooke (aka: Beatrice Peterson)
Date of birth: 8 September 1914 - Astoria, New York, USA
Date of death: 25 May 1999 - Bonsall, California
3. Diana Dors (aka: Diana Mary Fluck)
Date of birth: 23 October 1931 - Swindon, Wiltshire, England, UK
Date of death: 4 May 1984 - Windsor, Berkshire, England, UK
4. Terence Fisher (Director)
Date of birth: 23 February 1904 - London, England, UK
Date of death: 18 June 1980 - Twickenham, London, England, UK
5. Paul Henreid (aka: Paul Georg Julius Hernreid Ritter Von Wassel-Waldingau)
Date of birth: 10 January 1908 - Trieste, Austria-Hungary. [now in Italy]
Date of death: 29 March 1992 - Santa Monica, California
6. Ken Hughes (aka: Kenneth Graham Hughes) (Director)
Date of birth: 19 January 1922 - Liverpool, England, UK
Date of death: 28 April 2001 - Los Angeles, California
7. Reginald Le Borg (Director)
Date of birth: 11 December 1902 - Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria)
Date of death: 25 March 1989 - Los Angeles, California
8. Belinda Lee
Date of birth: 15 June 1935 - Budleigh Salterton, Devon, England, UK
Date of death: 12 March 1961 - near San Bernardino, California
9. Sam Newfield (aka: Samuel Neufeld)
Date of birth: 6 December 1899 - New York, New York, USA
Date of death: 10 November 1964 - Los Angeles, California
10. Alex Nicol (aka: Alexander L. Nicol Jr.)
Date of birth: 20 January 1916 - Ossining, New York
Date of death: 29 July 2001 - Montecito, California
11. Barbara Payton (aka: Barbara Lee Redfield)
Date of birth: 16 November 1927 - Cloquet, Minnesota
Date of death: 8 May 1967 - San Diego, California
12. Lizabeth Scott (aka: Emma Matzo)
Date of birth: 29 September 1922 - Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA
Date of death: Still Living

SPECIAL BONUS FEATURES:
1. Scene selection
2. Trailers
3. Photo gallery
4. Bonus comments: The World of Hammer Noir by Richard M. Roberts

Great job by VCI Entertainment and Kit Parker Films for releasing the "Hammer Film Noir Collector's Set, Vol. 1-3" (1952), digital transfere with a clean, clear and crisp print...looking forward to more of the same from the '40s and '50s vintage...order your copy now from Amazon or VCI Entertainment, stay tuned once again with a top notch "Classic Film Noir" that only VCI Entertainment (King of the Serials) can deliver...just the way we like 'em!

Total Time: 457 mins on 3-DVD-Set ~ VCI Home Video KPF 554 ~ (8/29/2006)

The Ed Wood Box (Glen or Glenda / Jail Bait / Bride of the Monster / Plan 9 from Outer Space / Night of the Ghouls / The Haunted World of Ed Wood)

Average customer rating:

IN A NUTSHELL! GREAT SET! LONG LIVE BELA AND ED!
Ed Wood \ Only for the Collector
Ed Wood: "He Tampered In God's Domain!"
"15 Frightful Horror Films ... Bela Lugosi ... Passport Video"
Ed Wood: the man and his mission!

The Ed Wood Box (Glen or Glenda / Jail Bait / Bride of the Monster / Plan 9 from Outer Space / Night of the Ghouls / The Haunted World of Ed Wood)
Starring: Edward J. Wood
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0002W4TNA
Release Date: 2004-10-12

Description

Weird! Wild! Wood! The most legendary B-movie director of all time, Edward D. Wood, Jr. assaulted audiences worldwide with a string of bizarre, no-budget fusions of horror, science fiction, noir and comedy. Now his oddball legacy is finally collected in one indispensable box set! Feast your eyes on his first feature, the madcap Glen or Glenda? in which Eddie himself portrays a transvestite struggling with his addiction to angora while Bela Lugosi offers inscrutable narration. Blackmail, outlaws on the run, and plastic surgery collide in the surreal crime drama Jail Bait, featuring a young Steve Reeves (Hercules), while Bela returns to create the Bride of the Monster in a heady collision of atomic experiments, a rampaging octopus and clumsy assistant Lobo (played by wrestler Tor Johnson). Wood's indisputable disasterpiece, Plan 9 from Outer Space, offers pie-plate flying saucers, incompetent alien leaders, all-seeing psychic Criswell, goth favorite Vampira and a post-mortem appearance by Lugosi himself in his last film role. Then Lobo and a phony spiritualist usher in a Night of the Ghouls at a spooky marsh filled with shuffling undead and wailing ghosts. Finally, learn all about the man himself with The Haunted World of Ed Wood, a comprehensive disc packed with interviews, film clips, TV rarities and much more! It's enough to make you scream!

Customer Reviews:

IN A NUTSHELL! GREAT SET! LONG LIVE BELA AND ED!.......2007-05-03

"This is an excellent box set and you get all of Ed Wood's films. The king of cheapy creepy's for sure. A must have for any cheese lover!" The box set features "Plan 9 From Outer Space" "An Ed Wood Classic! The film features Bela Lugosi in his final role, but for those of us who love Bela it's nice to see him go out wearing his Dracula's cape. Bela died before the film was finished and Wood's dentist?(who is at least a foot taller than Bela,keeping his face covered by the dracula cape in every scene)had to step in to complete the scenes." The whole box set is a gas!

Ed Wood \ Only for the Collector.......2007-01-09

Ed Wood was the worst film producer of all time. His film, "Plan 9 from Outer Space" has been given the title of "Worst Film Ever Made." Ed was a transvestite so he worn angora sweaters and other women's clothes, and you see this in some of the films.
Although many classic films have been reworked and are in pristine condition, what you see is what you get here. They were a hoot and terrible to begin with. There is in the box a DVD on Dolores Fuller and others of Wood's gang gathering for an Ed Wood Showing. How they all ended up being and looking like is so interesting. Dolores lived with Ed and finally got enough of him and moved on. She became a song writer and wrote some of Elvis' lesser known songs. And she still looks good!
I just loved this collection and got a laugh out of all of it. This is a collection only for those interested in early film making, and as part of film history.

Ed Wood: "He Tampered In God's Domain!".......2006-10-28

Edward D. Wood Jr. was born in 1924 in Poughkeepsie, New York; spent his youth torn between comic books, pulp fiction, and movie matinees; and after a World War II stint in the Marines landed in Hollywood with an itch to wear women's clothing, drink to excess, and make movies. The result was a series of remarkably atrocious low-budget movies of the "so bad its good" variety, and this inexpensive box set offers not only the best know titles but unexpected bonuses as well.

Filmed in 1953, GLEN OR GLENDA is Ed Wood's ode to the joys and tragedies of cross dressing, featuring Wood himself as the conflicted hero and Delores Fuller as the girlfriend who keeps wondering why her angora sweaters are stretched out of shape. The 1954 JAIL BAIT is a riff on teenagers gone bad and is often described as the best made of Wood's films--but the term "best made" is extremely comparative, to say the least. The 1955 BRIDE OF THE MONSTER is the only Wood film that actually made back its cost; featuring a desperate Bela Lugosi, Tor Johnson, a rubber octopus, and a laboratory helmet that looks suspiciously like a collander, it is easily a Wood fan favorite. The 1959 NIGHT OF THE GHOULS is a kinda-sorta sequel, featuring Tor Johnson once again in a remarkably silly story of fraudulent spiritualists who bite off more ghosts than they can chew.

The most celebrated title, of course, is the 1959 PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, infamous as the film built around about five minutes of film Wood took of Bela Lugosi shortly before Lugosi's death. Fans have attempted to catalogue every error in the film, but it is inexhaustible: no matter how many goofs, mistakes, and disasters you notice, you always see one or two more with every viewing. Day turns to night and then to day--all in the same scene. Cars unexpectedly change year and model from cut to cut. Flying saucers cast shadows in outer space. The list is endless.

NIGHT OF THE GHOULS was never actually released during Wood's life time: he couldn't afford to pay the lab fees for a print of the film, and since the film was never issued the transfer is unexpectedly good. This is not the case with the other titles, all of which were pretty battered by the time video and DVD technology arrived on the scene--but this actually part of their charm. And the set includes an unexpected dollop of bonus material.

The big bonus here is THE HAUNTED WORLD OF ED WOOD JR, a 1996 documentary that intercuts various bits of Wood movies with archeival footage of Wood and his circle and interviews with those who knew him, including his leading ladies Delores Fuller, Mona McKinnon, Loretta King, and Vampira (aka Maila Syrjaniemi.) Perhaps the most interesting subject is Bela Lugosi Jr., who is extremely forthright in his opinion of Ed Wood as a cheapjack opportunist who hitched his wagon to a fading and desperate, not out of genuine affection for Bela Lugosi Sr. but to further his own ends. Coming in a close second in bonus material is SAUCERS OVER HOLLYWOOD: THE PLAN 9 COMPANION, which draws from many of the same sources as HAUNTED but which focuses on this specific film.

While it is true that the set does not include every scrap of Ed Wood material available--for a tenth rate director-writer-actor he was remarkably prolific, racking up fifty credits on such films as THE BRIDE AND THE BEAST and ORGY OF THE DEAD--it will hit the spot for all but the most diehard fan. Ed Wood will never appeal to a wide audience, but if you have the warped sense of humor required to appreciate his films, you'll find this set indispensible.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

"15 Frightful Horror Films ... Bela Lugosi ... Passport Video".......2006-10-15

Passport Video presents "The Bela Lugosi Box - 15 Frightful Films" (1942) --- (Dolby digitally remastered) --- Béla Lugosi was the stage name of actor Béla Ferenc Dezs Blaskó (October 20, 1882 - August 16, 1956) --- Lugosi was born in Lugos, Hungary, at the time part of Austria-Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania), the youngest of four children of a baker --- best known for his portrayal of "Dracula" in the American Broadway stage production, and subsequent film, of Bram Stoker's classic vampire story.

Late in his life, he again received star billing in movies when filmmaker Edward D. Wood, Jr., a fan of Lugosi, found him living in obscurity and near-poverty and offered him roles in his films, such as "GLEN OR GLENDA?" (1953) (in which his role made no more sense than the rest of the movie) and as a Dr. Frankenstein-like mad scientist in "BRIDE OF THE MONSTER" (1955), during post-production of the latter, Lugosi entered treatment for his addiction, and the premier of the film was ostensibly intended to help pay for his treatment expenses. The extras on an early DVD release of "PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE" (1959) include an impromptu interview with Lugosi upon his exit from the treatment center, which provide some rare personal insights into the man --- this was one of Lugosi's most infamous roles was released after he was dead. Ed Wood (Director) features footage of Lugosi interspersed with a double --- Wood had taken a few minutes of silent footage of Lugosi, in his Dracula cape, for a planned vampire picture but was unable to find financing for the project --- Wood later conceived of Plan 9, Wood wrote the script to incorporate the Lugosi footage and hired his wife's chiropractor to double for Lugosi in additional shots --- notice however the "double" is thinner than Lugosi, and covers the lower half of his face with his cape in every shot --- Leonard Maltin (Famous Film Critic) was quoted - "Lugosi died during production, and it shows."

Lugosi died of a heart attack on August 16, 1956 while lying in bed in his Los Angeles home. He was 73 --- Bela Lugosi was buried wearing one of the many capes from the Dracula stageplay, as per the request of his son and fifth wife, in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California --- Contrary to popular belief, Lugosi never requested to be buried in his famous cloak; Bela Lugosi, Jr. has confirmed on numerous occasions that he and his mother, Lillian, arrived at their decision independently.

BIOS:
1. Bela Lugosi (aka: Béla Ferenc Dezsõ Blaskó)
Date of birth: 20 October 1882 - Lugos, Austria-Hungary. [now Lugoj, Romania]
Date of death: 16 August 1956 - Los Angeles, California
2. Edward D. Wood Jr. (Director, Writer and Producer)
Date of birth: 10 October 1924 - Poughkeepsie, New York
Date of death: 10 December 1978 - North Hollywood, California

This collection of "The Bela Lugosi Box - 15 Frightful Films" (1942) --- still has the magic that we remember from those bygone years --- but as long as we have the labels and networks who play and show these wonderful films of yesteryear, they will never be forgotten ... Plus the half-hour tribute "100 Years of Horror: Bela Lugosi", hosted by Christopher Lee --- and a great job by Passport Video for this release --- looking forward to more of the same from the '20s and '50s vintage...order your copy now from Amazon or Passport Video, stay tuned once again for more remarkable films from the vaults of classic television and Hollywood during the Golden Era of Entertaiment.

Total Time: 1034 mins on DVD ~ Passport Video #5260 ~ (9/05/2006)

Ed Wood: the man and his mission!.......2006-09-18

Ed Wood? Yup, he's a genius... well sort of. I strongly agree with another reviewer who indicated that a film would need to lack any entertainment value at all to be labeled the worst film of all time. As far as this notion goes, Ed Wood didn't make bad films because every one of the five he made in the 1950's are loads of fun and laughs. 'Glen or Glenda' and 'Plan 9 from Outer Space' are likely my favorites. His first feature, about transvestism, is so inept and so incredibly strange, that one simply watches mesmerized at the audacity and enigmatic spirit Wood demonstrated as a filmmaker in the early 1950's. What can be said about 'Plan 9 from Outer Space,' except that every serious film buff and film maker should make this film priority viewing. The other three films directed by Ed Wood and featured in this box set are all worthy of attention because they're nearly as campy, inept, and hilarious as the other two I mentioned above. On the back of the case to 'Jail Bait,' the film description indicates that Ed Wood, here, made his first legitimate film. If the film is legitimate simply because it is less inept and hilarious than his other films, I do think this statement is quite misleading. Ed Wood never made a film that would receive any serious consideration for legitimacy from the mainstream and the critical masses. Ed Wood, now more than ever before, remains in a class all his own. Ed Wood's films are stamped with his trademark zeal, good humor, and distorted logic, and remain the work of a filmmaker who may have lacked talent, but was never lacking in purpose. The Ed Wood box set is a perfect way to enjoy Ed Wood's films for the first or twentieth time. This set is a great buy, but don't neglect to check out Tim Burton's 'Ed Wood,' in my opinion, one of the greatest film biographies ever made.

Dirty Jobs Season 3 - Episode 35: Snake Researcher

Average customer rating:

Funny!!!

Dirty Jobs Season 3 - Episode 35: Snake Researcher

Manufacturer: Discovery Channel
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

ASIN: B000QRIK3Q
Release Date: 2007-05-14

amazon.com

DIRTY JOBS is an unflinching look at the unsung American Worker, and the unusual but vital vocations that must be done. Each week host Mike Rowe introduces the viewer to an elite assortment of men and women who make their living doing the most unthinkable jobs. Episode 35: LOBSTERMEN Mike Rowe steps into the shoes of hard working bait and lobster fishermen in Maine. His goal, to find out just how dirty a job it is to provide the world with the delicious crustacean delicacy. Mike starts his day packing smelly fish into bait boxes. He then meets up with two teenagers that own their own lobster fishing boat. MIKE'S MAILBAG / SEAWEED HARVESTER Mike opens up the viewer mailbag and answers a viewers question about how the crew sometimes finds stories unexpectedly. Mike shares a story about a seaweed harvester that he met while on location in Ohio. Mike jumps into action when he sees a guy on Lake Erie who has the dirty responsibility of harvesting seaweed from the lake in order to keep it from getting caught in the props from boats in the marina. SNAKE RESEARCHER Mike Rowe joins up with Kristin Stanford from the Lake Erie Water Snake Outreach program and gets an up close look at how she's helping to preserve water snakes from extinction. Mike roles up his sleeves and gets dirty as he tries to catch these snakes from the lakes shore and he gets a big surprise when several of the snakes attack him.

Customer Reviews:

Funny!!!.......2007-09-02

My daughter and I laughed ourselves silly watching the snake TV show. I just had to order the video.

Average customer rating:

Listen guys, do I have to be around for this?
i liked this movie, i really did!
I'm glad Oscar voters didn't see this before they voted!
Not great, but it's decent.
Yawn............

Bait
Starring: Kirk Acevedo , Neil Crone , Megan Dodds , Jeffrey Donovan , and Kimberly Elise
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Crime | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B00003CXNG
Release Date: 2001-01-23

Amazon.com

When petty thief and hustler Alvin Sanders (Jamie Foxx from Any Given Sunday and The Wood) gets arrested for stealing shrimp, the worst of his problems would seem to be going to jail. Unfortunately, he ends up sharing a cell with a guy who, while stealing $42 million in gold from the Federal Reserve, double-crossed his partner--a partner with a knack for computers and a long memory. While being interrogated by a hardball Treasury agent (David Morse from The Green Mile), the double-crosser dies from heart failure. All the feds have are an incomprehensible message that was left with Alvin, so they decide to release him and use him as bait to catch the partner by secretly implanting a combination tracking device and electronic bug into Alvin's jaw. From that moment on, a surveillance team can follow Alvin's every move and hear his every word. Unfortunately, Alvin has a talent for getting into trouble--which means that the feds have to become his guardian angels so that he can serve his purpose. Bait certainly has its problems (there's a lot of fancy editing for no good reason, a few plot holes you could drive a truck through, and the actor playing the bad guy really wishes he was John Malkovich)--but even though it's nonsense, it's not predictable. The clever story moves along with surprising efficiency and has some successful comic bits. The characters can't be called well developed, but they aren't clichés; the movie doesn't require any great acting, but the cast is consistently engaging. In fact, Bait is one of the more enjoyable action movies of the past few years. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

Listen guys, do I have to be around for this?.......2005-09-02

Are you familiar with concept of children's artwork? While it is not the greatest Picasso any three-year-old has ever accomplished with their fingers, you encourage them to do more. If painting is what makes them happy, there should be no reason a parent should hold that back on a child. Typically, if a child loves to paint or draw, you will immediately see the groundwork of their future style. You will begin to see their true form in these very primitive doodles. Well, this concept of children's artwork is how I felt about Fuqua's depressingly cheap and uncreative film Bait. While on all accounts it was a horrid film, it was impressive to see Fuqua's style begin emerging through even the messiest of moments. If you have seen either Training Day or King Arthur, you will be impressed with the birth of this director in his second film Bait. While Foxx gives a horrid, unchained performance, there are certain scenes, which define Fuqua and demonstrate his brilliance behind the camera. Sadly it only emerged in the final thirty minutes of the film, but if you focus just on those scenes, you will see why Fuqua's name appears on so many "Best Of..." film lists.

I will never disagree with someone that Fuqua's eye behind the camera is refreshing and unique. His ability to place a camera in the strangest of places to convey the simplest of emotions is shocking. I am surprised that more of Hollywood hasn't jumped aboard this bandwagon. Even in the silly feature Bait, you are witness to Fuqua's greatness. Two scenes that come directly to mind are the explosion scene near the middle of the film and the horse scene close to the end. In both of these scenes I saw the director Fuqua at work. Alas, in the rest of this film, all I saw was a combination of nearly every action film created. The likeable hero down on his luck that suddenly finds his life turned around by some unknown force is a classic structure that just needs to die in Hollywood. We have seen this two often, and no matter who you are (unless you are Charlie Kaufmann), you cannot recreate the wheel. It is just impossible with this genre, and it is proven with Bait. I was annoyed with Fuqua for just sitting back and allowing this to happen, which could explain why it took me three viewings to finish this film. I was just tired of the structure, and while I hoped that Fuqua would redefine it, he did not.

Then, there was the acting. While Jamie Foxx has never impressed me as an actor, I was willing to give this helmed vehicle a try. I wanted to see if he could pull off another dramatic role similar to Collateral. I was under the impression that perhaps this was the film chosen to show producers that Foxx could handle the role in Collateral. Again, I was disappointed. Foxx was annoying. Not in the sense that it was the way that his character was to be, but in the sense that it felt as if neither Fuqua nor Foxx took the time to fully train Foxx on what should be ad-libed and what should be used to further the plot. Instead, we are downtrodden with scene over scene of Foxx just trying to make the audience laugh. Adding second long quips and culture statements just to keep his audience understanding that he was a comedian first, an actor second. Fuqua should have stopped this immediately. Foxx's jokes destroyed his character, which in turn left me with nothing solid to grasp ahold of. Instead of character development, he would crack a joke. Neither style worked, no joke was funny. The rest of the cast was average. By this I mean I have seen them all in similar roles. They were brining nothing new to the table, nothing solid to the story, and nothing substantial to the overall themes of the film. They were pawns filling in dead air space. Fuqua had no control over this mess, and the final verdict only supports that accusation.

Overall, this was a sad film. With no creativity in sight and unmanaged actors just trying to upstage themselves, what originally started as a decent story eventually sunk faster into the cinematic quicksand. Foxx was annoying, without character lines, and a complete bag of cheese. In each scene I saw no emotion, and when emotion was needed to convey a message, he chose to take his shirt off rather than tackle the issues. Are my words harsh? I don't think so. When you watch any movie you want to see some creativity, some edible characters, and themes that seem to hit close to home. Bait contained none of these. While I will give Fuqua some credit for two of the scenes in this film, the remaining five hundred were disastrous. Apparently, I took the bait when renting this film, but now having seen it, hopefully I can stop others from taking that curious nibble.

Grade: ** out of ***** (for his two scenes that were fun to watch)

i liked this movie, i really did!.......2005-05-09

well i'm just a jamie fox fanatic, that's all. anything that he's in, i'll watch. and this movie had me on the edge of my seat. now there was some times i had to put my DVD player on pause because i did not want to see my Jamie get hurt, but i had to realize this was only a movie (yeah, yeah, i'm silly and trippin! so sue me!) but it was really fun to watch. i just think jamie foxx is so cute! i just love him. great action in this film. and David Morse was great too. i just want more Jamie, that's all.

I'm glad Oscar voters didn't see this before they voted!.......2005-04-25

Jamie Foxx deserved his Oscar for "Ray". Had he not been up against Morgan Freeman for "Million Dollar Baby" he may have deserved a second for "Collateral". (Though in comparison to "Ray" his performance there was decidedly second-rate.)I watched "Bait" to see what the other side of Jamie Foxx was like. There could very well be better examples of Foxx's comedic prowess, but this isn't it.

Antoine Fuqua has gotten a bad reputation. "Tears of the Sun" was mediocre at best. "The Replacement Killers" was loud, garish, and over-the-top. That one can be forgiven given its purpose but is unworthy of priase. "Training Day" was uncharacteristically wonderful and it was my first exposure to his work, so I was surprised that he was so reviled. Until now, that is.

"Bait" was shockingly violent. Sure, I've seen much worse, but they were not "action-comedies." Some of the images displayed here are not conducive to laughter. No big loss, there was no laughter to be had in the first place.

Not great, but it's decent........2004-05-15

I did not have high expectations for this film. The movie actually was not half bad. It's not great, but it will keep your interest. I think Jamie has the making of a potential action star if he gets a better developed script.

Yawn...................2004-02-05

Great, another pointless action movie that adds nothing to a tired, been-done-to-death genre. This thriller/ action/ suspense/ comedy combo doesn`t score well and is just another endless picture that makes little sense and has a contrived, unbelievable plot to match. Director Antoine Fuqua ("Training Day") offers a decent cinematography and an adequate urban soundtrack, but that doesn`t mean much when the characters are little more than carboard and the plot so bland. Forgettable.

Average customer rating:

Monsters
EXCELLENT MOVIE AND VERY FUNNY!!!!
No one can resist this movie!
"Loris...a normal name. It warms the heart..."
GREAT SLAPSTICK

The Monster
Starring: Roberto Benigni , Michel Blanc , Nicoletta Braschi , Jean-Claude Brialy , and Roberto Corbiletto
Director: Michel Filippi
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Farce | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

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( M ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00000K3TM
Release Date: 1999-10-05

Customer Reviews:

Monsters.......2006-03-07

This is a great movie and most certainly worth watching. However, I noticed that it is out of print but still for sale used on amazon.
The people who are selling this DVD should be ashamed of themselves. They are charging from about 50 dollars to about 100 dollars? You have to be kidding me?
People, this is a good movie but it is NOT worth 50 bucks. Wait until it's rereleased or wait until someone who isn't a monster (drum roll please) sells it at a reasonable price.

EXCELLENT MOVIE AND VERY FUNNY!!!!.......2005-06-07

I bought this DVD on Amazon as birthday Gift to my husband and the movie was excellent and very funny and has English and Spanish subtitles and spoke in English or Italian.
we prefer Spoke in Italian because is the original version and also because we can understand italian but may be that the most people doesn't like to read subtitles but any way any lenguage this movie are excellent try....you need it buy !!!!

No one can resist this movie!.......2004-11-08

You don't have to be European, a foreign film lover, or a huge fan of Benigni to fall in love with this movie! It is side-splitting, stomach-hurting, floor-rolling funny! It is the funniest movie I have ever seen and I know funny! I grew up on Three Stooges, I Love Lucy, Airplane, Naked Gun, etc. and believe me this movie tops them all! So if you want a comedy that will make you laugh like you never laughed before then this movie is for you!

"Loris...a normal name. It warms the heart...".......2002-12-08

There are a lot of people out there who do not like to watch subtitled movies. They'll base what they see and what they don't on this alone. If you are one of these people (and I must say that I understand how aggravating it is to have to read the whole movie), and the presence of subtitles is why you have never seen The Monster, and insist you never will, I must say that you are missing out on something really good.
As for those who have simply never heard of The Monster, let me say that it is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. Roberto Benigni is an excellent actor, and a hilarious one too. He is like an Italian version of Jim Carrey, only ten times better.
The Monster, or Il Mostro as it is called in Italian, is about a man named Loris who is by no means a decent human being. He steals, he lies, he cheats his landlord out of potential buyers of his apartment (yet he won't pay the rent). He places supermarket items on other shoppers at the local grocery as a way to make the alarm systems go crazy, so that he can easily get away with a coat full of stolen goods. At the same time that Loris is doing all these illegal things, another man is going around raping and killing off the female population. Due to some hilarious misunderstanding, Loris is focused in on as being the main suspect. After watching a tape that the police have made of Loris on a "normal day", it is easy to understand why. In order to catch Loris "with his hand in the cookie jar", a policewoman named Jessica is assigned the job of seducing him, and once he responds to her sexual innuendoes, she is to slap on the cuffs and haul him in. After all, that will prove he is some kind of sex maniac, right?
I recommend this movie to Italians who enjoy a good laugh, fans of Benigni and any one else with a sense of humor. I first saw this movie a couple of years ago at my grandparents' house. I have loved it ever since.

GREAT SLAPSTICK.......2002-07-08

I love this sort of silly, lightweight comedy. Like many farces, the comedy comes from the misunderstandings and deceptions between characters. Although the movie is not perfect, it has some hilarious scenes that will leave you gasping for breath.

Benigni reminds me of a speaking version of Harpo Marx. Like Harpo, he is a loveable satyr and trickster. Both men are short and are not handsome, but they have wonderfully expressive faces and are masters of physical humor.

Description

Renowned director Bertrand Tavernier brings us the true story that shocked France. Getting rich quick is the idea; robbery, torture and murder are the plan. Nathalie, Eric and Bruno need to raise 10 million dollars to open a retail clothing chain in the US. With the lure of sex with the young and alluring Nathalie, two men enter an apartment never to be seen alive again. Winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, Fresh Bait is a revealing look at the evil that lies hidden beneath the surface of even the most innocent of people.

Customer Reviews:

Youth, France, amorality, and selfishness--circa 1995.......2006-05-31

Killing's easy...anyone can do it. So says one of the three French youths in Fresh Bait. Have they murdered someone? Or are they thinking about it? That won't be revealed here. The real essence of this film is how easy it really is, if you're young and thinking only about yourself, to do whatever you think should be done to get what you want. Robbery is the number one crime here. Is it the only one? Ah, that would be telling...

The focal point of the film, then, is selfishness, something we in America are all too familiar with. The rich who are selfish want more than they already have, which is substantial, relative to the rest of the population. The poor who are selfish want more than they already have, which is very little. Each does what has to be done, regardless of the consequences, to get what is felt is rightfully theirs. Human nature? Or crime? Or both?

The three youths here want to open a clothing store in the States where the laws are apparently not as strict as they are in France, specifically taxes and related. To do that, they need bushels of cash, way too much to earn legitimately. The girl of the three is attractive and can seduce older men easily. Hence a plan is hatched.

And hence goes this noirish tale as it moves through its paces. We hear their music, listen to their selfish babble, wonder at their seemingly innocent delight in each other's little desires while at the same time find it hard to believe they could do what they did (based on a true crime spree by a trio of French youths).

An excellent change of pace for Tavernier and well worth watching.

Thriller that holds your attention.......2006-04-22

Like the movie "Swimming Pool", I'm not sure I would have watched it three times in a row if it didn't star a stunning young actress in the lead. But watch it three times in a row I did. I have no idea what the "true story" behind the movie is, or how much is dramatization, as most of this kind of movie is.

But the movie strikes a simlar chord to "The Onion Field" and "In Cold Blood". With all three of these films you get a pair of criminals who are such hopeless losers and so hopelessly stupid that relatively small crimes turn into senseless murders. That all three of these films are based on
true events, it does ad a bit of scariness to the real world.

What this film ads to those two is the complete lack of remorse shown by the killers in this movie. While certainly not better people, the killers in "The Onion Field" and "In Cold Blood" were at least aware of the magnitude of taking another life. Except for one of the gang putting on headphones to drown out the sounds of torture, there is absolutely no indication that the killers here care one way or anthoer that another person has died. In this respect, it is more closely aligned to "The Bully" or "River's Edge".

The performances are as good as they need to be. The two slackers who think they will find 10 million francs stored in an apartment are portrayed as ambitious only in the sense that if they can get the 10 million, they can open up a business in America. Yet after their first job, which nets all of 2400, the seem to spend 2300 of it on a night on the town. Not quite "Bill and Ted's Excellent...", but not that far, either.

Which brings us finally to our "triple screening" reason, which is the actress in the lead. Played by someone I had never heard of, Marie Gillain is as breathtaking to look at as any actress I've ever seen on film. There is a nice amount of nudity, but it's portrayed refreshingly as youthful exuberance more than the leering "American Pie" type of nudity that would have been filmed if shot in this country. Which is one thing the French do have over us.

TERRIFIC TRUE FRENCH CRIME THRILLER -- SEXY AND VIOLENT.......2005-07-30

The sensational true crime story that Bertrand Tavernier's FRESH BAIT (Koch Lorber) is based on shocked even the French.

Young, sexy, entrepreneurs Nathalie, Eric and Bruno need big money and they need it fast. They want to open a retail clothing chain in America and they figure it'll cost about $10 million.

What to do?

How about using hot-looking Nathalie as sex bait to lure unsuspecting men into an apartment, torture, rob and murder them? Sounds like a plan.

But when two men enter an apartment to never be seen alive again, their get rich quick plans suddenly go awfully awry.

Winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, this masterfully directed, horrific true crime caper is what sex and violence in movies is all about. And I mean that as praise as it effectively reveals the pure evil that shimmers under the superficial illusions of innocence.

5 Film Noir Killer Classics (D.O.A./Detour/The Stranger/Scarlet Street/Killer Bait)

Average customer rating:

5 film noir collections compared
"Detour " to England?
A bit of gold in black and white.
OK Transfers, but the extras are nice
Not Exactly Crisp......

5 Film Noir Killer Classics (D.O.A./Detour/The Stranger/Scarlet Street/Killer Bait)
Starring: Edmund O'Brien
Manufacturer: Questar
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Classics | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B0001MMGRW
Release Date: 2004-04-06

Amazon.com

Like many public-domain DVD sets, this six-disc set compiles a handful of well-liked features from one genre--in this case, a quintet of venerable '40s noir. Where Questar's box exceeds expectations is on its sixth disc, which is chock full of extras that make the set a must-have for viewers looking for a crash course in Hollywood thrillers. The lineup of flicks is solid--Rudolph Mate's D.O.A., in which Edmond O'Brien must find out who has poisoned him; Edgar G. Ulmer's minimalist Detour, which pits desperate Tom Neal against feral Ann Savage; Orson Welles's The Stranger (which is technically more suspense than noir), in which his Nazi-turned professor locks horns with Edward G. Robinson--who's also featured in Fritz Lang's moody Scarlet Street. The set is rounded out by the lesser-known Killer Bait, and if the picture quality isn't as crystal-clear as on major studio releases, the supplemental features more than make up for it. Disc 6 features two swell featurettes, one on the genre itself and the other on its predatory ladies, as well as a color gallery of poster art and a terrific compilation of trailers for such films as Bullets or Ballots and The Postman Always Rings Twice. For noir first-timers, this set is a killer place to start. --Paul Gaita

Description

Lights out! Questar presents five killer examples of film noir, the shadow-drenched genre of middle-class crime, anxiety, and desperation that blackened American movie screens in the 40's and 50's. Each of these thrillers comes in a crisp archival print on a separate DVD, which includes riveting bonus features on some of the people and ideas behind this darkest—and most enduringly popular—of all movie genres. Disc One: D.O.A. - On vacation from his clinging girlfriend, a complacent accountant (Edmund O'Brien) unknowingly swallows a drink spiked with radioactive poison and then spends the last desperate hours of his life trying to find out who "killed" him—and why. Directed by Rudolph Mate. Disc Two: Detour - Hitchhiking across the country to reunite with his girlfriend, the film's "hero" encounters two sinister characters—one of them a venomous, blackmailing woman whom he "accidentally" murders. Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer. Disc Three: The Stranger - Orson Welles directs and stars in this thriller about a monstrous Nazi official who's hiding out as a small-town American college professor. A war crimes detective turns up determined to expose him—even if it means endangering the Nazi's innocent wife. Disc Four: Scarlet Street - Homely, henpecked Chris Cross (Edward G. Robinson) leads an honorable, if tedious, middle-class life until he falls madly in love with the dangerously seductive young Kitty (Joan Bennett). Directed by Fritz Lang. Disc Five: Killer Bait - A bickering couple find a bag of money in the back seat of their car. The husband wants to turn the illicit cash in, but his money-hungry wife has a different idea—and she'll do anything to realize it. Directed by Byron Haskin. Disc 6: SPECIAL FEATURES - Black and Blue: The History of Noir; Hot-Blooded and Cold-Hearted: The Dames of Film Noir; Classic Lines Quiz; Over 35 Film Noir Trailers including Double Indemnity, 1944, Reservoir Dogs, 1992, Sunset Blvd, 1950...

Customer Reviews:

5 film noir collections compared.......2005-06-11

This is mainly a contents listing of 5 box sets of film-noir collections. Quality is excellent for the Warner box--the films are not public domain and were remastered. The four other collections are of public-domain films, some of which were fixed up somewhat. Film quality is variable (dropouts, scratches, cropped images, fuzziness, low contrast). Most films are quite watchable, and there are some very good versions, especially if low price is considered (e.g., Hitch-hiker--only on CLA9). However, there are some marginal issues (e.g., Red house--only on FN10) and some extremely bad issues (e.g., Man who cheated himself--only on CLA9).

Ratings based on video-audio quality and emphasizing value for money: 5* = CLA1; 4* = CLA9, KIL5, MY10; 3* = FN10

COLLECTIONS--SUMMARY:
*** CLA1 = Film noir classic collection (Warner, 2004) [5 movies, 1944-50] $49.95 list. Extras: 5 film commentaries; 1 introduction; 2 trailers. Note: Volume 2 with 5 more noir films will appear in 7/05.
*** CLA9 = Classic film noir (St. Clair, 2005) [9 movies, 1946-53] $9.95 list. Extras: poster gallery (in color); featurette (About film noir, TT5:00); 7 trailers (TT16:00)
*** FN10 = Film noir: 10 movies (Brentwood, 2004) [10 movies, 1934!, 1945-52] $19.95 list. Extras: 40 trailers (4/disk)
*** KIL5 = 5 film noir killer classics (Questar, 2004) [5 movies, 1945-49] $29.95 list. Extras: The posters of film noir (in color, TT3:50); 2 featurettes (What is film noir?, TT13:00; Femme fatale, TT7:53); 38 Film noir trailers (TT1.58:07)
*** MY10 = Mystery classics: 50 movie pack (Treeline, 2004) [10 film noir movies, 1945-54, 40 other movies, 1931-52] $34.95 list. Extras: none

COLLECTIONS--CONTENTS:
Asphalt jungle, The (1950) = CLA1
Borderline (1950) = FN10 Note: at best marginally film noir!
Call it murder (aka Midnight) (1934) = FN10 Note: a 1934 film, not film noir!
Detour (1945) = CLA9 FN10 KIL5 MY10 Note: right-hand-drive vehicles in first scene a goof of film, not a reissue mistake!
D.O.A. (1950) = CLA9 FN10 KIL5
Gun crazy (aka Deadly is the female) (1949) = CLA1
He walked by night (1948) = FN10 MY10
Hitch-hiker, The (1953) = CLA9
Hollow triumph (aka The scar--UK) (1948) = CLA9
Impact (1949) = MY10
Kansas City confidential (1952) = FN10 MY10
Man who cheated himself, The (1950) = CLA9
Murder, my sweet (aka Farewell my lovely) (1944) = CLA1
Out of the past (1947) = CLA1
Quicksand (1950) = CLA9 MY10
Red house, The (1947) = FN10 Note: rural film noir!
Scarlet Street (1945) = FN10 KIL5 MY10
Second woman, The (1951) = FN10 MY10
Set-up, The (1949) = CLA1
Strange love of Martha Ivers, The (1946) = CLA9
Stranger, The (1946) = CLA9 FN10 KIL5 MY10 Note: The separate Roan Group issue (with Cause for alarm, 1951) is superior.
Suddenly (1954) = MY10
Too late for tears (aka Killer bait) (1949) = CLA9 KIL5 MY10

"Detour " to England?.......2005-02-28

Be warned: "Detour" is fine film noir, but this version, at least the one I bought, has an apparent film reversal in the early hitchhiking scenes, which show the cars' drivers on the right side! Don't know how this got through. In other sections of the film, there are brief but noticeable lapses in lighting and sound quality. A good movie, but these inconsistencies in film quality are annoying at the least. This is an inexpensive set for what you get, but what you get may be less than you expect. Have since watched "Killer Bait" and "Scarlet Street" and give them both good marks, despite the lesser quality of "Scarlet Street" noted by earlier reviewers.

A bit of gold in black and white........2004-08-24

A very worthwhile package for the money. All the movies are well-known and good examples of the genre, the copies are reasonable except, as another reviewer has mentioned, 'Scarlet Street' which has a rather soft focus. The packaging graphics have had some thought put into them, too. Disc six with the Extra Features is interesting and it includes the following:
1. A thirteen minute documentary (narrated by silver throated Ed Ragozzino) 'What is Film Noir', not a bad summing up of the style.
2. 'Femme Fatale - The Noir Dame', a seven minute wrap-up of the ladies, the commentary is snowing clichés after a few seconds though.
3. 'Film Noir Trailers', at seventy-eight minutes, this was one reason I bought the package though it has to be said it is rather wide ranging because it includes, for example, 'Citizen Kane' and 'Magnificent Ambersons', hardly noir!
4. 'The Posters of Film Noir', a good selection of thirty or so posters that the pause button was made for.

So, a good deal for the price.

OK Transfers, but the extras are nice.......2004-07-06

The bonus disc has over 40 trailers for B&W Noirs and suspense films. In addition, some great film noir movie posters.

Also, the box set is set up nice. Looks great. Not to shabby for a public domain movie release.

All the transfers (except Scarlet Street) look fine. They're tinted blueish and yellow sometimes. Apparently, the films were pieced together from different sources. It's fairly seemless, though.

Scarlet Street still looks horrible. What a shame. That's the best film in this boxed set. Worth the price.

Not Exactly Crisp.............2004-06-29

The liner notes say that these are "...crisp, archival prints". Well, not exactly. This set is pretty good, but not fantastic. The authoring leaves some pixellation and blotchiness in the darker scenes. Also, they have tinted some of the scenes grey. I guess that was to try and cover up some fading. "D.O.A." is pretty good, but a clearer version is the one put out by Image Entertainment. This set does contain the best and most complete version of "DETOUR" that i have seen, although it still needs more restoration (Criterion, can you hear me?). I think "THE STRANGER" looks OK, but ROAN GROUP puts out a better disc of it. Concerning "SCARLET STREET", it looks about as good as what anyone else is putting out. I guess no one has been able to find a nice, clean, fine grain print of this movie yet. The movie "KILLER BAIT" is also known as "TOO LATE FOR TEARS" and it looks better in this set than the "TEARS" disc that Image puts out. As for content, all of these movies are good ones.

Average customer rating:

Jail Bait/Glen & Glenda
Starring: Jail Bait , and Glen Or Glenda
Manufacturer: Krb Music
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0002J9Z4G
Release Date: 2006-10-24

Average customer rating:

Nasty things, these shootings.
For what it is, it's pretty entertaining
Ridiculous
Truly "Edwoodian." So Bad it's good
Not as "bad" as Wood's classics, but a must for collectors

Jail Bait
Starring: John Avery (III) , Henry Bederski , Ted Brooks (III) , Conrad Brooks , and Regina Claire
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
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ASIN: B00003XAMT
Release Date: 2000-02-15

Amazon.com

"How can a great doctor have such a jerk for a son?" asks Ed Wood in his cheap dime store crime thriller about a sneering delinquent whose mania for handguns leads to murder. "I never thought carrying a gun would lead to this," he burbles to his far-too-understanding father, but it's too late. His cold-hearted partner Timothy Farrell blackmails Daddy (who just happens to be the most gifted plastic surgeon in the world) into giving him a new face, but Dad has a trick up his sleeve. Wood regular Lyle Talbot headlines as the investigating police inspector, former Mr. America and future Hercules Steve Reeves takes his shirt off for no good reason to flex his physique to the camera, and Wood's real-life girlfriend and frequent costar Dolores Fuller wears angora as the doctor's nice-girl daughter. "Cheap? Does this look joint look cheap to you?" demands the crook's gold-digging girlfriend? In a word, yes. There's a pleasing grungy B-movie aesthetic to Wood's nighttime location shooting, giving those moments a film noir flavor, but the rest of the film takes place on bland, generic sets with the flat look of a sitcom. Actually, flat is the operative word for this lethargic thriller: Wood displays his genius for arch dialogue and draws wooden performances from his largely mediocre cast. In other words, it's prime Ed Wood. The annoying guitar and piano score was borrowed from Mesa of Lost Women. --Sean Axmaker

Description

She's a good girl--to leave alone! Fresh from his sensational "Glen or Glenda?," Ed Wood, Jr. presents his homage to the gangster films of the '30s and '40s, starring his sex kitten girlfriend Dolores Fuller and introducing to the screen handsome young Steve Reeves (Hercules). Inspired by the popular TV show "Dragnet," this Ed Wood film tells the story of a rich but troubled young man who kills a cop and has plastic surgery to hide his identity. Filmdom's legendary Alex Gordon co-wrote this clever script to help Ed make his first legitimate feature film.

Customer Reviews:

Nasty things, these shootings........2007-04-08

Two "hold-up boys," Don Gregor and Vic Brady, get caught in the act, and Gregor is forced to shoot an ex-police officer. Brady plays it cool, but Gregor insists that they turn themselves in. "We're cop killers. They don't like that," Gregor explains. Brady shoots him and hides his body behind a curtain in the kitchen.
Wishing to disappear to escape the police, Brady enlists the help of Gregor's father, a plastic surgeon who admits, "Plastic surgery, at times, seems to me to be very, VERY complicated." The surgeon shows up to give Brady his new face, but when he finds his son's dead body STANDING(???) behind a curtain in the kitchen, he decides to have a little fun with Brady instead. Two weeks later, Brady's bandages come off and he's horrified to find whose face is underneath.
"Jail Bait," Ed Wood's attempt at the gangster genre, is unintentionally silly, ludicrous, and terribly enjoyable. And despite what Wade Williams says on the back of the DVD, the script is far from clever. Other highlights include: an embarrassing racist Vaudeville act, laughably inappropriate Spanish guitar score, and Dolores Fuller who is possibly the worst actress in history.

For what it is, it's pretty entertaining.......2005-10-27

Before you watch this movie take a few things into account, first of all it was made by Ed Wood and I have nothing to say of him that hasn't already been said, second it's old. Now that those little things are out of the way on to the real review. This movie's plot revolves around the son of a plastic surgeon who gets caught up with crime and eventually kills a cop. I don't want to spoil the rest but any ample review has to have some kind of summary. While the acting is poor and the various effects cheesy, I found myself somewhat compelled to watch and see what happened next in this entertaining story. Call me crazy but I actually enjoyed this old relic and considering that it came from Ed Wood and I was as genuinley enjoyed as I was I give it five stars.

Ridiculous.......2005-05-20

There is no real reason to own or watch this movie unless you are an Ed wood fan or you just love old movies with bad acting. If you fall into either of those categories, however, it is a must have.

This effort of Wood's is so much better than GLEN OR GLENDA that using the same scale, this outght to get 5 stars. Unfortunately, this is the real world and Amozon does not allow for negative number of stars. SUffice it to say, this wone is much better than GLEN OR GLENDA but that is not saying a whole lot. At least this one has a story.

The title refers to guns. Carrying a gun is tantamount to wanting to go to jail. That doesn't mean, though that this is an anti-gun diatribe, it is just the way society is perceived in this film and is fairly peripheral to the story.

The story is of a young man from a good family who falls into bad ways. He begins to carry a gun and hang around with a petty crook. One day, a holdup goes wrong and he shoots and kills a watchman. At that point, his world crumbles and he feels remorse. His partner in crime, however, is not so forgiving and neither are the police. It is up to the father, an eminent plastic surgeon to secure justice.

Fans of Steve Reeve of SUPERMAN fame might enjoy his performance in this movie. He plays a small part as a police lieutenant. The rest of the actors are utterly unremarkable but that is part of the point of seeing and savine Ed Wood movies. They are usually bad enough to be funny in their own right.

This is a fairly bad movie. The acting and dialog are pretty pathetic and the situations encountered are less than realistic. Anyone could through the loopholes but, again, that is not the point in an Ed Wood movie. Some of his other works are much worse but silly enough to be funny. This one might just barely meet that criterion for some people. For me, it was a snoozer.

If you love Ed Wood, go for it. If you like campy old police drama, ditto. Otherwise, look elsewhere for your entertainment dollar.

Truly "Edwoodian." So Bad it's good.......2004-01-25

Folks, leave your brains at the door. This is good old Edwoodian schlock about a bad boy who gets mixed up with the wrong crowd. Laugh out loud at the outragous stupidity and unintentioned humor of horrible dialougue, bad acting , and sheer senselessness. Who the heck would insist that a doctor under pressure of gunpoint operate on him? (That's just for starters). The surprise ending (which I won't reveal here) is pretty good. But the Blackface minstrel performance as an abomination not only for modern P.C. reasons (as an African-American myself, I've seen far worse in old movies), but it is not funny at all (the guy in Blackface whines and strains his voice in a gross effort to sound "Black" and the gags consist of very bad puns). In true Edwoodian style, it has nothing whatsoever to do with the story. But if you and your friends are filled with beers and pizza and want a good howl for over an hour, then this is for you.

Not as "bad" as Wood's classics, but a must for collectors.......2003-07-25

Written by the one and only Edward D. Wood Jr in collaboration with Alex Gordon. JAIL BAIT concerns Don Gregor (Lyle Talbot) a criminal whose father (who just happens to be a plastic surgeon) wants him to straighten out and start a new life; and yes that includes getting a new face.