Bogie and Bacall - The Signature Collection (The Big Sleep / Dark Passage / Key Largo / To Have and Have Not)

Humphrey Bogart was one of the iconic film stars of the 1940s and 1950s, appearing in numerous classic films, most notably "Casablanca". But while his pairing with Ingrid Bergman in that film has gone down as one of film's greatest love stories, Bogart's most famous pairing on screen was not with Bergman, but with his fourth and final wife, Lauren Bacall. He met and fell in love with Bacall on the set of their first film, and three further ones would follow, all of which are collected here on DVD. The films all have varying degrees of noir influence, but also show the clear imprint of studio attempts to replicate the success of "Casablanca"; through it all, the interactions between Bogart and Bacall are a highlight. Plot details for each film are discussed hence."To Have and Have Not", released in 1944, is the first of two films on the set directed by Howard Hawks. It is based, in the loosest sense of the term, on a novel by Ernest Hemingway, adapted by William Faulkner and Jules Furthman (it thus represents the only 'collaboration' by the two Nobel Prize-winning American authors who were the opposite poles of American fiction in the middle of the 20th century) - which mostly amounted to Faulkner and Furthman throwing out most of Hemingway's novel and turning it into a ripoff of "Casablanca". Captain Harry Morgan (Bogart) finds himself under pressure to help the Free French infiltrate the island of Martinique, then controlled by the Vichy French government; Morgan doesn't want to take a side, but he finds himself drawn into the conflict, partly because of his involvement with Marie (Bacall), a fellow American. The main attraction here is Bogart and Bacall's interactions; indeed, Hawks was sufficiently impressed by their chemistry that he had the film rewritten to emphasize the two, relegating Dolores Moran's Helene, who was meant to be Bogart's primary love interest originally, to a minor part."The Big Sleep", filmed around the same time but released in 1946 due to scheduling and production issues, comes from the same creative team (Hawks, Faulkner, Furthman, and new writer Leigh Brackett), and this time puts Bogart and Bacall centre-stage from the start; they were already married by the time production had ceased, and would remain so until his death in 1957, having two children in the interim. "The Big Sleep" is based on the seminal detective novel by Raymond Chandler, and constitutes Bogart's second major contribution to film noir after playing Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade in "The Maltese Falcon". Bogart is Philip Marlowe, Chandler's celebrated protagonist, drawn into a mystery involving the Sternwood family, whose younger daughter is being blackmailed. Bacall is the older daughter, who, of course, sparks with Marlowe. The film has an infamously complicated plot (including one murder never explained; legend has it that Chandler himself, when asked, didn't know), but holds together very well, with superb atmosphere (a must for a Chandler adaptation); it's a bona fide classic of the noir genre."Dark Passage", released in 1947, is the black sheep of this collection. While the others are made by legendary directors and often based on the works of famous novelists, this film was overseen by Delmer Daves, a journeyman studio writer and director. However, I would rate it the second-best film in the collection, and it provides some of the best interaction between Bogart and Bacall. Bogart's character is Vincent Parry, who has escaped from prison, where he had been sent after being wrongly convicted of the murder of his wife; aided by Bacall's Irene, he gets plastic surgery (for the first hour, the film is shot from Vincent's POV, so we never see his face before the surgery makes him look like Bogart; this is an unconventional approach), and must attempt to both keep his identity secret and try to find the true killer of his wife. The plot is a bit contrived in places (particularly the setup for him getting the surgery), but it is a very well-done film."Key Largo", released in 1948, is the final film of the collection, written and directed by John Huston, who had also handled Bogart's breakthrough roles in "High Sierra" and "The Maltese Falcon", and would in the same year direct him in "The Treasure of Sierra Madre" (incidentally, arguably his best role). "Key Largo" is the one film in the collection I think is somewhat overrated. Our story follows Bogart to a hotel in Key Largo, to visit the father (Lionel Barrymore, tremendously fun) and widow (Bacall) of a dead war comrade, only to find that the hotel has been occupied by the entourage of an exiled mobster (Edward G. Robinson). Bogart's non-detective characters frequently had a lot of Rick Blaine in them (as the first film in this collection did), but this film's lead is rather unconvincing as a shirker. However, others rate this much more highly than I do, and it is not unentertaining.All in all, a good collection of a great screen couple (though these films do not, apart from "The Big Sleep", really represent Bogart's best work). Surprisingly, despite Bogart having nearly a decade of film stardom remaining after 1948 before he died, he and Bacall never worked together again.

Great old films. Good additions to your film library if you like seeing older classic films.

The casting of Bogie & Bacall together was a smart move on the part of Hollywood theater productions. They found a winner when they paired these 2 actors in these 4 films. I am happy with my purchase of this collection, however one of my dvd's did not work properly and I could not finish the movie. We also tried the subtitles in English for another movie, and it started with the actors speaking in French and the subtitles in English. I will have to check that dvd again to see if it was my error or a problem with the DVD. Either way, I would still watch the movie in French..maybe it will help me learn some new vocabulary! I am keeping my Bogie & Bacall set for a memorable movie night.

I know I will get skewered for this review, and some will consider my opinions to be blasphemous, but I believe this set has three of four movies that outclass what is supposed to be the greatest, if not one of the greatest movies of all time. Casablanca is great in its own right, but three of these movies, Key Largo, To Have and Have Not, and Dark Passage have a dialogue between its two main characters, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, that quite frankly outshines the dialogue Bogie had with Ingrid Bergman. I believe that Bogart and Bacall simply are on a level that has not been attained since. If you want to learn what meaningful dialogue sounds like, just watch these movies. The chemistry between Bogie and Bacall is as close to perfection as the silver screen will ever know. In Lauren Bacall's first movie with Bogie, the electricity crackles the moment their eyes meet in "To Have and Have Not". Bogie (Harry Morgan) is a charter fisherman who gets involved in the activities of the Free French in World War II on the island of Martinique. He manages to land one of their leaders in Martinique, and almost single-handedly takes on the nefarious Vichy leaders and their Gestapo henchmen. The dialogue is memorable between Bogie and Bacall (Marie "Slim" Browning), but the dialogue between Bogie and his mate Eddie (Walter Brennan), who is always looking out for him despite the fact that he is an alcoholic, rates highly as well and is quite hilarious.In "Key Largo", friendship as well as a heavy dose of hostility, compliments of Nora Temple (Bacall), finds Bogie (Major Frank McCloud) in a nest of blood-thirsty gangsters who commandeer Mr. Temple's (Lionel Barrymore) hotel in Key Largo. Some memorable exchanges occur not only with Bacall, but also with Edward G. Robinson (Johnny Rocco). With some guts and resourcefulness, Bogie gains the upper hand on Rocco's band of thugs, and returns to Bacall.In what is, in my opinion, Bogie's best movie ever, "Dark Passage", he plays an escaped convict, Vincent Parry, who escapes San Quentin Prison with the hope of clearing his name of the murder of his wife. What makes this movie unique is for roughly the first half of the film, the audience sees through Parry's eyes, first as an escaped convict and later as he recovers from plastic surgery to his face. Once again, some very memorable dialogue with his rescuer Irene Jansen (Bacall), but also with Sam the Taxi Driver (Tom D'Andrea), and his arch nemesis, the forever scheming Madge Rapf (Agnes Moorehead). In addition to the fine dialogue, this movie is filmed in San Francisco, with some excellent venues, especially the Golden Gate Bridge, the area around Telegraph Hill and the Filbert Steps, and the Powell-Mason Cable Car line.The fourth movie of the group, "The Big Sleep",while not being one of my favorite movies, is nevertheless another good movie with Bogie and Bacall. Film for film, this might be the best film set Amazon sells. If you like Bogie and Bacall, this set is a "must have".

Three of my favorite movies starring Bogart and Bacall, one of the screen's great romantic couples, both on screen and in real life.

Great service. Exactly as described. Wonderful collection. Much better than the UK version, which is stripped down to basics. This Region 1 set includes both versions of 'The Big Sleep', which every fan should have.

Arrived on time but the box set included a film called Laura and did not include the key DVD ‘To have and have not’ !Laura is neither a Bogart nor a Bacall film. It is not worth the hassle of repackaging and returning but I am left without the classic To Have and Have Not.Clearly I am in the ‘have not’ category !!

Classics

This box set contains the Bogart Classics, brilliant movies to enjoy on those wet afternoons. The classic film noir style, the classic lines. Bacall is in superb form. So satisfying they make you want to whistle, 'you know how to whistle don't you ? you just put your lips together and blow'They certainly don't make them like this anymore. Well worth the £10 for 4 movies.

I love these old black and white movies and this collection is a good one. At the time of my purchase I could only track down a Used copy. It was advertised as in Very Good condition. But the packaging from this vendor was in fact in poor condition and the discs themselves were sticky from dirt/grease. I would recommend the movies if they can be bought as new but definitely not from this vendor.