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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Full Frame
  Languages
    The Big Sleep (1946)
  • English: Dolby Digital Mono
  • French: Dolby Digital Mono
  • Italian: Dolby Digital Mono
    Key Largo
  • English: Dolby Digital Mono
  • Italian: Dolby Digital Mono
    Dark Passage
  • English: Dolby Digital Mono
  • Italian: Dolby Digital Mono
    The Treasure of Sierra Madre
  • French: Dolby Digital Mono
  • Italian: Dolby Digital Mono
  • Commentary - English: Dolby Digital Mono
  • English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
  Subtitles
    The Big Sleep (1946)
    English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, Arabic, Portuguese, English - Hearing Impaired, Italian - Hearing Impaired, Romanian, Bulgarian
    Key Largo
    English, German, Italian, Dutch, Arabic, English - Hearing Impaired, Italian - Hearing Impaired, Romanian, Bulgarian
    Dark Passage
    English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, Arabic, English - Hearing Impaired, Italian - Hearing Impaired, Romanian
    The Treasure of Sierra Madre
    English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, Arabic, English - Hearing Impaired, Italian - Hearing Impaired, Romanian
  Extras
    The Big Sleep (1946)
  • Theatrical trailer
    Key Largo
  • Theatrical trailer
    Dark Passage
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Documentaries
  • Short film - cartoon
    The Treasure of Sierra Madre
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Audio commentary
  • Cast/crew biographies
  • Awards/Nominations
  • Documentaries
The Bogart Collection Two
Warner Bros./Warner Home Video . R4 . B&W . 398 mins . M15+ . PAL

  Feature
Contract

The Bogart Collection Volume Two is a bit of a mixed-bag. This is definitely not a 'best-of' Bogart collection, but is a good representation of his mid-to-latter career.

The earliest movie in the collection is one of the true Bogart classics. In 1946 Bogart took on the persona of Raymond Chandler's detective hero Philip Marlowe. And this production, directed by Howard Hawks, gave us a screen icon.

Next up is the 1947 oddity Dark Passage - odd in that we don't get to see Bogart's face for the first hour. Bogart has been gaoled for the alleged murder of his wife. He's escaped, and while trying to find who really killed her, he takes the chance to buy a new face. Quirky, but sub-standard Bogart.

The Treasure of Sierra Madre is a deservedly classic Bogart movie, though acting honours in this one really go to Walter Huston, father of the director, John Huston. The Hustons won three Oscars for this one, with Walter picking up 'Best Supporting Actor' and John gaining 'Best Screenplay' and 'Best Director'. This is a tough, gritty and realistic account of drifters and grifters in 1920s Mexico; a fine entry in this collection.

From the same year, 1948, comes the pacey melodrama Key Largo, which, like The Big Sleep, teams Bogart with Mrs. Bogart, aka Lauren Bacall. Bogart plays a Second World War veteran who visits a quiet hotel in hurricane-prone Florida. A hurricane hits the area - but the people sheltering inside are more dangerous than the storm raging outside.

Individual titles reviews
REVIEW: The Big Sleep (1946)
"Humphrey Bogart is hardboiled gumshoe Philip Marlowe. He was born to play this role..."
- Anthony Clarke

REVIEW: Key Largo
"Key Largo in Florida is hurricane country. But humans are always more dangerous than the wildest of hurricanes..."
- Anthony Clarke

REVIEW: Dark Passage
"Strictly a curiosity piece, Dark Passage is a lightweight offering of interest only to dedicated Bogart/Bacall fans."
- Anthony Clarke

REVIEW: The Treasure of Sierra Madre
"For Fred Dobbs, finding gold was easy. Keeping it was the hard part..."
- Anthony Clarke

  Video
  Audio
  Extras
  Overall
Contract

Neither Dark Passage nor The Treasure of Sierra Madre can be bought separately.

Extra features include 'making of' documentaries for Dark Passage and The Treasure of Sierra Madre. A period cartoon is included with Dark Passage. The Treasure of Sierra Madre offers an audio commentary by Bogart biographer Eric Lax, a list of cast and crew, and details of awards it won. Original theatrical trailers for all four movies are enclosed.

There is a 12-page booklet which, apart from some photographs, just carries the sort of liner notes found on the backs of conventional DVDs. There are some errors - Key Largo is described as being in colour instead of black and white, and the running time for The Treasure of Sierra Madre is given as 96 minutes instead of two hours. And the chapter listings given for each movie bear no relation to the movies - the scene index for The Treasure of Sierra Madre for instance relates in fact to Dark Passage.

The most notable feature about the extra features are their paucity. The Region 1 edition of The Big Sleep in fact offers two quite different versions of the movie, one on each side of a flipper-disc. And the Region 1 'Special Edition' of The Treasure of Sierra Madre is in fact a two-disc edition with a raft of special features on Disc Two, including a two-hour documentary on the life and times of writer/director John Huston.

Bogart fanatics will want the Region 1 editions of those two discs. But all in all, this edition, and its companion Bogart Collection Volume One, is a handy compendium in pretty decent condition of some representative Bogart movies.

It will help today's viewers understand why Bogart was at one time top of the Hollywood heap. Clark Gable at his peak was probably as popular. The only actor with the skill and longevity to seriously compete with Bogart for the title of the Hollywood actor of the 20th century was Cary Grant. I think I'd give the title to Cary, but it's a close call.

The eight movies in the Bogart Collections One and Two do not, however, make up a true 'Best of Bogart' collection. Every Bogart fan would have their own list - here is my short-list of the four all-time greatest Bogart movies: The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The Big Sleep and The African Queen.

Throw in for good measure Sabrina and The Caine Mutiny and you would have a body of work as great as any actor in Hollywood ever compiled.

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      And I quote...
    "Bogart shines in this four-movie sampling of the work of one of the greatest Hollywood icons of them all."
    - Anthony Clarke
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Panasonic A330
    • TV:
          Loewe Profil Plus 3272 68cm
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