This box-set presents a well-balanced picture of the evolution of Humphrey Bogart, from stereotyped minor screenplayer specialising in cheap criminal roles, to cinema legend.

It opens with the 1940 melodrama They Drive by Night, a ripping tale of truckdrivers fighting fatigue and repelling manic women, in which Humphrey had only fourth-billing.

A year later came High Sierra, which had Bogart receiving lead billing alongside Ida Lupino - and this tale of criminal passion in the mountains really set his career on fire.

The third movie in the box, The Maltese Falcon from 1941, is one of Humphrey's all-time classics. He's crossed sides. Instead of a criminal, he is now Sam Spade, Private Detective - a hardboiled, cynical rough diamond. And for the first time, he's got a script which combines drama with sophisticated pacey humour - and the strong support cast includes two of the smartest character actors of all time, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet.

The final flick mightn't be the cinematic gold that makes up The Maltese Falcon, but To Have and Have Not from 1944 does bring into the Bogart formula a new ingredient - 19-year-old Betty Perske, who changed her name to Lauren Bacall, and whose offstage affair with Humphrey was as hot as their on-screen collision. She couldn't act, but no-one could deliver better seductive smoulder, and she had a great line in come-on lines.

So here are four movies which helped define an actor who still, for many cinema-lovers, represents the Hollywood legend at its most potent - Humphrey Bogart.

Even though the collection has only one dead-set Bogart classic (The Maltese Falcon, it is strong overall, with movies you'll often want to return to. Get it.

Three of the movies -- They Drive By Night, High Sierra and To Have and Have Not -- are available in Region Four only in this collected edition.