Thursday, October 28, 2010

DVD Boxed Set Review~ Humphrey Bogart - The Essential Collection



And the angel sing on high...

Now I've reviewed quite a few boxed sets but this one trumps them all. This one puts all the others to shame. This is a veritable masterpiece. It is the stuff that classic film enthusiasts salivate over. It is by far one of the most beautiful things I have ever beheld. I feel like it is a privilege to be in its presence.

Enough with my gushing. Let's get on to talking about this boxed set. Humphrey Bogart: The Essential Collection is a 24-movie/12-disc set which contains a selection of Bogie's films with Warner Bros. The movies include:


Chances are you own some of these movies already. That's probably why Warner Bros. beefed up the set with a ton of extras. There is a 13th disc which contains The Brothers Warner documentary. A companion book and a package of goodies. Each DVD is given a great menu design and each film comes with extras. 16 of the films have commentaries and there are bonus newsreels, short documentaries, radio shows, cartoons, etc. that beef up the set.

Other than Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon, I don't own any of these films on DVD. I have some on VHS, recordings from TCM including The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse which my friend Kevin is still holding hostage. I've seen 10 out of the 24 films so this is a real treat for me. I really love Humphrey Bogart as an actor. He had great delivery and range and was just plain cool.

I think my only complaint about the set is that it came with a duplicate DVD so I'm missing 2 of the movies. If you buy this set, make sure you check all the DVDs so that you have all 24 movies. If you don't, ask for an exchange!

Purchasing Information: Warner Bros. told me that the street date is October 5th. Trouble is Amazon.com, Classicflix, WBShop, TCM, etc. are not shipping it right now. My guess is that they caught some kind of mistake and are either reworking stock or reprinting new boxed sets. Or they sold out really quickly and are reprinting. So there may be a delay if you order it. If I find out anything, I'll make sure to let people know.



Now it's not enough for me just to tell you about this delightful boxed set. Let me SHOW you. Here is my first ever Vlog. Enjoy!


Special thank you to Warner Bros. who sent this boxed set to me for review (which I would have purchased anyways because it's so awesome). And stay tuned to this space because I'll be reviewing the documentary and will be hosting a 24 Bogie Movie Marathon with short reviews of each of the 24 films.

11 comments:

  1. Enjoyed your post, look forward to the individual movie critiques, but my main response to your article is ENVY. My face has turned completely green, and I already have green eyes, so I look pretty weird. You lucky dog! You have some good viewing to look forward to with the ones you have not seen. I am a Bogart lover too!

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  2. Wow. Most movie collections that claim to have all the essentials have been disappointments to me. They always seem to leave something out. The only major Bogie film that seems to be missing is Beat the Devil--understandable given it was United Artists rather than Warner!

    BTW, Quelle, you have a very pretty voice!

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  3. ClassicBecky - I feel lucky but reviewing DVDs is not as glamorous as you might think. I am obligated to review what's sent to me, I have a deadline, it eats up free time and I have products to review for my food blog too. Plus I'm also terribly embarrassed that I do get these wonderful things to review and it makes the joy of watching these movies a little stale. :-(

    Mercurie - There are some heavy hitters in this set. Thanks for your lovely compliment.

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  4. Excellent presentation! I'm going to go out and purchase 5 sets. I can't wait for your next vlog.

    -Carlos

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  5. I've critiqued some boxed sets too, so I know what you mean. I did a couple for the Cafe blog. I LOVED doing the Errol Flynn set. I didn't enjoy the latest one so much, on the mini-series Rich Man, Poor Man. It was my first chance to be a real critic, as I didn't find it to be as good as I remembered. I usually write about things I love! This time I got to feel like Roger Ebert!

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  6. Okay, I need this! Even though I already have most of these on VHS, I NEED this!

    You lucky duck!

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  7. Very good review, & this set does look pretty much essential! Loved the vlog--more of those please.

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  8. What a nice collection to have so many great films in one nice set. And the packaging looks stunning! Plus, it is nice that Warners beefed up the extras knowing that many Bogart fans probably have quite a few of the films already.

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  9. Carlos - Thank you honey. xoxo

    ClassicBecky - woah you have a lot of blogs.

    Niamhy - I would send you one if I could!

    John - Thanks for the encouragement. The vlog came out better than expected. I might do another in the future.

    Robby - Someone said that the extras were not new. Oh well. They were new to me considering I only had TCM-taped versions of these films.

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  10. vlog more! i love it! i cannot wait for this collection to come out! you have made me super pshyced about it!!!

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  11. ERin - Thanks! Did you see my Elia Kazan vlog? This boxed set is out. You must get it! It's flippin awesome.

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