This is a second 4-film compilation of Bogie movies ? in this case, three very interesting (to say the least), and one not quite so?

This collection comprises the following:

The Big Sleep (1946)

With or without Humphrey Bogart, ?The Big Sleep? is one of the great whodunits of any era; but with the inclusion of Bogart and Bacall we have a truly outstanding and memorable experience - one that anyone can find enjoyment from. Based on a novel by Raymond Chandler, and featuring one of the more memorable private detectives in literature, Philip Marlowe, the viewer is led through a complicated and fast-moving plot that includes blackmail, double crossing, violence and murder; and a quite thrilling conclusion that leaves one guessing to the very end!

Philip Marlowe (Bogie) is invited to the Sternwood household to investigate threats of blackmail against the frail patriarch of the family about a daughter?s perceived gambling debts. During this visit Marlowe comes face-to-face with the young lady in question ? the mischievous (might I say promiscuous?) Carmen (played by Martha Vickers), and her older sister Vivian (Lauren Bacall). From this uncomfortable first meeting, we are led into a quite complicated (at times confusing, if you don?t concentrate) web of intrigue and violence that remains on a knife?s edge to the end. This is certainly not a movie that that gives the viewer the answers on a platter!

Following Marlowe?s initial investigations at an antiquarian bookshop (that involve some very comical and ?snappy? lines of dialogue); a murder, and a subsequent arrest follow; but these occurrences do not seem to get us any closer to resolution ? no one is ?on the level? throughout ? especially the women in the story!

To be perfectly honest, do not ask me about the outcome of the initial mystery - I was too taken in by the dialogue and action to think too much about the resolution of the plot!

The movie is full of wonderful comic and semi-comic asides that add beautifully to the ?feeling? of the film - not to mention a ?sexual innuendo? that certainly was not allowed to be so liberal in the late 1940s? Some of the lines between Bogie and Bacall in this movie are the best ?come ons? one could imagine prior to the overt liberalisation of the 1960s and beyond - a pure delight!

This is most definitely a Bogart film, though he clearly doesn?t control the best lines all the time! At the same time, one of the beauties of this film is that no one totally dominates, and Bogie still has some great lines and scenes. The supporting cast is stellar and includes great performances by Bacall, Vickers and the underrated Elisha Cook Jnr as a ?hood? (Harry Jones); add to this a plot that that never lets go in intensity or interest, and you have a movie of the highest quality.

After having seen and reviewed one of my favourite all-time movies recently - ?The Maltese Falcon? - I have to say that this movie is every bit as good, if not better!! Actually, if this film had Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre, it would be unsurpassable?!

Duration: 110 minutes

Dark Passage (1947)

This is a particularly strange movie, both in film technique and plot. This strangeness is not as more obvious than in the opening 40 minutes or so where the camera replaces Bogie?s eyes in an attempt at providing a ?first person? narrative of the opening events. But, hang on! ? I guess I?d better put a storyline to the movie to explain my concerns?

Vincent Parry is an escapee from San Quentin prison who is eventually picked up on the road by Irene Jansen (a typically attractive Lauren Bacall) after a few initial adventures. It would seem that Parry has escaped from jail to find his wife?s true killer ? the crime that sent him into ?porridge?. Irene is empathetic to Vincent?s plight as a wrongly accused wife killer ? in fact in attended Vincent?s trial as an interested onlooker (why I really don?t know, nor care)?!

Because of his fear of being caught, he seeks (and succeeds in having) plastic surgery to alter his appearance. After the success of the operation, we see Parry in a second ? dare I say ?second person? phase where Vincent (swathed in bandages and can?t speak) is a ?slave? to Irene who tells him what is going on, and what to do.

One hour into the film we finally get to see Vincent Parry for the first time and ? surprise, surprise ? it?s Bogie! From hereon in the movie finally moves into a typical, ?third person? mode where he gets to walk and talk to his ?own beat?. From now on we follow Vincent in his quest to find the murderer of his wife - and if suspects have to ?drop off the planet? in this quest, sobeit! At least, from this point, the storyline follows a moire ?traditional?, credible pattern.

Having a new face isn?t quite as easy as Parry expected ? he?s constantly having problems adjusting to his new features and fielding questions from authorities because of his lack of credentials for the new persona. For a while, through all this, he avoids detection and proceeds on his quest. But, to his dismay, he?s found out before he can get too far ? he is ?identified? by a ?foolish? driver who picked him up by the side of the road just after his escape from jail in the first place (it really does start getting confusing)! Anyway, this fella (played by Bruce Bennett) tries to blackmail him, but his own inadequacies come to light and he ends up dying in a fight with Vincent ? having given the secret away as to the true murderer of Vincent?s wife (there are a number of amazing coincidences in the plot!). Vincent finally confronts the woman in question (Agnes Moorehead) who owns up, but decides to throw herself out of a window of a multi-storey apartment block to avoid his retribution (as another footnote, I?m totally unconvinced by the dialogue that infers that she died by accident!).

So, once again he?s on the run from the law- he now has no one alive who can attest to his innocence of the initial crime. Fortunately he has the redoubtable Irene to rely on for friendship and faith; and they finally end up happily ever after in Peru?

I have to say that the ?first person? technique at the start of the film was quite tiresome and annoying ? with the idea of the camera being ?Bogie? also causing the character?s voice to sound unrealistically ?distant?. As a result the whole feature lacks a definable intensity typical of Bogart films of this era. Bogart?s narrative during this period is also set in the first person ? to me the idea, whilst interesting, is a dismal failure. 40-odd minutes into the film we then have Irene providing the dialogue for his written words ? some of it particularly pointless! And not only this short period of Irene being required (by the scriptwriters) to read his words out loud, but also spell out her dialogue in ?John and Betty? style. Another choice example of this ?disaster? is 55 minutes into the film? Vincent, with his face remodelled and in bandages can?t speak, but clearly can hear (his ears aren?t covered). Yet, when the doorbell rings in Irene?s apartment, she tells Vincent that that doorbell has just rung! The absurdity of this period of the film is lamentable.

I had to watch the movie twice to fill out this critique, as the faults that I have mentioned above upset me so much that I ?lost the plot? trying to cope with them. Another example of this lack of care involves a backdrop in an action scene below the Golden Gate Bridge that is amazingly poor, considering that many of the scenes were actually filmed on-location, on or around the landmark ? why such slapdash work?

I?m sure there?s a good storyline hidden within this film ? it?s just that I was distracted too often to find it.

Duration: 95 minutes

Key Largo (1948)

Based on a play by Maxwell Anderson and directed by John Huston, this is a classic story about a returned ex-serviceman who pits his wits against a gang of desperate criminals during a hurricane on the Florida Keys.

Apart from a couple of outdoor scenes preceding the major story, and the climax of the film; the story is set largely indoors, as befitting a play. The first fifteen minutes or so sets the scene by putting us into the picture as to why ex-Army Major Frank McLeod has visited Key Largo ? he is here to see the family of an Army mate who was killed in action in Italy. The dead man?s father (Lionel Barrymore) co-manages a hotel with his daughter-in-law (Lauren Bacall), and the hotel is inhabited by a rather sleazy group of gangsters who gradually show increasing malevolence to our ?heroes?. Johnny Rocco is the head of the gang (Edward G Robinson in as much of a reprise of his ?Little Caesar? role as anything else). At one point during increasing tensions, McLeod is labelled a ?coward? after an aborted standoff with Rocco; but when desperate times require conspicuous bravery, Frank comes through with flying colours.

Not only do the gang?s hostages cause them some concern; the fear of the hurricane also plays a major role in the unsettling of the clan, and the storm itself becomes a major factor in the undermining of their plans to enter mainland USA. The departure of their ?freedom? vessel during the storm forces the gang to return to their country of refuge ? Cuba ? with McLeod?s enforced assistance using a borrowed boat. As McLeod and Rocco struggle to wrest control of the vessel, Rocco ends up helping to destroy the remainder of his own gang in fear of his own safety, and eventually loses out in the battle of wits with ?our hero?.

The plot contains a number of twists and turns, and a morality tale sub-plot that adds to the interest of the storyline.

The casting for this movie is sensational ? Bogie, Lauren Bacall, Edward G Robinson, Lionel Barrymore, and a Best Actress award winner in Claire Trevor. Of the cast mentioned, Bacall as the female star has a rather minor role, but the ?chemistry? between Bogie and she is still palpable.

It is probably a useless fact, but the name of the boat used in the film - Santana - is the name of Bogie?s personal cruise boat, so I believe!

Duration: 97 minutes

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

The setting is Tampico, Mexico, in 1925 and the town is somewhat overrun by out of luck ?Yanks? including a begging dropout called Fred C. Dobbs (Bogie) seeking a meal and a few simple pleasures. Rather than accepting a silver Peso from a callous stranger, he accepts a poorly paid (maybe unpaid?) job on a mining site. During a stay in a dingy sleepover, he hears the stories of a haggard old man who tells of potential riches (gold) in the Sierra Madre badlands of Mexico. The talkative old man, Howard (in a masterful performance by Walter Huston) inspires interest in Bogie and his mate Bob Curtin (played by Tim Holt) who recruit Huston to the quest for gold. The scene is thus set for a tale of mistrust, greed and crime for the rest of the tale.

The old fella is the one with the nous and ideas of where the possible fortune may be. Dobbs and Curtin are the primary financiers of the mission after gaining the funding through fair means and foul, plus provide the muscle-power and companionship for the old man in what will be a harrowing journey?

After striking it lucky, the boys soon discover that sharing amongst three people - two of them pretty desperate - is not so easy; and that not only mineshaft accidents and the threat of bandits are their only problems. Dobbs, in particular, is especially suspicious and cagey; and it is his (at times) irrational behaviour that is a major subject of the latter part of this film. Included in this portion is the introduction of a fourth character, Jim Cody (Bruce Bennett), who comes to a quick end at the hands of bandits ? before the three of them can put him away themselves! ? but a letter Cody carries brings our three desperados back to some degree of sanity, and they decide to end their quest and head home.

Not surprisingly, the journey home is yet to be full of adventures; as fate separates Howard from the others, Dobbs attempts to do away with Curtin, at the same time stealing all the burros and booty, and Dobbs gets his eventual comeuppance at the hands of some bandits that he had upset earlier on in the picture.

But there?s more to the story yet! The bandits, who believe that bags of gold dust found amongst pelts carried by Dobbs? burros, contain only sand, dispose of them; and the two remaining prospectors, now reunited, can only laugh the entire fiasco off and head on their separate ways.

I have made the statement before in previous movies in these two packages; but Bogie is upstaged yet again! ? this time by Walter Huston (the father of the film?s director, John). His half-crazed, yet commonsense character is the most interesting role in the film, and his steadfast and logical nature was the only reason the ?gang? stayed together during the initial treasure hunt. His grand performance is one of his last in a 20-odd year career that included many great films, and performances that earned him four Oscar nominations ? this film won him the Best Supporting Actor gong. Tim Holt?s more ?decent? character (as a counterweight to Bogie?s less charitable Dobbs) is really quite good for an actor I know little about. As usual, Bogie is capable, competent and entertaining.

Music is by the famed Max Steiner; though as critiqued by some scribes, it is possibly a little over-the-top for such a film.

This is a movie quite unlike any of the other seven movies in these volumes; and certainly a completely different characterisation for Humphrey Bogart. I found it highly enjoyable, and the real ?sleeper? of this particular package.

If you can cope with another snippet of trivia; the fellow in the white suit who supplies Dobbs with a couple of Pesos early on in the movie ? is none other than the film?s director ? John Huston (and son of Walter). Not only that, apparently he was hand picked by the author of ?Treasure? to play the role!

Duration: 121minutes (not 96 minutes as advertised in the brochure)

It?s a pity that the accompanying booklet in this volume has been printed incorrectly - unlike the Volume One booklet, but this is ?nit picking? I guess.

It is a nice run of Bogie movies (of the six movies made from 1946 to 1948, these would probably be the best), and with ?The Big Sleep? and ?Key Largo? we are looking at two of the greatest Bogie films ever. Though short on special features, as compared to Volume One, it still represents excellent value. Once again though, if you already have the single-disk studio versions of the two aforementioned films, you are not missing anything new in this package.

I certainly look forward to Volume Three of this series (if, indeed, there will be one to follow) for later movies such as - and I will make my ?top four? selections from more than a dozen subsequent movies up to 1956 - ?The Enforcer?, ?The African Queen?, ?The Caine Mutiny?, and ?We?re No Angels?(I?m cheating, of course ? I don?t have studio versions of these films).

THE EXTRAS

In general terms, the ?extras? on this package are a little disappointing, compared to Volume One?

The Big Sleep

Unfortunately, a theatrical trailer only

Dark Passage

? Hold Your Breath and Cross Your Fingers: The Story of ?Dark Passage?: a 10? -minute documentary that largely deals with Lauren Bacall?s early career in Hollywood - including an unfortunate stint between ?To Have and Have Not? and ?The Big Sleep? - when she was originally contracted by Howard Hawks, then ?sold off? by Hawks after ?To Have and Have Not? because she fell in love with Bogie - not him!

? ?Slick Hare?: a 7-odd minute ?Merrie Melodies? cartoon featuring a galaxy of stars including Bogie, and starring Bugs Bunny, of course! This cartoon is in a little better condition than that featured on Volume 1 of ?The Bogart Collection? that I reviewed separately.

? Theatrical trailer

Key Largo

Theatrical trailer only

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

? Full length audio commentary on the film by author Eric Lax

? ?Discovering Gold: The Story of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre?: a strangely organised 50-minute documentary that commences with the mystery about the author of the book (still a mystery!); followed by a short profile of John Huston, a writer who later became a major Hollywood director - and director of this film (and minor cast member playing alongside his father, Walter). There then follows a profile on Bogie?s early career up to ?The Maltese Falcon?; then back to the movie in question (after other regressions back to other movies in this package)! Once on track, a lengthy profile of the film begins - it is incredibly in-depth and most interesting - following the ideals one would expect from a ?making of? featurette typical of modern movies; except that this is quite superior to what is done now because of the genuine quality of the cast, crew and film.

? Interestingly, this featurette points out that ?Treasure? actually preceded ?Key Largo? in its theatrical release date, though it is packaged last in this volume.

? There are also single page cast and crew (too short) and Academy Awards pages, and a 2-odd minute theatrical trailer.

CONCLUSION

An interesting and enjoyable adjunct to Volume One; this package features Bogie as the frontline ?star? with Humphrey largely winning all the acting credits, though many of the support performers are superb! One only has to witness Lauren Bacall in the first three movies (maybe that?s why they?re out of order?); the precious Edward G Robinson in ?Key Largo?, and Walter Huston in ?Treasure?.

Like Volume One of ?The Bogart Collection?, it is well presented and features at least two movies that I?m sure anyone would enjoy. With the bonus of a couple of extra intriguing films and special features, it represents excellent value. Despite a couple of reservations listed within the review; this is a wonderful package, and an excellent introduction to and/or continuation of the ?Bogie? phenomenon ? highly recommended!