Columbia Noir #2 (Limited Edition) [Blu-ray] [2020]

£50 may seem too expensive, but let me assure you this Box Set from Indicator is excellent Value for Money. SIX very good varied films with a "Noir" theme. All excellent quality, 16.9 ratio, with crisp clear B/W picture, good sound and subtitles courtesy POWERHOUSE. Each film comes in an individual strong cardboard case and they all contain a "Three Stooges" film (I can't take to them, but millions do, and they, too are excellent quality. Loads of other extras, all listed here. The booklet enclosed is also one of the best of it's kind - full of info, cast lists/credits and photos. The films-TIGHT SPOT terrific clautrophic thriller with full on performence from Ginger Rogers (was he right for the part? Discuss), Brian Keith and EGR offer the usual strong support. Great fun...THE MOB possibly my favourite with a full on perf. from Broderick Crawford, an air of real mystery and Charles Buchinsky in a very minor unbilled role, and of course that great double act of Borgnine and Brand. A good solid thriller.....FRAMED Glenn Ford and the delectable Janis Carter in another mystery thriller. Who is framing who? Good but not my favourite.....711 OCEAN DRIVE Edmond O'Brien and lovely Joanne Dru (who doesn't appear for far too long) in a racketeering mobster thriller with a terrific climax at the Boulder Dam (worth seeing just for that sequence)....AFFAIR IN TRINIDAD Rita Hayworth in her prime with Glenn Ford. No need to say anymore. A great film.....MURDER BY CONTRACT Vince Edwards the most recent of the bunch. Many regard this a a minor classic, and it is different and good, but it's not a film I would choose to see again, but I admit to probably being in a minority. If you like "B" plus films of the noir genre this is a must. A great package. (I may wait a while to check out the other Columbia packages, and make sure they contain films I want to see. They will I am sure.)

This is a brilliant box set release, i bought this for the first time release of one of my favourite b&w films 'The Mob', i had also seen a you tube version of Murder by Contract but as usual the new releases really blow anything else away, the extra's are phenomenal, i'm not really one for listening to noir historian's rave about films because its only 1 persons opinion, but i really love all the 3 stooges films on this collection, i shall be looking to watch more of them now, lots and lots of interviews on the extra's including the always welcome Martin Scorsese, theres even a piece about evidence gathered against Bugsy in his trials. I've not even scratched the surface yet but i'm loving it. definitely a 5 star release.

Yet another superb collection of Film Noir from Columbia. All of the transfers are great and the extras are well worth watching. 'FRAMED', 'THE MOB' and Martin Scorsese's favourite 'MURDER BY CONTRACT' are the best films in the set, especially the last two. The rest aren't really of the same caliber but are worth watching nonetheless. What's not to like?

Good, well made movies that entertain

Another fine box set of noirs from the Columbia archives, though I tend to think of some as more crime thrillers or mysteries but a small matter. The weakest in the collection are “711 Ocean Drive” and “Tight Spot”, the first being a “by numbers” telling of ambitious Edmond O’Brien’s rise and fall in the illegal gambling racket, while the second – of Brian Keith’s protection of key murder witness Ginger Rogers – is based upon a stage play and is just a little too stagey! The rest of the collection are real winners. Broderick Crawford is at his grittiest in the gritty “The Mob” in which he works undercover tracking down the boss of the New York waterfront mobsters, while well-educated Vince Edwards strives to financially improve himself as a hitman in a film that is more independent production than studio made. Finally, two films starring Glenn Ford: “Framed” has a genuine femme fatale in Janis Carter whose motives in helping Ford are to her, Barry Sullivan’s, advantage, and “Affair In Trinidad” reunites him with “Gilda” star Rita Hayworth, a top rate thriller comprising dark settings and very suspicious characters. Besides being one of 1952’s top box smashes, it also afforded Ford with one of his best performances. There’s a stack of Special Features, some rather tenuously related to its main feature, and the Three Stooges shorts will delight those who find the slapstick trio funny. Plus a 120-page book which makes very interesting and informative reading. But it’s the movies that count and all are beautifully restored in stark black and white. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the arrival of Columbia Noir #3, promising more of the same!

nothing to dislike.PRIME is amazing.