Although the previous two compilations in the Film Noir Classic Collection series effectively mined most of the best noirs from Warner Home Video's extensive library, this third volume still sports some nifty entries. In Lady in the Lake (1946), a fascinating if not altogether successful experiment, director and star Robert Montgomery attempts to replicate the effect of Raymond Chandler's first-person whodunit by substituting the camera for the eyes of private detective Philip Marlowe, who is heard but seldom seen (and then only in mirrors) during the search for a missing wife believed to have been murdered. Less audacious but equally enjoyable is The Racket (1951), which stars Robert Mitchum as a hardboiled incorruptible cop and Robert Ryan as the suave gangster he's sworn to apprehend. Mitchum also stars in another 1951 favorite, director John Farrow's generally underrated thriller His Kind of Woman, playing a fall guy who goes to Mexico for a big payoff from crooked big-shot Raymond Burr (the great supporting cast includes Jane Russell, Vincent Price, and erstwhile cowboy star Tim Holt). On Dangerous Ground, a 1952 melodrama directed by cult favorite Nicholas Ray, offers Robert Ryan a chance to play a tough cop, but his performance is upstaged by that of leading lady Ida Lupino, superb as a blind woman whose brother is the object of a manhunt. Even the weakest film in this box, Anthony Mann's Border Incident (1949), is not without interest—in fact, it remains topical today, with Ricardo Montalban and George Murphy as Mexican and American law enforcement officials, respectively, paired to investigate the exploitation of illegal farm workers. All five movies feature audio commentaries by film scholars, and the set includes a bonus disc with a new hour-long documentary on film noir, and five “Crime Does Not Pay” shorts. Recommended. (E. Hulse)
Film Noir Classic Collection: Vol. 3
Warner, 6 discs, 557 min., not rated, DVD: $49.95 October 16, 2006
Film Noir Classic Collection: Vol. 3
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