Hollywood Tough Guys

Starring:Hollywood Tough Guys
Studio: Genius Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Description
4 movies on 2 DVDs. Over 6 hours running time. Digitally remastered and sound enhanced.

Disc 1
Beat The Devil (1953) starring Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones

Thunder In The City (1937) starring Edward G. Robinson and Luli Deste

Product Description

Hollywood Tough Guys Swing Into Action! Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, George Raft and John Garfield Exciting escapades of Hollywood's infamous good guys/bad guys offer devoted fans thrills galore. It's all here: movies jam-packed with adventure, deception, intrigue, drama and occasionally a bit of satirical humor. Disc 1 BEAT THE DEVIL (1953) - This sophisticated and whimsical parody, written by Truman Capote and director John Huston, involves roguish travelers (Humphrey Bogart, Gina Lollobrigida, Peter Lorre, Robert Morley, and Jennifer Jones) on a steamboat, each hoping to carry off a huge swindle in the uranium fields of Northern Africa. THUNDER IN THE CITY (1937) - A failed American publicist (Edward G. Robinson) retreats to England to learn more about business and becomes embroiled in a crooked scheme while competing with an Englishman (Ralph Richardson) for a woman (Luli Deste). Disc 2 OUTPOST IN MOROCCO (1949) - A Foreign Legionnaire (George Raft) romances an emir's daughter (Marie Windsor) in order to learn more about the enemies' plans. THEY MADE ME A CRIMINAL (1939) - While hiding out on an Arizona farm, a hard-drinking boxer suspected of murder (John Garfield) befriends the juvenile delinquents (the Dead End Kids) working there. Unfortunately, a persistent detective (Claude Rains) closes in on him.

Average customer rating:

Very Good Film Deal...
Great quality for a budget DVD!

Hollywood Tough Guys
Starring: Hollywood Tough Guys
Manufacturer: Genius Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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AMC Movies: Hollywood Divas
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Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 3 (Border Incident / His Kind of Woman / Lady in the Lake / On Dangerous Ground / The Racket)
Warner Bros. Pictures Tough Guys Collection (Bullets or Ballots / City for Conquest / Each Dawn I Die / G Men / San Quentin / A Slight Case of Murder)

ASIN: B0001OXPQQ
Release Date: 2004-04-13

Description

4 movies on 2 DVDs. Over 6 hours running time. Digitally remastered and sound enhanced.

Disc 1
Beat The Devil (1953) starring Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones

Thunder In The City (1937) starring Edward G. Robinson and Luli Deste

Disc 2
Outpost In Morocco (1949) starring George Raft and Marie Windsor They Made Me A Criminal (1939) strring John Garfield and Claude Rains

Customer Reviews:

Very Good Film Deal..........2005-11-19

This is a very good deal, especially for fans of Bogart. You get 4 films, 2 that are average and 2 that are gems, which I'll rate individually below:

Beat The Devil is one of the gems starring Humphrey Bogart which is a satire of The Maltese Falcon, directed by the same man, John Huston. This is the absolute best DVD transfer of this movie that I have seen. It is clear, crisp, with great sound and just a great film to watch. This excellent transfer alone makes this 4 movie set.
Also, being a Bogart fan doesn't hurt matters. Watch for Peter Lorre as well.
Transfer: Excellent. Movie: Very Good

Thunder In The City is the second gem here, starring Edward G. Robinson playing a fast talking salesman. He leaves his job and heads to England to learn "dignity" in business dealings. This was a very good movie that I enjoyed a great deal. Robinson was fantastic and I would recommend this 1937 film to anyone that enjoys a good storyline and better acting. The only downside of this film was the transfer, while not bad, it wasn't great either. Somewhere in between is what I would say, but it was very watchable and not too badly washed out at all. I'm guessing that this is the best print that they had to work with, given that the other 3 movies had very good transfers. Also, I have not seen an individual DVD out of this movie, so this is the best you're going to get. All in all, the film itself makes you forget the okay transfer.
Transfer: Okay Movie: Very Good.

The third film here is Outpost In Morocco starring George Raft in a poor man's Bogart role. He plays a "playboy legionnaire" as is described on the back of the DVD, and he's ordered to escort the daughter of a Moroccan emir back to her palace. He discovers a planned attack on the French and has to make a decision between her and France. It's an interesting plotline that just doesn't come off. Raft looks bored and his acting is very wooden in this role. He hardly comes off as a ladies man, which is what he is supposed to be, and even less French. He might as well have been playing a Russian or an Australian comapared to anything French.
This wasn't a bad movie, just very mediocre. There are some nice location shots here and the transfer in fact, is very good.
Transfer: Very Good Movie:Okay.

The fourth and final movie on this set is They Made Me A Criminal starring John Garfield. It's about a not so bright boxer on the run after he is suspected of murdering a reporter in his hotel room, while in a drunken haze. He runs to Arizona and meets up with some teens and a farm owner and her daughter. The teens were a bunch of actors known as the Dead End Kids and are so irritating, I had to skip every scene they were in. Just ruined it for me, even though they were part of the story. Claude Rains is completely miscast as the detective who goes after him and one has to wonder what he even saw in this role. What makes this movie, even though it wasn't that great, are the boxing scenes. They are directed very well and Garfield certainly convinces you of his role in these scenes.
The transfer was excellent.
Transfer: Excellent. Movie: Okay.

All in all, there are two gems and two okay movies here. There are no bad movies here and I would certainly recommend this.

Great quality for a budget DVD!.......2004-06-01

I think they used fully restored prints in this issue. No hiss in the sountrack & no dirt or scratches in the films as I've seen with other budget DVD labels.

Sound? Crisp & clear.
Picture? Sharp as a tack!

I'm amazed at the quality of this DVD & wish other budget DVD companies were on the same level as this one.

2 of the movies I've seen before on fuzzy budget label EP speed VHS tapes. Beat The Devil (Madacy) & They Made Me A Criminal (Diamond Entertainment) but on this DVD they looked great.

Product Description

3 DISC BOX SET...6 MOVIES...BEAT THE DEVIL...THUNDER IN THE CITY...THEY MADE ME A CRIMINAL...OUTPOST IN MOROCCO...GREAT GUY...SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT....

Average customer rating:

Hollywood Tough Guys, Vol. 2

Manufacturer: Genius Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

( H ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

4-for-3 Action & Adventure | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video
ASIN: B0006FO97Y
Release Date: 2004-01-01

Average customer rating:

Hollywood Tough Guys, Vol. 1

Manufacturer: Genius Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

( H ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

4-for-3 Action & Adventure | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video
ASIN: B0006FO97E
Release Date: 2004-01-01

Average customer rating:

Hollywood Tough Guys, Vol. 2

Manufacturer: Genius Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

( H ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

4-for-3 Action & Adventure | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video
ASIN: B0006HBZVU
Release Date: 2004-01-01

Average customer rating:

Hollywood Tough Guys

Manufacturer: Genius Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

( H ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video
ASIN: B0006GQMUU
Release Date: 2004-01-01

Average customer rating:

Hollywood Tough Guys, Vol. 1

Manufacturer: Genius Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

( H ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video
ASIN: B0006HBZV0
Release Date: 2004-01-01

Average customer rating:

Horrible quality
You're very wise to get out of it, escape, while you can.
A terrible example of DVD technology.
What a shame and a waste. . .
More Madacy trash...

Hollywood Tough Guys
Starring: James Cagney , Sylvia Sidney , Porter Hall , John Emery , and Robert Armstrong
Director: Frank Lloyd , Chester Erskine , and Delmer Daves
Manufacturer: Madacy Records
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: 6305248028
Release Date: 1998-12-22

Customer Reviews:

Horrible quality.......2006-01-16

I can't compare this to any other versions, or to a different, longer, and better "cut" as mentioned in other reviews of other editions, but I'll say this -- the sound quality is positively abysmal. Left channel sound comes and goes as it pleases, and actors' voices are so muddy it's difficult to understand plain English. I haven't watched it long enough to find any of the video flaws that others mention, and the way it's going, I may not need to.

Fortunately I didn't waste any money on this. Got it from the library.

Move along folks, move along. Nothing to see here.

You're very wise to get out of it, escape, while you can........2004-09-25

What happened in this film? I couldn't tell you. One of the major downfalls of these films were the lack of quality that was used to transfer this film to DVD. I felt at times that I was watching a very old VHS version of these films. There is even a moment where you get squiggle lines at the top of the screen as if you are watching this film on a rackety VHS player. The fade in's and fade out's were horribly miscalculated. I am always a believer that you should let your character finish his/her line or action before you go to a fade, that way you don't have audience members straining to hear or to catch a final glimpse of what is happening. I am trying really hard to watch some of these older films. They are the backbone to modern cinema ... but can't they be any better. I am still waiting for me to discover that gem. I think that is my mission now. I want to see an older film that is virtually unheard of, but is movie making at its best. Beat the Devil gets one star, while Call it Murder also gets one. That is why this entire pack gets two stars. Addition. Blach! Watch out for these ... they're doozies!!

Grade: ** out of *****

A terrible example of DVD technology........2001-11-01

The manufacturer of this DVD did not make any effort to digitally re-master the source material. Imagine an old vacuum-tube TV set with just a piece of aluminum foil for an antenna, then try to imagine viewing this movie via on-air broadcast from a TV station 100 miles away. Can you immagine that? Good! You'd have better picture quality in that scenario than you have from this DVD. Sound on "Call It Murder" is delayed by a second or so, making you wonder just who in the picture is doing the talking. Add to that the loud background hiss coming from your speakers the whole time. This DVD is trash. Even if you were given this DVD for free, you'd want to throw it away. Don't waste your money!

What a shame and a waste. . ........2001-01-04

As valuable as many of our "heritage films" have proven themselves to be, it's a real crime to allow a second (or in this case, THIRD) rate video producer to get their hands on them.

Both "Midnight" (later released as "Call it Murder") and "Beat the Devil" as decent films in their own right, but this compilation DVD just needs to be burned, or at least banned. Compilations like this one are just another reason our appreciation of older films is in decay. I wouldn't drive a 58 Corvette if it were in this condition, I'm certainly not going to recommend such poor quality DVD reproductions of great movies.

The video is aweful. The audio lags. Practically no special features.

I STRONGLY URGE YOU NOT TO BUY THIS DVD OR ANY BY THE SAME COMPANY-

More Madacy trash..........2000-03-03

Madacy has done it again...taken what could have been decent DVD's and turned them into trash. The video transfer from film is very poor, but the worst is the audio. Madacy has a history of producing low-cost low-quality legacy DVD's, just look at other reviews of Madacy titles (check out Charlie Chaplin DVD's).

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