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Following on the success of their first Forbidden Hollywood
collection, Warner Bros. has now released a second volume.
And once again, they have released a set that chronicles
films that pushed the boundaries of what could be done on
the silver screen, in the pre-ratings days. The three-disc
set features five films - The Divorcee, A Free Soul, Three
on a Match, Female, and Night Nurse. Also included are some
modest bonus features. ***
The Divorcee leads off the collection. Starring Chester
Morris and Norma Shearer, the film follows a troubled married
couple. The husband has had a fling with another woman,
which he claims was meaningless. To counteract this and
see just how meaningless it was, she opts to have a tryst
with her husband's best friend. ***
The second entry in the set is A Free Soul. It stars
Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore, and Clark
Gable. This film follows a trial, in which a heavy-drinking
attorney must defend his daughter's former lover - he has
been accused of murdering a mobster, with whom the family
has some unfriendly ties. ***
Third in the set is, appropriately, Three on a Match.
Starring Joan Blondell, Bette Davis, and Ann Dvorak, the
movie follows three childhood friends who have just reunited
for the first time in years. Sharing a cigarette, they discuss
their lives - and the superstition that one of them may
soon die. Humphrey Bogart appears in a supporting role.
***
Female, the fourth film featured here, stars Ruth Chatterton
and George Brent. It follows the life of a hard-driving
woman who owns a successful car company, and isn't above
having affairs on a regular basis. But she begins to discover
her romantic side after deciding she is disgusted by individuals
only interested in her for her wealth and power. ***
Rounding out the collection is Night Nurses. Probably
the most anticipated film in the set, this one features
performances from Barbara Stanwyck, Ben Lyon, Joan Blondell,
and Clark Gable. This one follows a nurse in training, who
gives treatment to a wounded bootlegger, and later hired
to look after some children - and discovers that there is
a sinister plot in motion against her new patients. ***
Every film in this set is an absolute classic that,
in this day and age, pushed the boundaries aside and defied
the so-called standards of the era. These are masterpieces
from the golden age of the silver screen, and they belong
in the collection of any movie buff. ***
Warner seems to have learned from some of their mistakes
on the previous collection, as well. The earlier collection
featured that annoying overlapping packaging you've likely
seen in DVD box sets. Here, however, everything gets its
own individual section. Additionally, they have included
more films in this set than the first one, and, unlike the
first set, there appear to be no listing errors on the packaging.
I'm glad to see that Warner Bros. has learned from the issues
of the first collection - this one is an improvement in
nearly every way. ---
Image And Sound:
The audio and visual quality in the set is hit and miss.
However, you also have to take into consideration that the
set features films nearly 80 years old. The video quality
is, to say the least, as good as Warner could make it. Scratches
and grain appear throughout the presentations, but if nothing
else, they do look better than films from the same era released
by other studios onto the DVD format. Sound is the real
disappointment here. As these didn't come from an era in
which high-quality sound was the norm, they tend to suffer
in this department, often featuring the occasional background
hiss. Fortunately, despite the issues in both departments,
the films are still watchable and enjoyable.
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