Bogie & Bacall: The Signature Collection (1945-1948) [Repost]

They met on the WB lot. The year was 1944. "I just saw your screen test," Bogart said to Bacall. "I think we're going to have a lot of fun together." And so it began…
Listed as the Greatest Male Star of All Time and one the Greatest Female Legends by the American Film Institute, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall star in the all new Bogie & Bacall: The Signature Collection. This giftset includes all four films that starred one of classic Hollywood's noted couples.

These cinematic masterpieces owe their appeal to the real-life romance of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, whose innuendos send the films into overdrive. Bogart and Bacall have each achieved iconic status in their own right; but, the mention of one floods the mind with thoughts of the other. Together they formed a solid union, both privately and professionally. This collection is a neatly wrapped box of memories, and while the subject matter skips along the border of shadows, it's the appeal of these two main stars that cast an unforgettable light.

Help the Free French? Not world-weary gunrunner Harry Morgan (Humphrey Bogart). But he changes his mind when a sultry siren-in-distress named Marie asks, "Anybody got a match?" That red-hot match is Bogart and 19-year-old first-time film actress Lauren Bacall.



Full of intrigue and racy banter (including Bacall's legendary whistling instructions), this thriller excites further interest for what it has and has not. Cannily directed by Howard Hawks and smartly written by William Faulkner and Jules Furthman, it doesn't have much similarity to the Ernest Hemingway novel that inspired it. And it strongly resembles Casablanca: French resistance fighters, a piano-playing bluesman (Hoagy Carmichael) and a Martinique bar much like Rick's Cafe Americain. But first and foremost, it showcases Bogart and Bacall, carrying on with a passion that smolders from the tips of their cigarettes clear through to their souls.

BONUS FEATURES:
* Making-of Featurette A Love Story: The Story of To Have and To Have Not
* Classic Cartoon Bacall to Arms
* Lux Radio Theatre production starring Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall
* Theatrical Trailer

L.A. private eye Phillip Marlowe takes on a blackmail case…and a trail peopled with murderers, pornographers, nightclub rogues, the spoiled rich and more. But Raymond Chandler's legendary gumshoe solves it in hard-boiled style - and style is what The Big Sleep is all about. Director Howard Hawks serves up snappy character encounters (particularly those of Bogart and Lauren Bacall), brisk pace and atmosphere galore.

Note! Includes both the 114 minute 1946 theatrical-release version (Side A) and the 116 minute 1944 pre-release version (Side B) containing 18 minutes which were either reshot or deleted from the theatrical release

BONUS FEATURES:
* Documentary: The Big Sleep Comparisons 1945/1946 with UCLA archivist Robert Gitt analyzing differences between versions.
* Theatrical Trailer

Bogie's on the lam and Bacall's at his side in Dark Passage, Delmer Daves' stylish film-noir thriller that's the third of four films Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall made together. Bogart is Vincent Parry, a prison escapee framed for murder who emerges from plastic surgery with a new face. Bacall is Irene Jansen, Vincent's lone ally.



In a supporting role, Agnes Moorehead portrays Madge, a venomous harpy who finds pleasure in the unhappiness of others. The chemistry of the leads is undeniable, and they augment it here with exceptional tenderness. Exceptional, too, are the atmospheric San Francisco locations and the imaginative camera work that shows Vincent's point of view - but not his face - until the bandages are removed. Lest Irene get ideas, the post-surgery Vincent tells her: "Don't change yours. I like it just as it is." So do we.

BONUS FEATURES:
* New Making-Of Featurette: Hold Your Breath and Cross Your Fingers: The Story of Dark Passage
* Classic Bugs Bunny Cartoon: Slick Hare
* Theatrical Trailer

A hurricane swells outside, but it's nothing compared to the storm within the hotel at Key Largo. There, sadistic mobster Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson) holes up - and holds at gunpoint hotel owner Nora Temple (Lauren Bacall), her invalid father-in-law (Lionel Barrymore) and ex-GI Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart).



McCloud's the one man capable of standing up against the belligerent Rocco. But the postwar world's realities may have taken all the fight out of him. John Huston co-wrote and compellingly directs this film of Maxwell Anderson's 1939 play with a searing performance by Claire Trevor as Rocco's gold-hearted, boozy moll. In Huston's hands, it becomes a powerful, sweltering classic.

BONUS FEATURE:
* Theatrical Trailer

A set like this is more than a collective of films; it's a tribute to one of the most influential duos of all time. Bogie and Bacall mix it up on the home front and take us abroad in a never-ending wave of magnificence. These are merely four pieces of a lasting impression. Bogie and Bacall's individual films are bricks in the foundation of Hollywood, and together they provide the cement that holds classic cinema in place.