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This Humphrey Bogart collection contains four top-notch examples of the Bogie mystique. Two of the films star Lauren Bacall, and act as bookends; being both the first and last of the films they made together. Michael Curtiz was responsible for the beloved "Casablanca." This glossy noir is a great film, and it nearly always ranks high when lists are compiled of classic films by critics. While there are better examples of noir on film, "Casablanca" has a mix of romance and doomed love that is hard to beat. Ingrid Bergman, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre are memorable, and the last lines of the film are some of the most famous ever spoken.

John Huston directed two of the films in this collection. The first was Dashiell Hammett's classic novel, "The Maltese Falcon." It is a fine literate translation of Hammett's detective story, with Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre all lusting after one thing, except perhaps for Astor, who may be after more. Bogart stays cool amidst this tale of moral ambiguity and greed, but Huston and Bogart let you know it's all an act when he shows Sam Spade's hands shaking. It is perhaps a little too literate at times, as the viewer feels a distance from what's going on up on the screen, but nonetheless, it's an excellent film. Huston's other film included here, "Key Largo," is also something special.

John Huston crafted this very fine film with the underlying theme of isolation from a play by Maxwell Anderson. The backdrop of a gangster taking over a hotel in the Florida Keys is filled with inner emotional depth rather than a lot of action, making this the most mature and realistic of romances Bogart and Bacall would have on screen.

Major Frank McCloud (Bogart) shows up at the Largo hotel in the Keys to see his war buddy's father and widow to give them some news about how George died a hero. McCloud himself is disillusioned from trying to save the world and has been drifting since the war in both a personal and literal sense.

Nora (Bacall) had been drifting before she met George and begins to feel this same connection to Frank as they talk about their lives since the war. There is a maturity here as Huston shows a deeper aspect to caring about someone instead of the fireworks of physical attraction. The themes of loneliness and isolation run through every aspect of this film.

Frank once again must decide whether to save the world when the Largo is taken over by fallen gangster Johnny Rocco (Robinson). Rocco was once big and despite his deportation back to Cuba by the United States government as an undesirable, plans to be big again. Frank had gone to war as an idealist, hoping to rid the world of gangsters like Rocco but now views it as a lost cause.

But as Nora keeps telling Frank, your head may say one thing but your whole life says another. As the tension of being held hostage as a hurricane approaches the sweltering Keys builds, Frank slowly begins to go with his whole life rather than his head, breaking his own personal isolation from the fight he gave up. The turning point comes when Rocco humiliates his former girlfriend Gay Dawn by making her sing for a drink and then refuses to give her one when she comes across.

Claire Trevor gives a great performance as a girl much like Nora who got hooked up with the wrong guy and became a lush. She will have her own turning point when she slips Frank a gun before he takes Rocco and his pals back to Cuba. Lionel Barrymore gives a good performance also as George's disabled father, holding on to his son's memory and his beliefs.

A great score by Max Steiner complements the lonely mood of this film perfectly. Bacall is terrific as she waits for Frank to return against the odds, so she can open up the shutters of her loneliness and let the light in once more. This is a somber and mature film that deserves to be viewed more than once. Bogart and Bacall fans will love this film but find more here than just Bogie and Bacall. A minor masterpiece and one you need to own.

Finally, we have a film by the great Howard Hawks. Never given the credit he deserves for the many film masterpieces for which he was responsible, Hawks' "The Big Sleep" is one of the most unique adaptations of a detective novel ever brought to the screen.

Director Howard Hawks turned Raymond Chandler's most popular story into an absolutely mesmerizing celluloid masterpiece. Raymond Chandler's complex novel was adapted for the screen by William Faulkner. We may never know for sure who committed one of the murders in this blurry crime noir, but like all Hawks' films, it is so incredibly entertaining we really don't care. It is full of sharp dialog and dreamy images much like the aftereffects of a drinking binge.

The story itself moves at a terrific clip, and there is so much going on you might get lost if you blink. Humphry Bogart is Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, and from the moment he arrives to talk to General Sternwood and gets mixed up with his daughters this is a film classic. One would think with a young and sultry Bacall getting tangled up with Bogart in their first film together, they would be everything in this film; they are not, however, as Martha Vickers gives a performance that has you thinking about her in every scene, even when she isn't present. She steals every scene she is in and is one of the most memorable dolls in noir history.

Bacall portrays the General's sultry older daughter, Vivian, but it is the sexy and thumb sucking younger daughter Carmen (Martha Vickers) whom Marlowe meets first. She leaves an immediate impression on both the viewer and Marlowe: as he tells the General: "Yeah, we met. She tried to sit in my lap and I was standing up." The very sick Sternwood wants Marlowe to look into a little matter involving blackmail and his daughters.

As Marlowe follows the trail of gambling debts, he finds one body after another and tries to extricate the daughters from the mess. Marlowe and Vivian have a spark that gives him incentive to get the job done, but he may not be able to head off the rollercoaster headed for the little kitten Carmen, who may turn out to have some very large claws. Dorothy Malone has a brief but sexy role as a clerk who shares more than a drink with Marlowe.

Hawks filmed this as moody dream of dialog and images hard to forget. Bogart's Marlowe has his hands full trying to keep Carmen out of trouble. The sparks that begin to fly between he and Carmen's big sister, Vivian, is complicated by her involvement with some of the players for the other team. Trying to find a way to keep the fast rising body count from getting any higher, while keeping Vivian and the little nympho Carmen in the clear, will take some dangerous turns for Marlowe.

Bacall has never been more beautiful or inviting than when she is slumped down in the seat of Bogart's car, just waiting for him to kiss her. You have to see this film to really appreciate it. No description could ever do it justice. You'll never see anything else like it in American cinema. A true noir classic, and one of Howard Hawks' masterpieces. A must see film for noir fans.

Humphrey Bogart was the perfect anti-hero, and shines in various ways in the films included here. This is a nice boxed set of legendary films beloved by all Bogart fans. A good pick for classic film buffs looking for a big dose of noir and Bogart.

I am very happy with this box set I found at Amazon. I had looked at similar offerings on Ebay and in local video stores. Amazon had the best collection and the best price. Just finished watching The Maltese Falcon. It must have been a Bogart fan who first said they don't make movies like that anymore. I don't pretend to be much of a film critic but when a movie that old can keep you glued to the screen start to finish, even though you may have seen it years ago, that's saying something. Bogart has a style that cannot be duplicated. And the directing of John Huston is just fabulous. Movies like this are a pure joy to watch. It may be cliche but if there is only one box set in your posession, this should be the one.

Humphrey Bogart has been dead for decades, but his image as an acerbic tough-guy lives on. And this four-pack brings together his four most famous -- and arguably best quality -- films. Whether he was in a wartime romance or a tense thriller, Bogart brought a gritty, edgy vibe to whatever he was acting in.

"The Maltese Falcon" opens with a sexy damsel (Mary Astor) hiring Sam Spade (Bogart) and his partner to find her sister. But there's no sister, and soon the partner is murdered. The nihilistic Spade sets out on a search for the killer, and soon finds himself searching for "the item," a gem-encrusted falcon statue. On his trail is a femme fatale of dubious identity, a chubby gangster, and an effeminite thug.

"The Big Sleep" only cemented his reputation as an outlaw P.I., and does it with letter-perfection. P.I. Philip Marlowe (Bogart) is hired by a wealthy old man to deal with his family's problems -- including blackmail, disappearances, and murder. The plot thickens even further when Marlowe starts to fall for the old man's sultry daughter (Lauren Bacall).

But it is romance classic "Casablanca" that Bogart is best known for. The desert city of Casablanca is being occupied by the Nazis, and the one person who doesn't seem to care is jaded club owner Rick (Bogart). But that changes when a beautiful woman (Ingrid Bergman) and her Resistance husband arrive, and Rick holds the key to whether they can get out of Casablanca.

"Key Largo" reunited Bogart onscreen with his real-life wife Lauren Bacall. Frank (Bogart) arrives at a seedy old hotel, run by crippled James Temple (Lionel Barrymore), and Temple's daughter-in-law (Bacall). It's also the HQ for a local gangster. At first Frank doesn't care, but he soon realizes that it's time to clean out the place...

To this day, people remember Humphrey Bogart best for playing jaded, witty, abrasive anti-heroes. It wasn't the only kind of role he played, but it was certainly the role in which he excelled; he slung off barbs and morally dubious decisions by the dozen. Even better, he could take a "stock" character and give him little nuances.

Bogart's brusque style also worked well with his costars; he had excellent chemistry with Astor, Bergman, and the girl in the used bookstore. However, his best acting by far was undoubtedly opposite Bacall. Most real-life couples use up their electricity offstage, but Bacall and Bogart's strong-willed chemistry really lights up the films they starred in together.

Femme fatales, Nazi invaders, seedy "gunsels" and mysterious murders litter the best films of Humphrey Bogart. These four show him at his best, and deserve their classic status.