Customer Reviews

Hammer Film Noir Collector's Set (Bad Blonde / Blackout / The Gambler and the Lady / Heat Wave / Man Bait / Stolen Face) [Import]

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Hammer Films may have been a so-called "discount" studio, but the quality and professionalism of their films would never show it. In fact, you can only describe this studio as the master of the B-movie, and by B-movie I do not mean low quality, but simply films that were not major studio releases and made with a limited budget. More often than not, I have found myself enjoying B-movies more than many films there were regarded as a major studio release. Historically, film noirs often were originally made as B-films, since film noirs largely came into being by directors and producers attempting to make the most of limited budgets.

This collection of film noirs from Hammer Films are terrific entertainment. There is not a bad movie in this collection if you enjoy the film noir genre. There is a certain quaint innocence to these films in that they give a sense that those who made them had a true love of film making. The writing and directing is superb and the acting so professional that the viewer becomes so engrossed in the films that the limited budgets are not noticeable.

The two films starring Dane Clark are lots of fun, and the movie Stolen Face, starring film noir icon Lizabeth Scott is a real unexpected bonus in this collection. Bad Blonde and Man Bait feature some great femme fatales along with fairly well known stars in George Brent, Diana Dors, and Barbara Payton.

My favourite film is this collection, however, is Heat Wave starring Alex Nicol and Hillary Brooke. An archetype film noir, it delivers all the elements of a film noir one comes to expect from such films. Hillary Brooke is great as the femme fatale, and the under rated Alex Nicol is in fine film noir form. It is also enjoyable to see Sidney James in a supporting role.