Search - Great Mystery Movies (The Stranger / D.O.A. / Lady Of Burlesque) on DVD

WE GOT MUCH MORE THAN WE EXPECTED & GREEDILY WE WISH FOR MOR

Heather L. Parisi | St. Augustine, FL USA | 02/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"
IN A NUTSHELL: 3 GREAT CLASSIC FILM-NOIR MURDER MYSTERIES FOR THE PRICE OF 1!

-----*- "D.O.A." - In my opinion the quintessential film-noir!

-----*- "LADY OF BURLESQUE" - How did this film get past the censors? Nevertheless, an excellent film featuring a very young and steamy Barbara Stanwyck -- 63 years ago!

-----*- "THE STRANGER" - Pits Orson Welles and Edward G. Robinson against one another, with Loretta Young wedged right in the middle. The theme involves Young's conscience as the means of providing a resolution to both her ethical dilemma and the film's. Welles also Directed and was a Screenwriter for this film that was nominated for Best Original Story in 1946 by the Academy.

REVIEWS FOR THE 3 FILMS ON THE "GREAT MYSTERY MOVIES" DVD:

--*- WHAT "D.O.A." STARRING EDMOND O'BRIEN IS ALL ABOUT:

Rarely, at my age, does a 5-star drama get past me that has been out for 57 years. Well this one did. Seeing it for the first time last week was a rare, refreshing treat.

After reading many of the fine reviews here, I became intrigued with what was described by many reviewers as "a strange noise", "whistle", or "music", every time Frank Bigelow [Edmond O'Brien] saw an attractive woman. I watched it alone, with my spouse, and with my daughter, and we all found it rather unsettling when indeed the strange music, like whistling glissandos, followed Frank Bigelow's stare toward young females in San Francisco. We believe that the strange sound was to show the contrast between Bigelow's original demeanor of just another "typical" guy out for some capricious fun in San Francisco and the one we saw later in the movie. Once he knew he was a walking dead man, this "glissando effect" was abruptly absent to show his new outlook and his maniacal focus on discovering who in fact had killed him. That's right, "who HAD killed him". That is what the movie is about -- Frank Bigelow's investigation of his own murder.

WOW!

Once the happy-go-lucky scenes passed early in the film, the scenes became very intense and the movie's pace really booked! Sub-plots and new co-stars like Luther Adler and Neville Brand were introduced and given three-dimensional characterizations through action, which is something to see. Edmond O'Brien very believably depicted a man who became strengthened by his freedom of fear of death, which made him into an almost-irresistible force. He was certainly a far cry from the milquetoast accountant out to sow a few wild oats during a trip to San Francisco before getting married as which he began the film. All of this intrigue happened in only 83 minutes. I have watched D.O.A. five times in the last 4 days. The only modern film that compares is "Point Blank" with Lee Marvin from 1967.

PARTIAL LIST OF THE CAST OF "D.O.A."

Edmond O'Brien - Frank Bigelow
Pamela Britton - Paula Gibson
Luther Adler - Majak
Beverly Campbell - Miss Foster
Lynne Baggett - Mrs. Philips
William Ching - Holliday
Henry Hart - Stanley Philips
Neville Brand - Chester

CHIEF PRODUCTION CREW MEMBERS

Rudolph Mate - Director
Leo C. Popkin - Producer
Clarence Greene - Screenwriter / Screen Story
Russell Rouse - Screenwriter / Screen Story




--*- WHAT "LADY OF BURLESQUE" STARRING BARBARA STANWYCK IS ALL ABOUT:

This dark comedy-drama-mystery, Directed by, William Wellman was also known as "Striptease Lady" or "The G-String Murders", based on the book of that title by Gypsy Rose Lee. Producer, Hunt Stromberg, who purchased the rights for the film, was also the Producer of "The Thin Man" film series. The atmosphere of this film did have a resemblence to that series, but "LADY OF BURLESQUE" is much grittier and less class-conscious in every way possible. Nevertheless, the melding of backstage atmosphere and burlesque-vaudeville style, stage entertainment, gave the film an urgent immediacy, and a texture of surreal reality, which is hard to create, especially in the era of film censors. For those reasons, this film is rather special, and certainly worth a look. The bonus comes in the form of Barbara Stanwyck [Dixie Daisy] who plays the provocative headliner, and who comfortably goes through the film as scantily clad as a "James Bond Girl". Of course, the murder-mystery is set at the burlesque house itself, which works rather well, and eventually leads the police and Ms. Stanwyck to the killer.

PARTIAL LIST OF THE CAST OF THE "LADY OF BURLESQUE"

Barbara Stanwyck - Dixie Daisy
Michael O'Shea - Bitt Brannigan
J. Edward Bromberg - S.B. Foss
Iris Adrian - Gee Gee Graham
Marion Martin - Alice Angel
Gloria Dickson - Dolly Baxter
Pinky Lee - Mandy
Victoria Faust - Lolita La Verne
Stephanie Bachelor - Princess Nirvena



--*- WHAT "THE STRANGER" STARRING, ORSON WELLES IS ALL ABOUT:

Orson Welles plays a college professor, [Charles Rankin]. He lives and works in a rural Connecticut town and is about to be married to Mary (Loretta Young), a truly wonderful young woman who's dad just happens to be a U.S. Supreme Court judge.

Sometime after the war during a sunny afternoon, a shaky German named Meineke [Konstantin Shayne] arrives in town and soon turns up at Rankin's home where Mary is hanging drapes. Rankin, soons arrives and appears upset by Meineke's presence. Not wanting to speak to this "German" in front of Mary, Rankin summons the stranger for a walk in the woods. There we learn that professor Rankin is actually the infamous Nazi war criminal Franz Kindler. Conscience-stricken by his own criminal wartime activities, Meineke has come to Connecticut to plead with his former master, Kindler, who we know as Rankin, to do the right thing and turn himself in.

The professor, however, has not seen the light, and responds by brutally slaying his old comrade. However, their is a loose-end for Rankin [aka-Kindler]. Mr. Wilson, [Edward G. Robinson] a War crimes investigator that deliberately freed Meineke to lead him to Kindler [aka- Rankin] pays a visit to the whole town [it seems], posing as an antiques dealer. For the entire film, Wilson's investigation and Mary's conscience are closing in on Rankin [aka-Kindler] and eventually led to the films climax.

CAST OF "THE STRANGER"

Orson Welles - Franz Kindler/Prof. Charles Rankin
Edward G. Robinson - Wilson
Loretta Young - Mary Longstreet
Philip Merivale - Judge Longstreet
Martha Wentworth - Sara
Richard Long - Noah Longstreet
Byron Keith - Dr. Jeff Lawrence

1 MAJOR AWARD FOR "THE STRANGER" - BUT AN IMPRESSIVE ONE!

Best Original Story (nom) Victor Trivas/Orson Welles 1946 Academy


BOTTOM LINE: SURE, THE COPYRIGHTS EXPIRED, BUT THAT HAPPENS IN BUSINESS AND WHEN IT DOES WE THE CONSUMER SOMETIMES BENEFIT!

ABOUT THE DVD:

The only shortcoming was a small glitch in "D.O.A." which appears like a fast-flutter that stops after a second. It repeats about once every 6-8 minutes during that film for its entirety. That was the only glitch among the three films, but it occurs in film that I bought this DVD for!

"

Mystery Set

S. Sarwar | Leicester, United Kingdom | 10/24/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Just bought this as a time fill but was extremely impressed with the content. Good ol' black and white classic mystery flicks which even impressed me as a 19 year old movie going uni student! Get it!"

Good Old Movies

John Cunningham | Arcata, CA USA | 02/06/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"You can't go wrong with an older movie, these movies just seem to have higher standards. They didn't rely completely upon special effects to hold the attention of those who have no attention span."