Blu-ray Review: ‘The Best of Bogart Collection’ Highlights Four Must-Owns

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There are handful of actors who will forever be ingrained in the canon of film history. John Wayne, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, James Dean, Gregory Peck, to name just a few. One of the most iconic actors of all time, Humphrey Bogart, gets his own four-movie Blu-ray collection this week. This is the kind of release that usually hits near Father’s Day. Get your shopping done early this year.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

There’s no company more adept at re-releasing already available product and making it seem fresh than Warner Bros. The four blu-rays included in “The Best of Bogart Collection” are literally just the four previously-available releases in a new case (and nowhere near as extensive career-wise as the DVD-only box set released for the legend a few years ago). They’re even stacked two on top of each other on each side. However, if you don’t own maybe 3, definitely if you don’t own all 4, of these great movies, this is now the best way to do so. And the set includes some neat collectibles at the same time. Pick your favorite. “Casablanca” and “The Maltese Falcon” are two of the best movies of all time while one has to be pretty hateful to come down on the many joys of “The African Queen” and “The Treasure of Sierra Madre”. The transfers are solid (although “Treasure” looks grittier than I remembered it being stand-alone) and the collection includes a remarkable array of special features when taken as a whole. There’s a reason we still watch Humphrey Bogart movies and likely will for decades to come. “The Humphrey Bogart Collection” proves why.

Best of Bogart Collection was released on Blu-ray on March 25, 2014
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

Special Features:

The Maltese Falcon:
o Commentary by Bogart Biographer Eric Lax
o Featurette The Maltese Falcon: One Magnificent Bird
o Breakdowns of 1941: Studio Blooper Reel
o Makeup Tests
o Becoming Attractions: The Trailers of Humphrey Bogart Warner Night at the Movies 1941 Short Subjects Gallery
o Audio-Only Bonus: 3 Radio Show Adaption’s

Casablanca:
o Commentary by Roger Ebert
o Commentary by Historian Rudy Behlmer
o Introduction by Lauren Bacall Additional Scenes & Outtakes
o Scoring Session Outtakes
o Bacall on Bogart
o You Must Remember This: A Tribute to Casablanca
o Featurette As Time Goes By: The Children Remember
o Production Research Gallery
o Homage Cartoon Carrotblanca
o Who Hold Tomorrow? : Premiere Episode From 1955 Warner Bros. Presents TV Series Adaptation of Casablanca Audio-Only Bonus: Radio Production with the Movie’s 3 Key Stars
o Theatrical Trailers

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
o Commentary by Bogart Biographer Eric Lax
o Discovering Treasure: The Story of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
o Documentary Profile John Huston
o Warner Night at the Movies 1948 Short Subjects Gallery: Leonard Maltin Introduction, Newsreel, 2 Classic Cartoons, Comedy Short, Theatrical Trailers.
o Audio-Only Bonus: Radio Show with the Movie’s Original Stars

The African Queen
o Embracing Chaos: Making The African Queen

By BRIAN TALLERICO Contributor HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com