The Warner Archive Collection has packaged They Drive By Night, Passage to Marseille, Conflict, and Chain Lightning together in the Humphrey Bogart 4-Film Collection. All of the packaged films have previously been released on Blu-ray.

Warner Archive has been rather busy releasing Blu-ray collections with some of the stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Other collections include Errol Flynn, Gene Kelly, James Cagney, Greta Garbo, Gary Cooper, Elizabeth Taylor, Clark Gable, Doris Day, James Stewart, Robert Taylor, Spencer Tracy, Fred Astaire, and Tennessee Williams. Many of the included films have been previously released on Blu-ray, but it’s nice to have them all together in one set.

I haven’t seen one of the four films, but it goes without saying that the Humphrey Bogart 4-Film Collection is a must-own collection for any fan of the actor.

They Drive By Night

Synopsis

After ten years of the Great Depression, scrappy Joe and Paul Fabrini (Raft and Bogart) are still–just barely–in business. Paul dreams of spending more time with his wife, and Joe has his eye on waitress Cassie Hartley (Ann Sheridan). Then Paul loses an arm in an accident and can no longer drive. But when Lana Carlson (Ida Lupino), the wife of the Fabrini’s main rival, falls in love with Joe, she murders her husband and offers an interest in the company to the Fabrini brothers. Joe refuses to marry her, however, and Lana accuses Joe of her husband’s murder in this hard-edged, classic drama directed by Raoul Walsh.

Bonus Features

• Lux Radio Theater Broadcast with George Raft and Lana Turner (6/2/41)
• Featurette: Divided Highway-The Story of They Drive By Night
• Classic WB Short Swingtime in the Movies
• Original Theatrical Trailer

DIRECTOR: Raoul Walsh
SCREENWRITERS: Jerry Wald and Richard Macaulay
CAST: George Raft, Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino, Humphrey Bogart, with Gale Page, Alan Hale, Roscoe Karns, John Litel, George Tobias

Passage to Marseille

Synopsis

Humphrey Bogart reunites with director Michael Curtiz and other key Casablanca personnel (including costars Claude Rains, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet) for a tension-swept Passage to Marseille. Bogart plays Jean Matrac, a World War II French patriot who escapes Devil’s Island, survives a dangerous freighter voyage and becomes a gunner in the Free French Air Corps. Passage sailed into theaters on stormy seas. Controversy surrounded the scene in which Matrac machine-guns the helpless survivors of a downed plane that attacked the freighter. That a soldier of freedom would act ignobly brought protests from religious and censorship groups. But, like Matrac facing a strafing dive-bomber, the studio held its ground. War could even dehumanize a hero. Domestic prints remained uncut.

Bonus Features

• Warner Night at the Movies
  • Uncertain Glory Theatrical Trailer
  • Newsreel
  • I Won’t Play
  • Jammin’ the Blues
  • The Weakly Reporter
• The Free French: Unsung Victors
• Breakdowns
• Theatrical Trailer

DIRECTOR: Michael Curtiz
SCREENWRITERS: Casey Robinson and Jack Moffitt
CAST: Humphrey Bogart, with Claude Rains, Michèle Morgan, Philip Dorn, Sydney Greenstreet, Helmut Dantine, Peter Lorre, George Tobias

Conflict

Synopsis

Conflict is a love triangle with murder at its heart, an atmospheric film noir of rainy nights, looming shadows, fatal romance and a trench-coated killer that walks out of the mist — all directed by Curtis Bernhardt, a filmmaker skilled in the Expressionistic style of his native Germany. The story embraces the perfect noir topic: the almost-perfect crime. Humphrey Bogart portrays Richard Mason, married to nagging Katherine but in love with her sunny sister. Shortly after a fifth-year wedding celebration at the home of a friend, Richard decides to remove the obstacle to his happiness. He kills Katherine, carefully leaving no evidence of his guilt. Or at least he thinks he killed her- until mysterious events cause Richard to fear Katherine is very much alive!

Bonus Features

• Classic 1945 WB Cartoons:
  • Life with Feathers (HD)
  • Trap Happy Porky (HD)
• WB 1945 Shorts:
  • Peeks at Hollywood (HD)
  • Are Animals Actors? (HD)
• Audio-only Conflict radio broadcast (9/11/1945) starring Humphrey Bogart
• Original Theatrical Trailer

DIRECTOR: Curtis Bernhardt
SCREENWRITERS: Arthur T. Horman and Dwight Taylor
CAST: Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith, Sydney Greenstreet, with Rose Hobart, Charles Drake, Grant Mitchell, Pat O’Moore, Ann Shoemaker

Chain Lightning

Synopsis

Matt Brennan knows how to open eyes to the potential of the experimental jet, the JA-3. He’ll pilot it from Nome over the North Pole to Washington DC and land it on the Pentagon’s lap. The distance is beyond the JA-3’s tested range. Nor can the craft provide the pressurization needed for flight at 80,000 feet. But Brennan has some modifications in mind. And the courage to put them to the test. Humphrey Bogart plays Brennan in Chain Lightning‘s lofty mix of adventure and romance. Eleanor Parker, as a World War II flame who reenters Brennan’s life, helps fuel the romance. And the adventure takes wing with a story that, like Breaking the Sound Barrier, The McConnell Story and other postwar films, taps into the era’s fascination with jet aviation. Cleared for takeoff.

Bonus Features

• Looney Tunes Short: Bear Feat
• Joe McDoakes Short: So You Want to Be an Actor
• Theatrical Trailer

DIRECTOR: Stuart Heisler
SCREENWRITERS: Liam O’Brien and Vincent Evans
CAST: Humphrey Bogart, Eleanor Parker, with Raymond Massey, Richard Whorf

The Humphrey Bogart 4-Film Collection is available on Blu-ray.

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