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Warner Gangsters Collection, Vol. 1 (The Public Enemy / White Heat / Angels with Dirty Faces / Little Caesar / The Petrified Forest / The Roaring Twenties) | 
 enlarge | Actors: Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, Leslie Howard, Jean Harlow
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $68.98
Buy New: $25.98
You Save: $43.00 (62%)
New (31) Used (7) Collectible (1) from $24.95
Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 1680
Format: Box Set, Black & White, Dvd, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 6
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.6 x 3.7
MPN: WARD036315D
UPC: 883929005192
EAN: 0883929005192
ASIN: B00114XLTQ
Release Date: March 25, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 03/25/2008
Amazon.com
For a knock-out combination of timeless entertainment and vintage studio history, you can't do much better than The Warner Brothers Gangsters Collection. In the 1930s and '40s, Paramount specialized in glossy comedies, MGM popularized lavish musicals, Universal produced signature horror classics, and Fox scored hits with sophisticated dramas. But it was Warner Bros. that generated controversy--if not always box-office profits--with so-called "social problem" films, and that meant gangsters. When viewed in their pre- and post-Prohibition context and in chronological order (Little Caesar and The Public Enemy, 1931; The Petrified Forest, 1936; Angels With Dirty Faces, 1938; The Roaring Twenties, 1939; White Heat, 1949), these six films definitively capture Warners' domination of the mobster genre, and to varying degrees, they all qualify as classics. With its stilted visuals and pulpy plot, Little Caesar remains stuck in the stiff, early-sound era, but it's still a prototypical powerhouse, with Edward G. Robinson's titular "Rico" setting the stage for all screen gangsters to follow. The Public Enemy made James Cagney a star (who can forget him smashing a grapefruit into Mae Clarke's face?), and Humphrey Bogart repeats his Broadway success in The Petrified Forest, a stagy adaptation of Robert Sherwood's play, still enjoyable for Bogey's ever-threatening malevolence. Then it's a Cagney triple-threat in Angels (with Pat O'Brien), racketeering in The Roaring Twenties (with Bogart), and especially the jailbird classic White Heat, with a fiery finale and an exit line ("Made it Ma! Top o' the world!") that epitomized Cagney's iconic, tough-guy image. In many ways Cagney was Warner Bros., and this Gangsters Collection pays enduring tribute to him and the important films that forged the studio's rugged reputation. --Jeff Shannon
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| Customer Reviews:
The Greatest Gangster Collection May 15, 2009
Bonnie Ciafre (Lansdowne, PA United States)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This pack is where you start if you are interested in film noir or in the Gangster collections themselves. Every movie is a gem, and all have a news reel, short, cartoon, and preview like if you saw them back in the 30s.
The first one is Little Ceasar with Ed G Robinson. This movie for entertainment is a 10. Fast paced for the time, fast talking, and famous quotes. This movie will keep your attention from start to finish. Overall this early talkie is great. Seems aged but it adds to the character and Robinson keeps movie looking fresh time and time again. I give this movie four stars out of five.
The Public Enemy, the movie that brought Cagney to fame. You can still see why. This movie was almost as fast paced as Little Ceasar and a pre code movie that show it like it is. Featuring gays, racism, and abusing a woman. It really builds Cagneys character and shows the times. This is a historic movie with entertainment. It has some aged features, but is more powerful then the almost action like Little Ceasar. I give this one a four out of five.
The Petrified Forest, a slow paced drama featuring a early Bogart. While the cast is fantasic and Bogart as a real villian is incondesent. The real actor to watch is Betty Davis who acts as a teenager in love with a drifter. Its well acted and written, but slow... Sometimes boaring. I give this one three out of five.
Angels With Dirty Faces, one of the best movies of the 30s period. This movie unfolds quickly, and realisticly. This movie features some of the best acting from Cagney and Bogart. O'Brian is his usual drab self, but the Dead End Kids really bring this movie to the top. Its another movie that shows the times and the draw to crime, but with a dramatic twist. This movie is a must see and is a five out of five.
The Roaring Twenties, almost documentry set only a few years later of the 20s. Cagney, Bogart, and the entire cast is great. Really a amazing story starting WW1 and go through to the 30s. Whatching the characters go through twists and turns with the times; that brings them together time and time again. This movie is a five out of five and rivals Angels With Dirty Faces in every way.
White Heat. "Top of the world, Ma!" An explosive and unpredictable classic. This is Cagneys last great and possibly best film. He never did a bad guy roll like this before, and its haughting. Featuring a sicking attachment to his mother, and a back stabbing wife. The gang he leads feels he unstable and out of control. I don't want to give to much away, but this leads up to a roller coaster for his character and a pulse pumping thriller. Another five out of five.
As you can see this is a must have collection for any film buff. If you love this collection look at the 2nd,3rd,4th collection. The second is the second best and 3 and 4 are nice but not great. Not nearly as great as this.
 Memories January 7, 2009
Cinmute (N.Y.)
It's been long time since this were viewed, by me.
I enjoyed them all,as far as DVD's go,they were of good quality.
Some of the best gangster movies ever made! November 18, 2008
Chris Wood (UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Great value here. These are some of the best old noir films I've ever seen, including some of Cagney's and Robinson's best. Great stuff, and frankly worth the price just for White Heat and Public Enemy. Also has some fine Bogart moment.
Fantastic value.
White Heat June 28, 2008
Harry Callahan (Sthlm Sweden)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
If you are into Gangster Movies James Cagney is the man, "White Heat" is superb B&W action with Cagney at his best. The picture quality is very good, Warner Bros have done an exellent job of all the movies in this absolute fantastic box. Virginia Mayo is also very good and very pretty!
I have all tree, and a fourth box are coming soon, i can't wait "hurray"
I will recommend this box (Movies)to you who likes Film Noir at it's best.
This you can't miss. Raoul Walsh directed this masterpiece White Heat 1949 i give it 5 Big Bullets.
Warner's top-tier gangster movie properties January 19, 2008
calvinnme (Fredericksburg, Va)
16 out of 17 found this review helpful
It's interesting to compare the three stars of these movies - Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, and Humphrey Bogart - and their styles in each of these movies. "Little Caesar" and "Public Enemy" were made when prohibition was still in effect and gangland crime was still a big problem. Thus Robinson and Cagney each play remorseless criminals with no redeeming values whatsoever. Robinson's Rico is less physical than Cagney's Tom Powers, though. You believe that either one of them would shoot you without a second thought. However, Cagney's Powers is scarier because the real fear is that he would beat you to a pulp for the fun of it and THEN shoot you.
"The Petrified Forest" is not your typical gangster film, with Leslie Howard's vagabond being the real star in what amounts to an improbable romance set against the backdrop of the desperation of the Great Depression which the desert setting seems to signify. This 1936 film has Bogart as Duke Mantee, a gangster on the run, in what amounts to a supporting role. However, you do get to see all of the traits that made Bogart great when he got the opportunity to seize the lead in later roles. And to think they almost cast him as the filling station attendant in this one!
In 1938's "Angels with Dirty Faces" and 1939's "The Roaring Twenties" Cagney is again playing the lead gangster and Humphrey Bogart plays a supporting role in both films. With prohibition long over, though, these movies make Cagney's gangster more three-dimensional, showing him to even be a self-sacrificing character at times as well as a killer. Both movies bother to show that had circumstances been a little different, he might not have even become a criminal in the first place.
1949's "White Heat" shows the influence of film noir that was so popular in the 40's an 50's. Here, Cagney's gangster persona has come full circle back to the viciousness of Tom Powers in "Public Enemy". The big difference is that in this film Cagney's mother is no cream puff. She is, in fact, probably a bigger criminal in thought if not in deed than Cagney's Cody Jarrett. This final gangster film of the six shows technology and thus the law gaining on the criminal, with electronic gadgets and undercover lawmen with college degrees in psychology replacing the determined hard-boiled detectives and beat cops of the past. It very much looks forward to the Dragnet series that is to emerge in the 50's.
In summary, this is just a terrific package and basically acts as a complete course on the gangster film as genre. All studios should stand up and take notice of how Warner Home Video put this set together. Highly recommended. The following are the extra features:
The Public Enemy (1931)
Leonard Maltin Hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1931 with Newsreel, Comedy Short: The Eyes Have It, Cartoon: Smile, Darn Ya, Smile, and 1931 Trailer Gallery.
Featurette - Beer and Blood: Enemies of the Public
Commentary by Film Historian Robert Sklar
1954 Re-release Foreword
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
White Heat (1949)
Leonard Maltin Hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1949 with Newsreel, Comedy Short: So You Think You're Not Guilty, Cartoon: Homeless Hare, and 1949 Trailer Gallery .
Featurette - White Heat: Top of the World
Commentary by Film Historian Drew Casper
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
Leonard Maltin Hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1938 with Newsreel, Musical Short: Out Where the Stars Begin, Cartoon: Porky and Daffy, and 1938 Trailer Gallery.
Featurette - Angels with Dirty Faces: Whaddya Hear? Whaddya Say?
Commentary by Film Historian Dana Polan
Audio-Only Bonus: Radio Production with the Film's 2 Stars
Languages: English & French
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Little Caesar (1930)
Leonard Maltin Hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1930 with Newsreel, Spencer Tracy Short: The Hard Guy, Cartoon: Lady Play Your Mandolin, and 1930/31 Trailer Gallery.
Featurette - Little Caesar: End of Rico, Beginning of the Antihero
Commentary by Film Historian Richard B. Jewell
1954 Re-release Foreword
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
The Petrified Forest (1936)
Leonard Maltin Hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1936 with Newsreel, Musical Short: Rhythmitis, Cartoon: The Coo Coo Nut Grove, and 1936 Trailer Gallery .
Featurette - The Petrified Forest: Menace in the Desert
Commentary by Bogart Biographer Eric Lax
Audio-Only Bonus: Radio Adaptation Starring Bogart, Tyrone Power and Joan Bennett
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
The Roaring Twenties (1939)
Leonard Maltin Hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1939 with Newsreel, Musical Short: All Girl Revue, Comedy Short: The Great Library Misery, Cartoon: Thugs with Dirty Mugs, and 1939 Trailer Gallery.
Featurette - The Roaring Twenties: The World Moves on
Commentary by Film Historian Lincoln Hurst
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
This set was previously just called "The Warner Gangsters". This is that same set just retitled as Volume 1 to correspond with "Warner Tough Guys" being renamed "Warner Gangsters Volume 2", and a new set, "Warner Gangsters Volume 3", to be released in the first part of 2008.
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