I’ve had this DVD set on my shelf for three or four years, but I finally watched it (thank you, Coronavirus Pandemic!). I’d seen all four of these Lauren Bacall movies in the Past and enjoyed re-watching them. Key Largo, Blood Alley, Dark Passage, and Designing Woman may not be the best Lauren Bacall films of all time (I would choose The Big Sleep). But there’s plenty to like here.
Lauren Bacall lights up the screen every time she’s on it. And these four films show Bacall’s range from a femme fatale to a comic figure. Are you a Lauren Bacall fan? Do you have a favorite Lauren Bacall movie? GRADE: B+ (for all four movies)
The Big Sleep would be my favorite. Not a big fan. She didn’t make a lot of movies early on. In later years she did mostly tv movies and guest turns on tv shows. Out of these four I would pick Dark Passage and Key Largo. I don’t remember if I have ever seen Designing Women. And I don’t like Blood Alley at all. To Have and Have Not would have been a better choice.
Steve, I agree with you on TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT over BLOOD ALLEY.
While I wouldn’t say she was a favorite actress, I did like her (great voice). I would have gone with TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT or THE BIG SLEEP too, though KEY LARGO is worth watching. We saw her on stage in the 1999 revival of Noel Coward’s WAITING IN THE WINGS. I’m pretty sure when we saw Neil Simon’s CACTUS FLOWER in the March of 1968, it was with a replacement cast. I checked. We saw Lloyd (“I picked a bad week to give up heroin”) Bridges and Betsy Palmer, who replaced Barry Nelson and Lauren Bacall.
Jeff, supposedly Lauren Bacall was very good on stage, but that might be hearsay.
Of the four movies in the collection “Key Largo” is probably the best, but it’s really not all that good. I don’t remember much about “Dark Passage”, but I’ve seen it. I think of “Blood Alley” as a John Wayne movie, and not a very good one. Pretty sure “Designing Woman” is on my DVR but I haven’t gotten around to it. So of the movies that brought her fame in the forties, “The Big Sleep” is by far the best.
Although I was certainly aware of her fame before then, the first time I saw Bacall in a movie was in the pretty good 1966 private eye movie “Harper”, based on Ross Macdonald’s first Lew Archer novel “The Moving Target”, with Paul Newman as Archer renamed as Lew Harper. Bacall is OK in it, playing the wife of the missing person Harper is hired to find. It’s no “Big Sleep”, but it’s not bad.
Michael, I watched HARPER a while ago and I should rewatch it. I seem to remember that HARPER strayed from Ross Macdonald’s THE MOVING TARGET.
Bacall’s last scene in HARPER is a gem!
Dan, your statement about Bacall in HARPER makes me want to watch it today!
I like the movies she made with Bogart and I also like “Harper.” I think she was the type of actress who worked well with a strong director but didn’t have much intuitive skill.
Deb, I think you pretty much summed up Lauren Bacall’s career.
I think her “presence” did a lot more for movies than any acting talent. To have such a long career and only be nominated for an Oscar once (and for a mediocre movie) sort of says it all.
Patti, you’re right about Lauren Bacall’s “presence” on the screen. In these movies, I can’t take my eyes off her!
Of course, the rumor for years was that they dubbed Bacall’s singing in TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT with a 16 year old Andy Williams, but that has now been debunked. They did bring in Williams and several female singers to test, but used Bacall’s own voice in the end.
Jeff, TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT is another movie I need to rewatch. My mother was a big Andy Williams fan, but I wasn’t.
Dark Passage is a great film noir. The plastic surgery scene is worth the price of admission. Key Largo has a lot going for it – mostly Eddie and Bogie. Blood Alley is an oddity. Designing Woman is not too good, although I am a big fan of both stars.
Elgin, I bought this TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES, GREATEST CLASSIC LEGENDS FILM COLLECTION set for a pittance. As you point out, these movies are worth rewatching.
TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT and THE BIG SLEEP are my two favorite Bacall films. “You know how to whistle, don’t you? Just put your lips together…and blow.”
Rick, I’m surprised that line got past the Censors!