Humphrey Bogart 4-Film Collection (1940-1950, Warner Archive Collection, 4 Blu-rays, NR, 385 min.). This collection is proof that even Humphrey Bogart’s lesser-known films are still very good watches. Bogart shares the screen with George Raft, Ann Sheridan and Ida Lupino in “They Drive by Night,” then takes on the Nazis under the direction of Michael Curtiz in “Passage to Marseille.” In the suspense thriller “Conflict,” Bogart has a more off-beat role as he co-stars with Sydney Greenstreet and Alexis Smith. Finally, he plays a former WWII bomber pilot-turned test pilot opposite Eleanor Parker in “Chain Lightning.”

The films are reviewed separately.

They Drive by Night (1940, 95 min.). Before they were reunited to make “High Sierra” the same year, Bogart and Lupino starred in this film. Both films were directed by the great Raoul Walsh. Raft (“Scarface”) and Bogart (“Casablanca,” “To Have and To Have Not”) play independent truck-driving brothers Paul and Joe Fabrini, respectively. Lupino plays the duplicitous Lana Carlsen, the wife of trucking firm owner Ed Carlsen (Alan Hale of “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” “The Sea Hawk”). She constantly tries to bed Paul. Paul, however, has begun dating former waitress Cassie Hartley (Sheridan).

The first part of the film shows how hard making a living in the trucking business was, with driving at night often needed and sometimes leading to accidents, when the drivers fall asleep at the wheel. One such accident claims the lives of two men, including Fabrini friend Harry McNamara (John Litel). The Fabrini brothers have a similar accident that costs Joe his right arm.

In the second part of the film, Lana causes the death of her husband, so she can get closer to Paul by offering him a 50-50 share of the trucking company, if he were to take over running it. When he continues to spurn her advances, Lana goes to the police, claiming she killed Ed, but Paul forced her. The third part of the film is Paul’s trial, which includes Lana’s breakdown on the stand, a performance that helped make Lupino a star.

Extras include the June 2, 1941 Lux Radio Theater broadcast of “They Drive by Night,” starring Bogart and Lana Turner (44:22); a solid look at the film’s development, which was based on the book “The Long Haul” and was a partial remake of the film “Border Town” (19:35); and the fun short film “Swingtime in the Movies,” about making a film called “Texas Tornado” and featuring four songs, including two with chorus dancing (1938; 19:09). The latter includes brief appearances in a cafeteria scene by Bogart, John Garfield and George Brent. Grade: film 3.5 stars; extras 3.25 stars

Passage to Marseille (1944, 109 min.). In this film, Bogart reunited with director Michael Curtiz and other key "Casablanca" personnel, including costars Claude Rains, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet. Bogart plays Jean Matrac, a World War II pilot with the Free French Air Force, fighting out of England, after France signed an amnesty agreement with the Germans and basically surrendered to Adolph Hitler. The story's format is a bit complex, with flashback within flashback within flashback, but Curtiz handles it well and there is never any confusion about where or when the film's story is.

The film begins with a reporter (John Loder as Manning) arriving at the Free French Air Force's British headquarters, where he is greeted by liaison officer Capt. Freycinet (Rains). After the planes launch for a bombing run over Berlin, Freycinet tells Manning the story involving some of the men. The first flashback goes to when Freycinet was among the crew on the freighter Ville de Nancy, headed with nickel ore for Marseille. The ship notices a small boat, aboard which are five men in bad shape who turn out to be escapees from the penal colony of Cayenne, aka Devil's Island, in French Guiana. The men had been without food for 20 days and without water for five. The next flashback goes to Cayenne and tells the escaped convicts' stories. The third flashback is Matrac's story: How, as a crusading journalist against the Munich Pact, he was framed for murder after a mob of fascists attacked the newspaper office. Leaving that flashback, we see the convicts escape, aided by Grandpere (Vladimir Sokoloff), who has them swear to fight the Germans once they reach France. However, when Major Duval (Greenstreet) learns of France's capitulation to Germany, he tries to seize the ship and its ore for Vichy.

The other escapees were played by Lorre, Helmut Dantine, George Tobias and Philip Dorn. One of the film's highlights is a German plane attacking the Ville de Nancy. It is quite the violent sequence for its time and ended in controversy, when Bogart's character shoots the downed survivors of the German plane. Overall, the story, from the novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall (they also wrote "Mutiny on the Bounty"), is solid and entertaining. At times, the film gets a bit talky, especially when it comes to patriotism.

The extras are Warner Bros. typical Night at the Movies package, with a vintage newsreel, the Oscar-winning patriotic short, "I Won't Play," the Oscar-nominated musical short, "Jammin' the Blues," a classic cartoon and a couple of trailers. There also is a featurette on the Free French (16:51). Grade: film 3.25 stars; extras 2.75 stars

Conflict (1945, 86 min.). The film is unusual in that it casts Bogart (“Casablanca,” “The African Queen,” “The Maltese Falcon”) as a man who gets rid of his wife by committing the perfect murder. Well, the murder is almost perfect, and it is easy to pick out when he makes his only mistake.

Bogart plays Richard Mason, married to Kathryn (Rose Hobart of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” “Liliom”) for five years. Now, they are constantly bickering and Kathryn says it is because she knows, rightfully, that Richard is infatuated with her younger sister, Evelyn Turner (Alexis Smith of “The Age of Innocence,” “Gentleman Jim”).

Leaving their anniversary party, Richard gets distracted and has a car accident in which he breaks his leg, but Kathryn is unharmed and Evelyn has only minor scrapes. This gives him the idea of pretending he still cannot walk without aid, so that he can push Kathryn and the car down a cliff, after sending her off to a resort by herself. He also plans a business meeting at home that same night to perfect his alibi. Despite a stack of lumber also falling on the car, Richard never sees her body, so he is spoked when things like her ring start showing up, as if she were still alive and torturing him.

Sydney Greenstreet (“The Maltese Falcon,” “Casablanca”) plays Dr. Mark Hamilton, a friend of the Masons. The film is directed by Curtis Bernhardt (“Possessed,” “The Beloved Vagabond”), who uses the Expressionistic style of his native Germany. One of the writers is Robert Siodmak (“The Devil Strikes at Night,” “The Killers”).

Extras include two 1945 cartoons, the Merrie Melodies “Life with Feathers” (7:41) and the Looney Tunes “Trap Happy Porky” with Porky Pig (6:52); two 1945 shorts, “Are Animals Actors?” about acting dogs (14:11) and “Peeks at Hollywood” (8:56); and the audio radio broadcast of “Conflict” with Bogart from Sept. 11, 1945 (24:50). Grade: film 4 stars; extras 2.25 stars

Chain Lightning (1950, 94 min.). The film, directed by Stuart Heisler (“Among the Living,” “Blues Skies”), opens with the first half of the ending, before resorting to extensive flashbacks. The first flashback takes place in 1943 England, where Bogart plays Major Matt Brennan, a B17 bomber pilot about to undergo his 25th run over Nazi Germany, which earns him his ticket home.

We see Brennan get a new roommate in Carl Troxell (Richard Whorf of “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” director of TV’s “The Beverly Hillbillies”) and meet his girlfriend Jo Holloway (Eleanor Parker of “Pride of the Marines,” “The Sound of Music”) at a London pub. Brennan and Holloway leave the festivities early, looking to get married, but cannot reach the general needed to get permission.

The film then jumps ahead several years, with unmarried Brennan running an anemic aviation school and unmarried Holloway working for fighter jet developer Leland Willis (Raymond Massey of “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” “Arsenic and Old Lace,” TV’s “Dr. Kildare”). Holloway is dating Troxell, now a jet designer. Through Holloway and Troxell, Brennan gets a job as a test pilot for Willis’ firm.

In one lengthy sequence, Brennan flies an experimental jet, with two rockets attached, from Nome, Alaska to Washington D.C. The film ends with the continuation of the opening test flight, another dangerous one.

Extras include the Merrie Melodies cartoon “Bear Fest” (6:53) and the Joe McDoakes short “So You Want to Be an Actor” (10:56). Grade: film 3 stars; extras 1.5 stars

Rating guide: 5 stars = classic; 4 stars = excellent; 3 stars = good; 2 stars = fair; dog = skip it

Purchase link for some titles: https://moviezyng.com?bg_ref=ApLKdWV51k

Merrily We Roll Along (2025, Sony Pictures Classics, Blu-ray, PG-13, 145 min.). This is the latest incarnation of the Broadway production. The original play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart opened to decent reviews in 1934, but was a financial failure. Then, composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim (“Into the Woods,” “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” and lyricist for “West Side Story,” “Gypsy”) rebuilt it as a full-fledged musical in 1981. He collaborated with former actor/book writer George Furth (who had worked with Sondheim on “Company” in 1970 and in 1996 on “Getting Away with Murder”), but the show was not a success.

The musical was reworked several times, including an off-Broadway revival in 2022, directed by former cast member Maria Friedman and starring Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez. It was promoted to Broadway the following year as a limited engagement at Midtown Manhattan's Hudson Theatre, and this Blu-ray offers a performance filmed in June 2024.

Groff (“Frozen,” “Hamilton,” “Knock at the Cabin”) plays composer Franklin Shepard, fresh off a musical film that has landed him a three-film deal in Hollywood, unbeknownst to his lyricist, Charley Kringas (Radcliffe of the “Harry Potter” films). The third member of their friend group is Mary Flynn (Mendez of TV’s “All Rise,” “Elsbeth”), a novelist who has been secretly in love with Franklin since the Fifties.

It is now 1976, with Franklin married to actress Gussie (Krystal Joy Brown of “Magic Camp”), but apparently cheating with actress Meg (Talia Robinson), the star of the newly successful film he produced. Charley is upset because he wants Franklin back to writing music for his songs, and Mary is getting drunk.

The musical has a somewhat unique timeline, as it continually moves backwards, after the party chorus in the opener sings “How did you get to be here.” The first jump is to 1973, where Radcliffe excels singing the fast-paced, biting “Franklin Shepard, Inc.” It is one of his two highlights in the show. The next jump is to 1968, when an offer to make their show “Musical Husbands” into a film leads to a breakup in the partnership.

The following jump is to 1967 and Franklin’s divorce from Beth (Katie Rose Clarke). Next the show goes to 1964 and then 1962 and the hysterical song “The Blob.” This is also when Franklin first meets Gussie. A jump to 1960 brings a highlight musical revue song about the Kennedys – all the Kennedys (“Bobby and Jackie and Jack”). A stop in 1958 has them working on their first musical, “Take a Left,” and finally, 1957 has the three meeting for the first time on the rooftop of where they are living.

This is not my favorite Sondheim show – others feature much more memorable songs and melodies – but the production is excellent, with Radcliffe surprisingly standing out. Grade: film 3.5 stars

Duel to the Death (Hong Kong, 1983, 88 Films, NR, 87 min.). The film, directed and co-written by Tony Ching (“Jade Dynasty,” “The Sorcerer and the White Snake”), pits the Japanese ninja master Hashimoto (Norman Chu of “The Sword,” “The 36th Chamber of Shaolin”) against China’s Cheng Wan (Damian Lau of “Royal Tramp,” “The Heroic Trio”) in an age-old ritual that takes place every decade. The two are rivals who have grown to respect each other. However, when renegade ninjas raid the Shaolin Temple in an attempt to steal a forbidden kung fu manual, Hashimoto and Wan are thrust into a deadly conspiracy.

The film is considered a classic with its culture clash and philosophy of fighting storyline, as well as its wild, fantasy-laced, action. There are different motivations at play rather than the usual themes of revenge, government feuding or master-teacher relationships.

It is a new 2K restoration from the original negative. Extras include an optional English dub; audio commentary by Frank Djeng; interviews with actors Eddie Ko (Kenji), Tsui Sui-Keung and Flora Cheung (Sheng Nan); an interview with screenwriter Manfred Wong; a featurette on the wirework; alternate English credits; an image gallery; and a 32-page, heavily illustrated booklet with two essays by The Fanatical Dragon. Grade: film and extras 3.75 stars

A Bucket of Blood/The Little Shop of Horrors (1959-1960, Gemini Entertainment, Blu-ray, NR, 137 min.). This is another Roger Corman twofer. In 2024, “The Little Shop of Horror” was paired with “The Terror” (1963) is a double Blu-ray Film Masters release, the connection being both films used sets from producer-director Corman’s five-film Edgar Allan Poe cycle. This time, the connection is both films were shot with the same crew on the same sets, only months apart. Both films star Dick Miller.

In “A Bucket of Blood,” Miller plays beatnik café busboy Walter Paisley, who gets ignored until he accidentally stabs a cat that he is trying to rescue from within his boarding house wall. Desperate for attention, he molds clay around the cat’s body – the cat’s body is awfully stiff for having been just killed -- and presents it to café owner Leonard de Santos (Antony Carbone of “Creature from the Haunted Sea”) as his new sculpture. When de Santos is offered $500 for the sculpture, he asks Paisley for more works, instead of calling the police, as he had noticed a real cat was inside the sculpture.

Paisley complies with a statue of a man with a cracked head. It actually is undercover police detective Lou Ravy (Bert Convy of “The Cannonball Run”), whom he accidentally killed, when being arrested for heroin possession. Next is a statue of a female nude, actually model Alice (Judy Bamber of “Up in Smoke,” “Dragstrip Girl”), whom he strangled on purpose.

The film is a good satire of the beatnik culture and the art world. There are a café poet (Julian Barton as Maxwell H. Brock) and a singer-guitarist (Alex Hassilev), both of whom perform twice, as well as a couple of beatnik customers and Carla (Barboura Morris), the coworker Paisley is in love with.

A young Jack Nicholson, in only his fourth film, co-stars with Miller in “The Little Shop of Horrors.” Despite being shot in only two days, “The Little Shop of Horrors” (1960, 73 min.) is a very funny film that holds up well.

Jonathan Haze (“It Conquered the World”) plays the dimwitted assistant Seymour Krelborn in Gravis Mushnick’s (Mel Welles) Skid Row flower shop who tries to save his job by developing a new plant, a variety of Venus flytrap that he calls Audrey Jr., after the flower shop’s other employee, Audrey Fulquard (Jackie Joseph of “Gremlins”). The only trouble, as Seymour humorously discovers, is Audrey Jr. needs blood and body parts to grow and starts demanding them vocally.

Miller plays Fouch, who likes to eat plants, and Nicholson delightfully plays Wilbur Force, a dental patient who is a sadomasochist and accidentally gets Krelborn pretending to be the dentist.

Extras include also low-res VHS versions of both films; still galleries (1:27 for Bucket; 1:12 for Little Shop); digital liner notes for both films; and a Corman trailer reel. Grades: A Bucket of Blood 3.5 stars; Little Shop 3.5 stars; extras 2 stars

Thy Will Be Done (2025, Ultimedia, Blu-ray, NR, 98 min.). Police detective Stefani Bennett (Callie Bussell of “Crow”) investigates mysterious deaths while exploring her clairvoyant abilities, which are flashes of insight as to how the deaths occurred.

The film opens with priest Father Arland Anthony (Jazz Securo of “Foxcatcher”) visiting the death row inmate who was convicting of killing Bennett’s policeman father. The man claims to be innocent, but he is electrocuted, with Stefani in the audience.

What follows is a series of murders, made to look like accidents, with the victims all found to be criminals after their deaths. A man is pushed down stairs, a woman is killed by too much medicine while cooking dinner and a female detective, who has been dealing drugs, is drowned. Bennett is given the first case and then notices a prayer bead in the outflow tank of the swimming pool and that all three victims had attended Anthony’s church at some time.

By the way, Scuro also is the film’s producer and director. Grade: film 2.75 stars

7 Sins (U.K./Italy, 2020, Darkside Releasing, Blu-ray, NR, 93 min.). The anthology film, which has very little dialogue, calls itself an exotic horror, using eight directors for its seven segments. And yes, there is both horror and nudity within the episodes based on the seven deadly sins of Catholic theology, namely anger, envy, sloth, pride, lust, gluttony and greed.

Anger has a jogging man return home, take a woman out of the closet and seriously beat her, while he imagines she is laughing. He then goes jogging again. Envy has a couple pick up a prostitute, who eventually chains and cuts them. It is the first episode with minimal dialogue. Sloth features obnoxious music, weird colors and imagery as a woman dances and drinks wine. Pride shows torture of a male reproductive part.

Lust has a woman order a silicone companion and even invites a couple, which includes her ex-boyfriend, to share dinner with her and her fake man, who does seem to come alive at times. Like sloth, the lust segment is sick, although more interesting. The somewhat incomprehensible gluttony may involve cannibalism, while greed has people puking up coins.

Extras include a backstage look at anger (1:17); a photo gallery for gluttony (1:40); a deleted scene for greed (54 secs.) and lust (52 secs.); and a behind-the-scenes look at pride (1:39). Grade; film 1.5 stars; extras ½ star

Spaceballs: The Animated Series (2008, MVD Rewind Collection, 2 DVDs, NR, 329 min.). The set includes all 13 episodes of the single season and the two-part pilot. Also from and starring Mel Brooks, it is patterned after his 1987 film of the same name which poked fun at the “Star Wars” universe by having a star-pilot for hire and his trusty half-dog sidekick come to the rescue of a spoiled princess and save Planet Druidia from the clutches of the evil Spaceballs, led by Lord Dark Helmet.

The pilot has Dark Helmet attack Unitopia, and Princess Vesta has to be rescued by pilot Lone Star and companion Barf, even though she has too much luggage. Another character is Pizza the Hut, who succumbs to someone’s hunger. Basically, the humor is juvenile, with the visual jokes usually better than the spoken groaners.

The episodes range from 21 to 25 minutes. There also are takeoffs on “The Lord of the Rings” in “Lord of the Onion Rings” and on “Jurassic Park” in “Watch Your Assic Park,” where athletes are injected with dinosaur DNA. In the latter, the park’s Hall of Fame is supposed to be a safe zone because “juiced athletes cannot get in.”

Extras include a folded mini poster and trailers for the two “Spaceballs” movies. Yes, a second one is due in 2027. Grade: series 2.25 stars