DVD

Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 1 (Warner Home Video, five discs). Having just written the libretto for an opera noir, I’m struck by how many of the people I met along the way knew little or nothing of the Hollywood film genre on which The Letter was based. If you’re one of them, the best way to get up to speed is to acquire this immaculately chosen box set, which contains five classics of film noir, John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle, Joseph H. Lewis’ Gun Crazy, Edward Dymytryk’s Murder, My Sweet (a film version of Raymond Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely), Jacques Tourneur’s Out of the Past, and Robert Wise’s The Set-Up. It’s all here: the chumps, the dames, the hard-edged backchat, the shadow-stained cinematography, the fear and hopelessness, enacted by the likes of Jane Greer, Sterling Hayden, Robert Mitchum, Marilyn Monroe, Dick Powell, Robert Ryan, and Audrey Totter. Treat yourself to a long weekend of despair (TT).