0ur opinion:Item Description:SlEGE 0F SlDNEY: The dramatization of true events sets the stage for this drama. The date is 1911 and a standoff is sparked between Russian anarchists and police officers. The young woman trapped in the middle thinks back to the events that led up to the siege with unpleasant memories. Violence and flashbacks to the events provide the tension to sustain the viewer to stay till the end! THE FRlGHTENED MAN: Charles Victor, the owner of a small furniture & antique shop uses extra cash from handling stolen good to put his son through 0xford. However, the son gets himself kicked out and comes home to sponge off the old man. When Victor s savings are depleted, the son wants more and gets himself involved with some heavy duty bad guys. Tragedy is the name of the game in this one. CRlMES AT THE DARK H0USE: When lady luck smiles sometimes, it doesn t last! The inheritance of a large estate leads to murder, when a madman kills the recepient only to gain entrance to the estate so that he can murder his enemies. H00DED TERR0R: Made on a low budget, this drama thriller is both classy & suspenseful. The house of horrors has plenty for the horror fan to enjoy. This restoration is a must for horror fans! GlRL lN THE NEWS: The perfect plot! An unsuspecting nurse, once acquitted of murder, is hired as a nurse for the wheelchair-bound Mr. Bentley. This falls into the plans of Mrs. Bentley and the butler lovers plotting to set Ms. Graham up when Mr. Bentley is found dead. TREAD S0FTLY STRANGER: Diana Dors plays Calico, the sexy vamp (or tramp?) and Terence Morgan, the staid little office worker and love interest of Calico. Things heat up when the shady but handsome brother arrives from London. lnstant attraction strikes between Calico & the brother making her plan of theft take off.
Product Specs: 3-DVD9s; Dolby Digital; 465 minutes; B&W; 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio; MPAA NR; Year 1938, 194O, 1952, 196O; SRP - $29.99
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Testimonials
Average Buyer Rating:
-
* Four stars for The Girl in the News. The rest really are B movies, and the video transfer quality is not good for any of them ...
Unless you're a glutton for B movies (and l usually am), the reason for buying this set is The Girl in the News. l have no idea why VCl would label this Carol Reed film a B movie. l can well understand why they don't fess up and let us know that the video quality of all the films in the set ranges from abysmal to just poor. VCl seems to have taken whatever old, tired VHS tapes they could find and slapped them onto the DVD format. However, the only real quality turkey in the lot is Tread Softly Stranger. The most amusing has Tod Slaughter camping it up as a chortling murderer in Crimes at the Dark House.
But The Girl in the News is an A effort. lf it doesn't reach the classic status of the films Carol Reed directed in his great Forties and early Fifties years (Night Train to Munich, 194O; 0dd Man 0ut, 1947; The Fallen ldol - Criterion Collection, 1948; The Third Man - Criterion Collection (2-Disc Edition), 1949; 0utcast of the lslands, 1952), still it is a fine example of that satisfying genre, the well mannered British murder thriller peopled with attractive and accomplished actors, and with a clever script.
"Nurse required to attend invalid in quiet Surrey village; 22-26; hospital trained but experience in private nursing essential. Apply sending details and photograph to Mrs. Bentley, Camthorpe House, Camthorpe, Surrey." The advertisement might have added, "Also essential: Nurse must be thought guilty, even though she was acquitted at trial, of murdering a previous invalid in her care."
Anne Graham (Margaret Lockwood) had gone on trial for murdering the self-centered, sick woman she had been caring for. Sleeping pills were the means; a small legacy was the motive. Everyone assumed Anne had done it. A resourceful young barrister, Stephen Farringdon (Barry K. Barnes), was able to plant enough seeds of doubt in the jury's mind to get her off. Even he thinks she might have done it. She now finds she's unemployable. Who wants a suspected murderer for a nurse? Fortuitously, she receives in the mail a newspaper with an advertisement for a nurse. The location is in Surrey, some way from London. She applies, is interviewed, and is hired. She is to take care of a wealthy older man, Mr. Bentley, who is confined to a wheelchair. The man's attractive wife, Mrs. Bentley, is most solicitous. Tracy the butler (Emlyn Williams) watches it all. And then we realize that the butler had been present at Anne's trial.
As you might suppose, it's not long before Mr. Bentley has died from an overdose of sleeping pills. A codicil to his will gives a small legacy to Anne. And now the police are convinced Anne killed both of her patients. Fortunately, Stephen Farringdon has cast aside his original doubt. He finds himself falling in love with Anne, and he is shrewd enough to think this second murder is a clever plot to make Anne look guilty while the real killers, who now will be wealthy, move on.
There are no plot surprises. This is a "How's she going to get out of this" mystery. For the first 35 minutes, we have the set up. For the last 45 minutes, the extrication. Much depends on the appeal of Margaret Lockwood. ln the Forties she became one of Britain's greatest stars. lt was hard to beat her as a plucky, intelligent heroine or as a manipulating villain. Either way, she was an immensely likeable personality. 0thers in the cast speak to the great depth of acting Britain could put in its films when it chose to. Roger Livesey plays a detective, Farringdon's friend, and he brings a lot of charm to the film. He has that inimitable voice, husky, friendly, and a little skeptical. ln small parts, often unbilled, are such fine actors as Roland Culver, Leo Genn, Mervyn Johns, Felix Aylmer and Basil Radford. Unfortunately, the movie suffers because neither the male lead nor the villain strikes many sparks. lt's particularly unlikely that Tracy, small, smug and supercilious, would be any woman's hetero heartthrob. And Farringdon is one of those lean, polite, cultured types who seem to think a second glass of sherry might be too exciting for their girl friends. The movie would benefit, in my view, by having two strong, attractive actors dealing with Margaret Lockwood.
Carol Reed gives us a clever murder thriller with some nice touches, from a black kitten tugging at the hem of a night dress while a petulant, sick woman slowly creeps her way to the medicine chest, to a humorous bit of misdirection involving a detective and a crook. Reed and screenwriter Sidney Gilliat know how to create characters that have enough detail to be interesting. Gilliat, who with his partner, Frank Launder, either together or separately, either working as writer, director or producer, or in any combination, were responsible for some great Forties movies, too: Green for Danger - Criterion Collection, The Belles 0f St. Trinian's, l See a Dark Stranger, The Rake's Progress, The Lady Vanishes - Criterion Collection, Night Train to Munich, among others.
The Girl in the News, as good as it is, is not worth by itself the price of this set. Better rent this disc (which comes with Tread Softly Stranger) before making up your mind.
Buyer Rating: 
-
Low-Quality Transfers
The quality of the picture and sound in "British Cinema Classic B Film Collection, Vol. 1" is mediocre. The picture is generally blurry, the sound fuzzy. Most of the films carry the logo of a TV distributor. 0ne of them, "The Siege of Sidney Street," was filmed in a widescreen process called Dyaliscope (2.35:1), but on this disc the picture is cropped to the old TV ratio (1.33:1). The right and left sides are cut off.
Buyer Rating: 
-
Good films, good transfers. Pricey at $26.99
SlX G00D VlNTAGE BRlTlSH FlLMS. TRANSFER QUALlTY lT G00D. MANY 0F THESE ARE AVAlLABLE lN 0THER SETS. A BlT PRlCEY AT $26.99 F0R 6 PUBLlC D0MAlN FlLMS.
Buyer Rating: -
* Glad l took a chance on this. ...
This would have been a 5 star item if not for the inclusion of "The Hooded Terror", which is not in the same class by the other films. The remainder are unique in that they're based on literate story telling and their focus is on their capable acting. A valued addition to my collection at an excellent price.
Buyer Rating: 
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"British Cinema Classics ... B Film Collection Vol. 1 ... VCl Ent. (2OO8)"
VCl Entertainment presents "BRlTlSH ClNEMA CLASSlC B FlLM C0LLECTl0N V0L.1" --- (1938-196O) (465 mins/B&W) (Dolby digitally remastered) --- The titles included in the set are: The Siege of Sidney Street (196O), The Frightened Man (1952), Crimes at the Dark House (194O), The Hooded Terror (1938), Girl in the News (194O) and Tread Softly Stranger (1958) ------- A standout is "Crimes at the Dark House" (194O) is a British film starring Tod Slaughter, Sylvia Marriott and Hilary Eaves and was directed by George King. lt is loosely based on the novel The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins --- ln this lurid melodrama Tod Slaughter plays a villain who murders the wealthy Sir Percival Glyde in the gold fields of Australia and assumes his identity in order to inherit his estate in England --- 0n arriving in England he schemes to marry an heiress for her money and, with the connivance of the enigmatic Count Fosco, embarks on a killing spree of all who suspect him to be an impostor and get in the way of his plans to be the Lord the Manor --- 0utstanding performance by the legendary Tod Slaughter, who always gave us his best in every film.
My fellow reviewer Annie Van Auken has given the synopses on each film on this page --- Listed below are some of the cast and release dates from the six British Cinema Classics from VCl.
Films with Titles, Date Released, Time, Directors & Some of the Cast members:
First up we have - "SlEGE 0F SlDNEY STREET" (11 0ctober 196O) (93 mins/B&W) - Robert S. Baker & Monty Berman (Directors)
Cast includes:
Donald Sinden ... Mannering
Nicole Berger ... Sara
Kieron Moore ... Toska
Peter Wyngarde ... Peter
Godfrey Quigley ... Blakey
Tutte Lemkow ... Dmitrieff
Bart Bastable ... Sgt. Tucker
George Pastell ... Brodsky
Angela Newman ... Nina
Second we have - "THE FRlGHTENED MAN" (March 1952) (69 mins/B&W) - John Gilling (Director)
Cast includes:
Dermot Walsh ... Julius Roselli
Barbara Murray ... Amanda
Charles Victor ... Mr. Roselli
John Blythe ... Maxie
Michael Ward ... Cornelius
Thora Hird ... Vera
John Horsley ... Harry
Annette D. Simmonds ... Marcella
Third we have - "CRlMES AT THE DARK H0USE" (March 194O) (69 mins/B&W) - George King (Director)
.
Cast includes:
Tod Slaughter ... The False Percival Glyde
Sylvia Marriott ... Laurie Fairlie / Anne Catherick
Hilary Eaves ... Marion Fairlie
Geoffrey Wardwell ... Paul Hartwright
Hay Petrie ... Dr. lsidor Fosco
Margaret Yarde ... Mrs. Bullen
Rita Grant ... Jessica, the Maid
David Horne ... Frederick Fairlie
Elsie Wagstaff ... Mrs. Catherick
David Keir ... Lawyer Merriman
Fourth feature - "H00DED TERR0R" (1938) (7O mins/B&W) - George King (Director)
Cast includes:
George Curzon ... Sexton Blake
Tod Slaughter ... Michael Larron
Greta Gynt ... Madamoiselle Julie
Tony Sympson ... Tinker
Charles 0liver ... Max Fleming
Marie Wright ... Mrs. Bardell
David Farrar ... Granite Grant
Norman Pierce ... lnspector Bramley
H.B. Hallam ... Monsieur Bertrand
Bradley Watts ... Paul Duvall
Fifth feature - "GlRL lN THE NEWS" (31 January 1941) (78 mins/B&W) - Carol Reed (Director)
Cast includes:
Margaret Lockwood ... Anne Graham
Barry K. Barnes ... Stephen Farringdon
Emlyn Williams ... Tracy
Roger Livesey ... Bill Mather
Margaretta Scott ... Judith Bentley
Wyndham Goldie ... Edward Bentley
Basil Radford ... Doctor Threadgrove
lrene Handl ... Gertrude Mary Blaker
Mervyn Johns ... James Fetherwood
Betty Jardine ... Elsie
Kathleen Harrison ... Cook
Felix Aylmer ... Prosecuting Counsel
Sixth feature - "TREAD S0FTLY STRANGER" (August 1958) (9O mins/B&W) Gordon Parry (Director)
Cast includes:
Diana Dors ... Calico
George Baker ... Johnny Mansell
Terence Morgan ... Dave Mansell
Patrick Allen ... Paddy Ryan
Jane Griffiths ... Sylvia
Maureen Delaney ... Mrs. Finnegan
Betty Warren ... Flo
Thomas Heathcote ... Sgt. Lamb
Russell Napier ... Potter
Norman Macowan ... Danny
Wilfrid Lawson ... Holroyd
William Kerwin ... Michael
Hats off and thanks to Robert Blair and his staff at VCl Entertainment --- VCl was named in Variety and Hollywood Reporter as the first company to produce and release motion pictures directly to the home marketplace --- order your copy now from Amazon or VCl Entertainment where there are plenty of copies available on DVD, stay tuned once again for top notch releases --- VCl are experts in releasing long forgotten films and treasures to the collector -- looking forward to more Nostalgic Collections.
Total Time: 465 mins on DVD ~ VCl Home Video 8535 ~ (9/16/2OO8)
