The five films in this set represent a wide range of noir interpretations. There's the rugged British version, as seen in They Made Me a Fugitive (produced by the ubiquitous Ealing Studios) and Contraband (directed by the fantastic Michael Powell) with stiff upper-lipped male leads added a strange honor to the dark doings they involved themselves in; the moralistic German-by-way-of-Hollywood version as seen through the unflinching eye of Lang (Scarlet Street) and the full-on Hollywood version which features good people mixed up in bad situations (Anthony Mann's fascinating character study Strange Impersonation).

The best film in this set doesn't feel like a noir film, however. Instead, Ida Lupino's The Hitch-hiker feels perhaps even grittier than that, thanks in no small part to the hot, dusty landscapes of Mexico where it takes place and the brutal performance by William Talman. As an itinerate criminal who holds two men hostage in his efforts to escape to a coastal town, Talman tears into each scene with a vicious energy that pulses from the screen like heat waves.

There are other sets that contain the considered classics of this genre, this five disc set fills out the edges nicely, bringing films under the umbrella that might otherwise have gotten passed over.

The picture varies from film to film on this set, with most looking a little rough around the edges. Only Scarlet Street really gets a fresh treatment thanks to the transfer having been produced from a 35mm negative.

Scarlet Street - Audio commentary by David Kalat, photo gallery