Mystery, Suspense, Film Noir and Detective Movies On DVD: A Guide to the Best in Cinema Thrills

Editor Ross Adams writes in the February 2010 issue of Dress Circle: the Film Enthusiasts’ Magazine: Sub-titled "A Guide to the Best in Cinema Thrills" and just a fraction larger than Leonard Maltin’s Film Guide and a massive 1.3 inches thick, this book is a real potpourri of essential information: players, technical personnel, music, release dates and more. During 2009, I purchased a number of classic movies on DVD, but the jackets contained only bare details. I was able to retrieve information by looking up the index of over 700 films in this book and then turning to the detailed descriptions Reid provides. The book is interspersed with good black-and-white photos of film stars, scenes from films and prints of posters and lobby cards. Some of the 222 movies extensively reviewed in the main section include Gilda, Laura, Father Brown Detective, Lady Vanishes, Maltese Falcon, Man Who Knew Too Much, Naked City, City Streets, Night Has a Thousand Eyes, Mandalay, Odd Man Out, The Paradine Case, Phantom of the Opera, Rebecca, Vertigo, Leave Her to Heaven, Lady from Shanghai, The Kennel Murder Case, Spellbound and Run for the Sun. Briefer summaries and reviews are then provided for a further 500 films in a supplementary section. Full DVD details are given in each instance, and the quality of the DVD itself is rated on a scale of 1 to 10. There are also some interesting supplementary chapters on Sherlock Holmes, the Thin Man series, and Humphrey Bogart versus Alan Ladd. The author also lists contact details of "Recommended DVD Suppliers" (some of which were unknown to me and are not listed in Maltin's book), and even provides his choice of the "36 Top Noir Movies on DVD." And finally, there is a comprehensive index of all 730 titles covered in this book. I most highly recommend "Mystery, Suspense, Film Noir and Detective Movies on DVD" by John Howard Reid.