THE SAMUEL FULLER COLLECTION (Columbia) It Happened In Hollywood (1937), Adventure In Sahara (1938), Power Of The Press (1943), Shockproof (1949), Scandal Sheet (1952), The Crimson Kimono (1959), Underworld U.S.A. (1961) Rating: NNNN DVD package: NNNN Rating: NNNN
Sam Fuller came to movies after 10 years as a reporter for New York daily newspapers. It shows in his writing and directing. Action, dialogue and camera work are forceful, clear and terse, and story is foremost. The characters are well drawn and believable. The plots move in unexpected directions, and often the content is shocking. Fuller tackled racism, insanity and pedophilia years before anyone else.
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The Crimson Kimono is one of Fuller’s best, a dark tale of two cops, one of them Japanese-American, whose friendship is destroyed by racism when they fall for the same girl. Less well-known but just as harsh is Fuller’s depiction of organized crime and revenge in Underworld U.S.A.
Fuller didn’t direct all the films here. Phil Karlson handled Scandal Sheet, a faithful rendering of Fuller’s 1944 novel, The Dark Page. Broderick Crawford does an intense job as a cynical newspaper editor who commits a murder and tries to prevent his star-reporter protege (John Derek) from discovering the truth.
Fuller’s surviving family and admirers, including Martin Scorsese, Tim Robbins, Wim Wenders and Curtis Hanson, show up on four of the discs for insightful discussion of the man and his work.
Available for $89.95 at Amazon, amazon.ca.
