Critic’s Pick: Trio of dark DVD delights: ‘Hunchback,’ ‘Indemnity’ and ‘Evil’
Kenneth Turan’s DVD Pick of the Week: Dark Classics - The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Double Indemnity and Touch of Evil.
A trio of dark Hollywood classics from different decades has been digitally spiffed up to tip-top condition just in time for new DVD releases.
Earliest of the three is the silent version of Victor Hugo’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” starring the peerless Lon Chaney in a role that joins pathos and horror in a way only Chaney could.
Dating from 1944 is Billy Wilder’s “Double Indemnity,” from the James M. Cain novel. Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray and Edward G. Robinson, it might be the sexiest insurance fraud film ever made.
And what can you say about Orson Welles’ 1958 “Touch of Evil,” directed by Welles and starring the great man as corrupt lawman Hank Quinlan facing off against clean-living Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh. This was such a troubled film, the DVD offers it in three different versions.
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