Garv’s Pick of the Week: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Kino Lorber)
For the release week of September 28th:
Garv’s Pick of the Week: The Hunchback of Notre Dame [Blu-ray / Kino Lorber]: The 1923 version of Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame (a.k.a. Notre Dame de Paris) is a triumph of silent cinema, spectacle, makeup, and performance (by physical chameleon Lon Chaney). Unfortunately, due to the lack of surviving elements and the age of the previous film-to-video transfers, the film did not look its best on home video. Universal has gone back to do a new 4K transfer from the best surviving elements, so this Blu-ray should be an improvement over previous releases.
Additional Titles of Interest —
A Night at the Opera [Blu-ray / Warner Archive]: I’d rank A Night at the Opera as the sixth best Marx Brothers movie (after all of their Paramount films). Still, it is the best of their output from MGM (the studio where comedy went to die). For fans of the Marxes and for classic comedy as a whole, this disc should be considers a “must own.” You can find my full review HERE.
13 Washington Square [Blu-ray / Kino Lorber]: This silent farce from 1928 has some suspense sequences, but it isn’t The Cat and the Canary. Still, it’s always nice to see more silents make the leap to Blu-ray.
Young and Willing [DVD / ClassicFlix]: This 1943 screwball comedy has only a middling reputation, but I’m still intrigued, as it has a fantastic cast, including William Holden, Eddie Bracken, Robert Benchley, and Susan Hayward.
Primetime Panic [Blu-ray/ Fun City Editions]: This sounds fun. Three TV-movies from the heyday of TV-movies are packaged together in this set. Included are Death Ride to Osaka (1983), Dreams Don’t Die (1982), and Freedom (1981).
The Fourth Victim [Blu-ray / Severin]: Spanish director Eugenio Martin (Horror Express) did his take on the giallo genre with this 1971 film. I haven’t seen it, but I have a soft spot for the giallo genre, and Horror Express rocks. Carroll Baker stars.
A Full Day’s Work [Blu-ray / Kino Lorber]: Actor Jean-Louis Trintignant made his directorial debut with this dark comedy about a father’s plan to kill nine jurors who condemned his son to death in a single day.
Illustrious Corpses [Blu-ray/ Kino Lorber]: The great Lino Ventura is a police detective investigating the murders of Supreme Court judges.
The Hunter Will Get You [Blu-ray / Kino Lorber]: How many action films did Jean-Paul Belmondo star in? There seems to be a new release every week.
){kind=link}