Double Indemnity
This blog is referring to the 1973 TV movie which is remake of the 1944 original classic film. That's right, this is not even a stab at a new adaptation of the novel, which would already be questionable since such a great version already exists. This is actually a restaging of the exact original Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler penned screenplay adaptation.
This is available on the second DVD included in the DVD release for the original film. And it is the ONLY thing on that second DVD. Why it was included I have no idea. I rented it through Netflix because it listed it as a "bonus features" disc. The only reason I could imagine someone would want to watch this is for some sick curiosity.
Lee J. Cobb is the only decent thing here, but even that pales in comparison to the original Edward G. Robinson interpretation of the role. I think watching this movie so shortly after seeing the original makes it look even worse. Would I have appreciated it more if I didn't have the original film so fresh in my mind to compare it to? I'm not sure, but I can't imagine anyone would argue that it would benefit from comparison, which is pretty much impossible to do.
And who is this Samantha Eggar? And why are her eyes ten miles apart? Yeah Barbara Stanwyk is kind of funny looking too, but she could actually act.
Rating: 3/10