Daily Movie Rec 8/14/2023
La Main du diable (1943)
"Tell me, Irene. Does "damnation"... mean anything to you?"
Directed by: Maurice Tourneur
Cinematography by: Armand Thirard
Country: France
Plot:
A second-rate painter gets talked into buying a magical severed hand that will grant him incomparable skill for one cent, with the contingency that he must sell the devilish appendage for less than what he bought it for, but soon gets buyer's remorse as concerns arise over what will happen to his soul if he's unable to rid himself of the sinister object before he dies.
Reasons to watch:
French depictions of the devil are always fascinating because they never show the King of Hell as terribly scary or all-powerful. More often than not, as in La Main du diable, the devil is portrayed as a greedy but beatable con artist who you can dupe reasonably easily once you figure out the game and hit 'em with the Uno reverse card. With that in hand, this underseen French classic, full of evocative photography from the great Armand Thirard, offers thrills and delights galore.
Where to watch:
The Criterion Channel
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