Amph The Films of Alfred Hitchcock: Disc: ]Alfred Hitchcock's Secret of Happiness

I know I have seen it, but it was a long time ago. The fact that I don't remember anything about it suggests it is not one of my favourite Hitchcocks.

 

Costume pictures aren't Hitchcock's forte. His only other one, "Under Capricorn" was a flop.

I recorded "Jamaica Inn" from TCM...I still haven't watched it.

 

And..."Jamaica Inn" is on tonight on TCM along with several other Hitchcocks.

 

Hitchcock made three films from Daphne Dumaurier material--"Rebecca", "The Birds" and "Jamaica Inn". The latter is the worst. There's something wrong with the sound, for one thing, and the pace is too frenetic to catch the plot. Laughton is made up stupidly, but he's fun, and O'Hara is a stunner, even in black and white.

 

I watched "Sabotage" after recording off TCM.

It's very good, indeed. Hitchcock fought constantly with Sylvia Sydney, but she's highly effective, especially in the "Who Killed Cock Robin?" sequences. Holmolka is a very effective villain.

 

The Lego version of the shower scene in "Psycho"

 

That's great lol.

 

TCM has "Vertigo", "Rear Window", "Notorious" and "Psycho" on today.

 

Hitchcock must be rolling over in his grave. That was hilarious. Though it's even more chilling that she smiles the entire time.

Lots of great films on this weekend from the Master of Suspense.

 

NORTH BY NORTH was on TCM tonight and something caught my attention in the train dining car scene. Roger Thornhill's matchbook is seen and it's monographed with his initials: R O T
Yves St. Marie asks him what the "O" stands for, and he says it stands for nothing.

Question: What Hollywood Producer that Hitchcock loathed ALSO had a middle initial of "O" which stood for nothing?

David O. Selznick

I'm amazed as many times as I've seen that film that I never caught that connection before.

One more little jab from the Master of Suspense...and Subtlety.

 

Oh, yeah. Hitchcock *hated* Selznick.

 

As much as they disagreed creatively, I still think Hitchcock should have been grateful to Selznick for bringing him to Hollywood, and setting him on the road toward becoming a very rich man.

 

Hitchcock's Focus on the Wrongly Accused

 

[http://iconsoffright.com/news/2008/08/is_there_an_unseen_directors_c.html]Is there a director's cut of "Psycho"?[/link]


I very much doubt it. Hitchcock usually planned his films meticulously, with story boards, so that there was almost no extraneous footage. That way the suits could not recut it.

OTOH: He made "Psycho" independently.

 

A take on the Vanity Fair's Hitchcock Photos

I agree with some of this (the "Strangers on a Train" photo) and disagree with a lot more (particularly Zegweller's take on Kim Novak, which is a disaster.)

 

I agree with the article about a couple of the pictures; mainly, I think the Charlize Theron pic is brilliant. But you're right about Zellwegger; it's a disaster. Particularly bad is the Downey/Paltrow one. On the other hand, Naomi Watts is fantastic and I rather like the Strangers on a Train.

 

The Strangers on a Train photo does not work...possibly because McAvoy telegraphs Bruno's emotions too blatantly. YMMV.

 

I don't see how Zellwegger's take on Novak is a disaster. I think it's pretty uncanny. And the article's right--she captures the essence, which is most important.

 

She looks like Anne Bancroft, not Kim Novak.

 

I'm not sure if Naomi Watts really looks like Tippi Hedren, but she sure looks like Nicole Kidman.

 

Tonight "Strangers on a Train" will be shown on TCM, for those who haven't seen it...

 

And for those who have seen it, repeatedly, but still can't get enough.

 

Watched it. Still holds up after all these years. Love the scene at the party where Bruno strangles the matron. Her interest in murder, which she discusses with such relish you'd think it was gourmet food or a party game, is PURE Hitchcock. He loved the subject, which is why he was to murder stories what John Ford was to Westerns.

 

I watched it, too. Masterful. For the first time, I noticed the setting sun in the Metcalfe carnival scenes at the end.

 

Saturday night (PT) on TCM:

5:00pm [Suspense/Mystery] Saboteur (1942)
A young man accused of sabotage goes on the lam to prove his innocence.
Cast: Priscilla Lane, Robert Cummings, Otto Kruger, Alan Baxter Dir: Alfred Hitchcock BW-109 mins, TV-PG

7:00pm [Suspense/Mystery] Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
A young girl fears her favorite uncle may be a killer.
Cast: Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, MacDonald Carey, Henry Travers Dir: Alfred Hitchcock BW-108 mins, TV-PG

9:00pm [Suspense/Mystery] Foreign Correspondent (1940)
An American reporter covering the war in Europe gets mixed up in the assassination of a Dutch diplomat.
Cast: Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall, George Sanders Dir: Alfred Hitchcock BW-120 mins, TV-PG

11:15pm [Suspense/Mystery] Rebecca (1940)
A young bride is terrorized by the memories of her husband's glamorous first wife.
Cast: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson Dir: Alfred Hitchcock BW-130 mins, TV-PG


The pick of this bunch is "Shadow of a Doubt"; there are a few bumps, but this was one of Hitchcock's favorite films...evil comes to town, in the form of dear ole Uncle Charlie. Joseph Cotten has the role of his career, with the possible exception of Holly Martins in "The Third Man". Lots of doppelganger imagery, prefiguring "Strangers on a Train"

"Foreign Correspondent" is very entertaining. McCrea is lightweight but charming.

"Saboteur" Made for Universal on a shoestring, and the cast is dull and downmarket. But it's not boring, Dorothy Parker wrote some funny scenes, and it features a denouement on the Statute of Liberty.

"Rebecca" One of Hitchcock's great successes, but he's never at his best with Selznick producing, and this is tight and often dull. Olivier is miscast, and doesn't even try (he was pouting about Vivien Leigh not being cast opposite him); Fontaine, OTOH, is good, if drippy. Stellar supporting cast.