Strictly Hitchcock

I've loved Alfred Hitchcock's body of work nearly without exception since I first became aware of it.

As an American I'm interested in what English members think (as well as all members) of his contribution to film.

Without hesitation Vertigo touches a place very deep inside me. It's my favorite Hitchcock film. Some say Rear Window is the height of voyeurism. I say Vertigo supercedes it in that quality.

This scene speaks to the "other worldliness" of that entire film.

At the very end see how Madeleine Elster (Kim Novak) appears to float out of the scene.

Whenever I'm in San Francisco I go up Nob Hill and stare, mouth agape, at the Brockleback Apartments (now Empire Hotel):
http://blogs.indiewire.com/gabe/archive/CONDO1
Vertigo is also my favorite. The scene you reference has the trademark (almost uncomfortably) long, unbroken patented Hitchcock panning camera shot. Kim Novak played that role to the hilt.

North By Northwest is a close second. Clever use of Mount Rushmore .

J?

Do you know that Vera Miles was his first choice and that Hitchcock was NOT in favor of Novak??

Imagine anyone BUT her in that role!

(Just watched Picnic last night and I'm on a Kim Novak kick.. sorry)

Kim, to this day, credits Jimmy Stewart with calming her fear of the indominable Alfred. Here's another scene that simply cannot (in my opinion) be viewed too often.

J? Does the house where "Carlotta Valdez" kept her room really exist? Do you know??

The Henry J. Fortmann Mansion, used as the home of Carlotta Valdez has been demolished:
http://www.mistersf.com/cinema/index...nvertigo10.htm

San Francisco is indeed a star in this film. I have to mention Sudden Fear, another great S.F. movie.

Imagine what Gone With The Wind would have been like had Bette Davis not turned it down? As for a lesser film, seeing Olivia de Haviland play the role that was taken from Joan Crawford was worth it. Seeing her so cruel was wonderful!

Yes, Kim Novak was perfect.

J??

Do you reference de Haviland's role in Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte??

That scene after they've disposed of Joseph Cotten's body and Miriam stops the car and smacks Charlotte is beyond classic!!!

(the "you SHUT your mouth.... " then the face slapping one....) Olivia oozes hatred in her expression and her voice!

I cannot believe you landed on that particular piece of film history perfection.

I'd never believe I'd see myself write this but I'm glad Joan bailed on that role.

I just realised I didn't reference the film but for you I don't need to . I'm glad Joan bailed on it too. Olivia was a vision.

BTW, The Birds...was awful.

Oh...and speaking of Sudden Fear...
http://www.mistersf.com/cinema/index...nvertigo10.htm

The Birds is dreadful yes! I do like Jessica Tandy's reaction to the "birded farmer" however. It's totally hitchcockian.

I'm on the fence about Tippi Hedrin. I liked her in Marnie well enough especially when her morther says "Marnie .. get up. Your hurtin' ma leg" But (forgive me this) I feel about her kind of the way I do about Grace Kelly. The two are too studied (consciously) and one-dimensional in their acting.

Both are pretty but it sort of ends there for me.

The 50s appear to have been Hitch's heyday. Vertigo and Rear Window are the finest. But certainly The Man who Knew too Much has some good stuff and it has that wonderful Ambrose Chappell taxidermy scene which always glues me to my seat.

I think a lot of his films were actually ahead of thier time. if he was around today he would put most of these other film makers in the shade.
Virtigo or Psycho are my favorites.

I liked every Hitchcock film (well, maybe not The Birds excpet it is entertainingly campy), and I think only a master could have made Lifeboat interesting (and get a controlled performance from Tallulah Bankhead). I think he returned to top form in Frenzy.

It's interesting that you bring up Hitchcock, Stronzo. Comcast Cable in the Boston area has been showing about 10 Hitchcock films for free on demand during August and September. Over the past two months, I have the opportunity to watch the majority of Hitckcock's films.

Overall, I prefer the black and white Hitchcock movies produced by Selznik that came out in the '30s and '40s. They start to dabble in Freudian psychological motives, yet they aren't overdone as in "Psycho" and "Marnie". The same applies for the special effects. I do find Tippie Hedron of "Marnie" and "The Birds" fame, however, to be the most intriguing of the women who starred in a Hitchcock film.

The most underrated of his films is Rope . Two bachelors, friends from their boarding school days, share a New York penthouse apartment. (It's implied that they are more than just friends to a discerning eye) They committed the perfect "Nietschean" crime of murder by killing one of their boarding school mates and then hide his body in the apartment. Meanwhile, they host a dinner party featuring the victim's father, aunt, fiance, the bachelors' maid, and the boys' mentor/house master at boarding school. The school master, played James Stewart, unravels their mystery.


The 1970s Hitchcock tends to be a bit out there and is rehash of Hitchcock's sense of intrigue applied to trite 70s oriented themes - sexual liberation, glam girls, the occult.