Post by Mighty Jack on Jun 24, 2010 0:15:41 GMT -5
The American Era
1940 Rebecca
1940 Foreign Correspondent
1941 Mr. & Mrs. Smith
A most unlikely Hitchcock film - it's a screwball comedy with the queen of screwball, Carol Lombard. She, with Robert Montgomery (The real life father to the young blond crewman in 12 to the Moon) play a childish married couple who find out that their marriage license isn't valid.
Smith is a charming little thing, not a spectacular screwball comedy. Hitch doesn't quite get the movement and timing down that the greats of this genre (Howard Hawks above all) mastered.
But there are some good camera shots, especially at the fair - and a couple of real laugh out loud moments. The scene where the couple returns to an old restaurant is hysterical. As is Montgomery getting set up on a blind date - spotting his wife with another, and pretending to talk to the classier lady sitting to his left (His real date is rather obnoxious and unpolished).
Not an entire success, Mr. & Mrs. Smith still offers up enough nice touches to make it worth the watch.
1941 Suspicion
Might very well have been a female version of Vertigo had Hitch been allowed to film the ending he wanted and had Joan Fontaine been as good an actor as Jimmy Stewart. The idea that she knows her husband is going to murder her, but she allows it because she can't live without him would have made for a chilling psychological tale. But the end was forcibly changed and despite her Oscar win, Fontaine would never have had the acting chops to carry such a heavy role convincingly.
Suspicion succeeds on many levels, and has many memorable Hitchcock touches (The "Milk" scene is a classic) but while many fans rank this among the best, it's not one of my favorites. Fontaine never convinces me on how and why she’d love a man who is a liar and cheat with a hair trigger temper. He is handsome and woke something inside her sexually – I understand the desire – but Fontaine doesn’t sell it and because I can’t buy it, this weakens the whole story for me.
1942 Saboteur
Man on the run tries to stop a spy ring (think of this as the lesser, middle sibling of 39 Steps and North by Northwest): Even Hitch admitted that there was too much in this flick. It's as if there are a lot of small movies wrapped within the bigger picture. But while it might not be a cohesive work, there are so many highlights: The moments with the circus people, the section where a spy named Fry smirks knowingly at seeing a ship on its side, the ending atop the Statue of Liberty and oh those colorful villains who steal every scene (Norman Lloyd as Frank Fry, Otto Kruger is an absolute gem in the part of the smooth Charles Tobin. And Alan Baxter is soft spoken, off kilter and kind of creepy as Mr. Freeman (that bit about having long curly locks as a boy? Weird.). All of this makes Saboteur must see Hitchcock despite the flaws.
1943 Shadow of a Doubt
1944 Lifeboat
1945 Spellbound
A female psychiatrist protects the identity of an amnesia patient accused of murder while attempting to recover his memory (IMBD). Had a lesser talent directed it, this would have been an easily forgotten melodrama. Bergman herself said it wasn't a very good film. But there are pockets of pure brilliance, which make it a movie I've revisited happily from time to time. The Dali dream sequence, the tragic scene with Peck's brother, the gunshot at the end and Hitches use of doors and subjective camera angels to represent both barriers and moments of clarity are memorable. Nice use of the theremin too. Still there are elements that haven’t aged well - The condescending attitude towards a professional woman losing it over a man, some of the psychotherapy in the movie has lost its impact and while I like the otherworldly feel of Hitchcock’s films, the back-screen effect during the skiing scene was so cheesy it hurt.
1946 Notorious
1948 The Paradine Case
Paradine holds so much promise, Hitch directing a courtroom drama with a cast that includes Gregory Peck and Charles Laughton? It should have been gold.
Sadly, the movie drags with too many speeches (Within the court it's understood, but we get many more outside of the legal arena) and the mystery isn't very compelling.
There are some nice touches here and there. And the thread about love betrayed, broken or doomed in each character adds some depth. But the movie as a whole is kind of, well, dull. Watchable but minor Hitchcock.
1949 Rope
1949 Under Capricorn
I have discovered that even minor Hitchcock offers up some delights. Capricorn is a costume drama that saw Hitch continuing to experiment with the long takes he used in Rope. When the camera is still, this experiment fails. Long static bits of dialog becomes tedious and I found my mind wandering - but when Hitch moves the camera during these long takes, it's quite amazing.
The camera sweeps through houses, up stairs, following characters in and around rooms like a character itself. With these shots the film feels innovative and alive.
There's also some very nice acting from Michael Wilding, great acting by Joseph Cotten, some overwrought but good work from Ingrid Bergman and a nice nasty effort from Margaret Leighton, who channels Mrs. Danvers (Rebecca) in her role as Milly the maid.
The love story between Cotton and Bergman is tragic but powerful. There's a lot of hurt between the two, but also respect and a deep love that holds tight through the toughest situations. Cotton is grumpy and insecure (He used to be a stable boy and has married above his station) but there is something fresh in Hitchcock's approach - the cynicism about marriage is still there, but this time out he gives us hope. That true love, not Hollywood romance, but nasty, painful, honest love - can survive going through hell and back.
Capricorn isn't a very good film, parts are better than the whole, but I found much to admire with this viewing.
1950 Stage Fright
1951 Strangers on a Train
1953 I Confess
One of Hitchs most personal (Him being raised a Jesuit) and most serious movies. It's about a Catholic Priest who hears a confession of murder, and is soon implicated in that murder.
Montgomery Clift stars, and he's good but hard to relate too. Karl Malden (who plays the cop) is another of several fine performances to be found within the film, but again, it's difficult to make a connection with any of the characters.
The direction is brilliant visually. It has a very Film Noir feel to it. The sharp angles of the buildings and statuary brings a sense of foreboding. The movie starts to lose a bit of steam during the flashback scene. I was getting a little impatient as the exposition seemed to drag on and on and having Anne Baxter voice everything we can see on the screen became a distraction (I know she's telling the story to the detective, but was it vital we, the audience, hear her say... "It began to rain"? We can see it's raining!) The Courtroom parts just weren't compelling to me. Oh Hitch does some nice work here, but the pacing slows the plot down.
It's odd. I would think Hitch would have fit perfectly with courtroom drama, yet after watching this and the Paradine Case, it seems an area that didn't spark the Directors great imagination.
All told, I like "I Confess" and feel it's an important work visually, but not all of the pieces fit smoothly. Of Note: Al Hirschfeld's wife has a small role in the picture, playing the part of Alma.
1954 Dial “M” For Murder
1954 Rear Window
1955 To Catch a Thief
1955 The Trouble With Harry
The trouble with Harry is that he's dead, and everyone seems to have a different idea of what needs to be done with his body. Beautiful looking film is a departure for Hitch. A black comedy that's quirky, well acted but somewhat uninvolving for me.
While John Forsyth's witty eccentric artist was enjoyable and there are a couple of nice laughs, overall it didn't win me over - There's not a lot of the directors usual visual touches and though many people swear by it, I feel it's one of his lesser works. With Jerry Mathers and Shirly MacLaine.
1956 The Man Who Knew Too Much
1956 The Wrong Man
1958 Vertigo
1959 North by Northwest
1960 Psycho
1963 The Birds
1964 Marnie
1966 The Torn Curtain
An American scientist publicly defects to East Germany as part of a cloak and dagger mission to find the solution for a formula resin and then figuring out a plan to escape back to the West. (IMDB) Curtain was Hitchs 50th film and isn't as bad as critics said at the time. It's no Vertigo, but it's solid, well told with many a memorable scene (the killing of East German agent for one). There are times when it drags, the bits with the crazy old lady at the end bogged down the story and was unnecessary, but overall it's a good movie with good performances from Paul Newman and Julie Andrews.
1969 Topaz
Minor Hitchcock and right from the credits (what no Saul Bass?) I knew it was going to be pretty artless. There are a few flourishes, but for the most part it's slow, too long with too much plot which makes it come off like a "how to" on spying, rather than a tense international thriller.
A few MST3K Connections - Stewart Moss (It Lives By Night) has a small uncredit part. Also in the cast I spotted, Inspector Ginko from Diabolik, Arturo Ramos from Black Scorpion, the French guy from 12 to the Moon and the guide from Leech Woman.
Hitch Returns Home
1972 Frenzy
1976 The Family Plot
Hitches final film was a dark comedy caper that was ripped by critics, Plot is not Hitches best work, but neither is it his worst.
FP still shows that the old man still had a razor sharp mind. Their are the process shots, which do look creaky at this point in his career (especially since he seems to have moved away from dream like expressionism) but there are also many intelligent bits of direction, as in the scene at the funeral. And frequent bits of naughty humor and suspense.
Where it flounders is in the many scenes set in cars where we are greeted with too much exposition. This is something that was out of character for Hitch. Aside from the thrilling and funny "Car out of control" sequence - These wordy scenes kind of grind the suspense machine to a halt. So the movie sputters and starts and hiccups and moves and never flows as a Hitchcock classic does. The acting is aces. The final scene is cute and I like Family Plot... though I acknowledge it's not the film maker at the top of his game.
Note: In the 40s Hitch directed 4 war effort shorts….
Bon Voyage (1944 – 26 min) POW tells Captain how he escaped the Nazis. I’ve heard good things about this one
Aveture malgache (1944 – 30 min) 2 actors discuss how a radio program beat the Nazis
The Fighting Generation (1944) Stars Jennifer Jones and it’s pushing War Bonds
Watchtower Over Tomorrow (1945 – 15 min) About the formation of the United Nations
1940 Rebecca
1940 Foreign Correspondent
1941 Mr. & Mrs. Smith
A most unlikely Hitchcock film - it's a screwball comedy with the queen of screwball, Carol Lombard. She, with Robert Montgomery (The real life father to the young blond crewman in 12 to the Moon) play a childish married couple who find out that their marriage license isn't valid.
Smith is a charming little thing, not a spectacular screwball comedy. Hitch doesn't quite get the movement and timing down that the greats of this genre (Howard Hawks above all) mastered.
But there are some good camera shots, especially at the fair - and a couple of real laugh out loud moments. The scene where the couple returns to an old restaurant is hysterical. As is Montgomery getting set up on a blind date - spotting his wife with another, and pretending to talk to the classier lady sitting to his left (His real date is rather obnoxious and unpolished).
Not an entire success, Mr. & Mrs. Smith still offers up enough nice touches to make it worth the watch.
1941 Suspicion
Might very well have been a female version of Vertigo had Hitch been allowed to film the ending he wanted and had Joan Fontaine been as good an actor as Jimmy Stewart. The idea that she knows her husband is going to murder her, but she allows it because she can't live without him would have made for a chilling psychological tale. But the end was forcibly changed and despite her Oscar win, Fontaine would never have had the acting chops to carry such a heavy role convincingly.
Suspicion succeeds on many levels, and has many memorable Hitchcock touches (The "Milk" scene is a classic) but while many fans rank this among the best, it's not one of my favorites. Fontaine never convinces me on how and why she’d love a man who is a liar and cheat with a hair trigger temper. He is handsome and woke something inside her sexually – I understand the desire – but Fontaine doesn’t sell it and because I can’t buy it, this weakens the whole story for me.
1942 Saboteur
Man on the run tries to stop a spy ring (think of this as the lesser, middle sibling of 39 Steps and North by Northwest): Even Hitch admitted that there was too much in this flick. It's as if there are a lot of small movies wrapped within the bigger picture. But while it might not be a cohesive work, there are so many highlights: The moments with the circus people, the section where a spy named Fry smirks knowingly at seeing a ship on its side, the ending atop the Statue of Liberty and oh those colorful villains who steal every scene (Norman Lloyd as Frank Fry, Otto Kruger is an absolute gem in the part of the smooth Charles Tobin. And Alan Baxter is soft spoken, off kilter and kind of creepy as Mr. Freeman (that bit about having long curly locks as a boy? Weird.). All of this makes Saboteur must see Hitchcock despite the flaws.
1943 Shadow of a Doubt
1944 Lifeboat
1945 Spellbound
A female psychiatrist protects the identity of an amnesia patient accused of murder while attempting to recover his memory (IMBD). Had a lesser talent directed it, this would have been an easily forgotten melodrama. Bergman herself said it wasn't a very good film. But there are pockets of pure brilliance, which make it a movie I've revisited happily from time to time. The Dali dream sequence, the tragic scene with Peck's brother, the gunshot at the end and Hitches use of doors and subjective camera angels to represent both barriers and moments of clarity are memorable. Nice use of the theremin too. Still there are elements that haven’t aged well - The condescending attitude towards a professional woman losing it over a man, some of the psychotherapy in the movie has lost its impact and while I like the otherworldly feel of Hitchcock’s films, the back-screen effect during the skiing scene was so cheesy it hurt.
1946 Notorious
1948 The Paradine Case
Paradine holds so much promise, Hitch directing a courtroom drama with a cast that includes Gregory Peck and Charles Laughton? It should have been gold.
Sadly, the movie drags with too many speeches (Within the court it's understood, but we get many more outside of the legal arena) and the mystery isn't very compelling.
There are some nice touches here and there. And the thread about love betrayed, broken or doomed in each character adds some depth. But the movie as a whole is kind of, well, dull. Watchable but minor Hitchcock.
1949 Rope
1949 Under Capricorn
I have discovered that even minor Hitchcock offers up some delights. Capricorn is a costume drama that saw Hitch continuing to experiment with the long takes he used in Rope. When the camera is still, this experiment fails. Long static bits of dialog becomes tedious and I found my mind wandering - but when Hitch moves the camera during these long takes, it's quite amazing.
The camera sweeps through houses, up stairs, following characters in and around rooms like a character itself. With these shots the film feels innovative and alive.
There's also some very nice acting from Michael Wilding, great acting by Joseph Cotten, some overwrought but good work from Ingrid Bergman and a nice nasty effort from Margaret Leighton, who channels Mrs. Danvers (Rebecca) in her role as Milly the maid.
The love story between Cotton and Bergman is tragic but powerful. There's a lot of hurt between the two, but also respect and a deep love that holds tight through the toughest situations. Cotton is grumpy and insecure (He used to be a stable boy and has married above his station) but there is something fresh in Hitchcock's approach - the cynicism about marriage is still there, but this time out he gives us hope. That true love, not Hollywood romance, but nasty, painful, honest love - can survive going through hell and back.
Capricorn isn't a very good film, parts are better than the whole, but I found much to admire with this viewing.
1950 Stage Fright
1951 Strangers on a Train
1953 I Confess
One of Hitchs most personal (Him being raised a Jesuit) and most serious movies. It's about a Catholic Priest who hears a confession of murder, and is soon implicated in that murder.
Montgomery Clift stars, and he's good but hard to relate too. Karl Malden (who plays the cop) is another of several fine performances to be found within the film, but again, it's difficult to make a connection with any of the characters.
The direction is brilliant visually. It has a very Film Noir feel to it. The sharp angles of the buildings and statuary brings a sense of foreboding. The movie starts to lose a bit of steam during the flashback scene. I was getting a little impatient as the exposition seemed to drag on and on and having Anne Baxter voice everything we can see on the screen became a distraction (I know she's telling the story to the detective, but was it vital we, the audience, hear her say... "It began to rain"? We can see it's raining!) The Courtroom parts just weren't compelling to me. Oh Hitch does some nice work here, but the pacing slows the plot down.
It's odd. I would think Hitch would have fit perfectly with courtroom drama, yet after watching this and the Paradine Case, it seems an area that didn't spark the Directors great imagination.
All told, I like "I Confess" and feel it's an important work visually, but not all of the pieces fit smoothly. Of Note: Al Hirschfeld's wife has a small role in the picture, playing the part of Alma.
1954 Dial “M” For Murder
1954 Rear Window
1955 To Catch a Thief
1955 The Trouble With Harry
The trouble with Harry is that he's dead, and everyone seems to have a different idea of what needs to be done with his body. Beautiful looking film is a departure for Hitch. A black comedy that's quirky, well acted but somewhat uninvolving for me.
While John Forsyth's witty eccentric artist was enjoyable and there are a couple of nice laughs, overall it didn't win me over - There's not a lot of the directors usual visual touches and though many people swear by it, I feel it's one of his lesser works. With Jerry Mathers and Shirly MacLaine.
1956 The Man Who Knew Too Much
1956 The Wrong Man
1958 Vertigo
1959 North by Northwest
1960 Psycho
1963 The Birds
1964 Marnie
1966 The Torn Curtain
An American scientist publicly defects to East Germany as part of a cloak and dagger mission to find the solution for a formula resin and then figuring out a plan to escape back to the West. (IMDB) Curtain was Hitchs 50th film and isn't as bad as critics said at the time. It's no Vertigo, but it's solid, well told with many a memorable scene (the killing of East German agent for one). There are times when it drags, the bits with the crazy old lady at the end bogged down the story and was unnecessary, but overall it's a good movie with good performances from Paul Newman and Julie Andrews.
1969 Topaz
Minor Hitchcock and right from the credits (what no Saul Bass?) I knew it was going to be pretty artless. There are a few flourishes, but for the most part it's slow, too long with too much plot which makes it come off like a "how to" on spying, rather than a tense international thriller.
A few MST3K Connections - Stewart Moss (It Lives By Night) has a small uncredit part. Also in the cast I spotted, Inspector Ginko from Diabolik, Arturo Ramos from Black Scorpion, the French guy from 12 to the Moon and the guide from Leech Woman.
Hitch Returns Home
1972 Frenzy
1976 The Family Plot
Hitches final film was a dark comedy caper that was ripped by critics, Plot is not Hitches best work, but neither is it his worst.
FP still shows that the old man still had a razor sharp mind. Their are the process shots, which do look creaky at this point in his career (especially since he seems to have moved away from dream like expressionism) but there are also many intelligent bits of direction, as in the scene at the funeral. And frequent bits of naughty humor and suspense.
Where it flounders is in the many scenes set in cars where we are greeted with too much exposition. This is something that was out of character for Hitch. Aside from the thrilling and funny "Car out of control" sequence - These wordy scenes kind of grind the suspense machine to a halt. So the movie sputters and starts and hiccups and moves and never flows as a Hitchcock classic does. The acting is aces. The final scene is cute and I like Family Plot... though I acknowledge it's not the film maker at the top of his game.
Note: In the 40s Hitch directed 4 war effort shorts….
Bon Voyage (1944 – 26 min) POW tells Captain how he escaped the Nazis. I’ve heard good things about this one
Aveture malgache (1944 – 30 min) 2 actors discuss how a radio program beat the Nazis
The Fighting Generation (1944) Stars Jennifer Jones and it’s pushing War Bonds
Watchtower Over Tomorrow (1945 – 15 min) About the formation of the United Nations