Best Hitchcock movies
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From: Scott on 16 Jul 2010 08:40 On Jul 16, 8:31 am, "Raja, The Great" <zepflo...(a)gmail.com> wrote: > On Jul 16, 6:18 am, Scott <scott...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > > > > > > On Jul 16, 6:56 am, "Raja, The Great" <zepflo...(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > > On Jul 16, 5:49 am, Scott <scott...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > > > > "I have watched all these movies...except The Birds, > > > > I like all of them. I am not a very big fan of either North By > > > > Northwest (a James Bond type movie which I didn't find too thrilling) > > > > or Vertigo (somewhat cold, I couldn't sympathize with any character). > > > > I like the early ones better." > > > > > NxNW inspired the James Bond film canon. the Bond series was born in > > > > NxNW. > > > > > i saw Vertigo recently. it is amazingly absurd and unbelievable, yet > > > > i think it is on a short list of great American movies. no one has > > > > really captured the futility of believing quite like Hitchcock's V. > > > > Jimmy Stewart is also excellent; there's not a wrong note with any of > > > > his lines. > > > > I think Jimmy was good. He does this desperate kind of roles very > > > well. Even in Rear Window, he was at his best, when he was in > > > desperate situations. But I did not like Kim Novak. She was very > > > wooden. > > > > > a forgotten film from his early days is 'Young and Innocent'. it is > > > > solid. > > > > > my favorite AH movies are probably: > > > > > 1. Notorious > > > > 2. Rear Window > > > > 3. Vertigo > > > > 4. the Lady Vanishes > > > > 5. Strangers on a Train > > > > 6. Psycho > > > > 7. Shadow of a Doubt > > > > 8. N x NW > > > > 9. 39 Steps > > > > 10. Young and Innocent > > > > Great list, what about Rebecca? I haven't seen Young and Innocent. I > > > like it that you have The Lady Vanishes that high. It is a great > > > movie. What about Dial M For Murder? Have you seen Rope or Lifeboat? > > > They are great experimental movies.- > > > shoot...i forgot about Rope, Lifeboat and Rebecca. they are all > > awesome. > > > Lifeboat is Hitchcock at his most real (i.e., complete opposite of N x > > NW and V). it has some really inspiring scenes at the end. in a > > particular scene, Tallulah Bankhead has lines that are unforgettable; > > not just in Hitchcock's catalogue but everyone else's. > > Tallulah back when she was young.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfibtX7YIZ4- haven't seen 'The Cheat'. i suppose it teaches you not to leave branding irons and loaded guns within easy reach at home.
From: Raja, The Great on 16 Jul 2010 08:50 On Jul 16, 7:40 am, Scott <scott...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > On Jul 16, 8:31 am, "Raja, The Great" <zepflo...(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > > On Jul 16, 6:18 am, Scott <scott...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > > > On Jul 16, 6:56 am, "Raja, The Great" <zepflo...(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > On Jul 16, 5:49 am, Scott <scott...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > > > > > "I have watched all these movies...except The Birds, > > > > > I like all of them. I am not a very big fan of either North By > > > > > Northwest (a James Bond type movie which I didn't find too thrilling) > > > > > or Vertigo (somewhat cold, I couldn't sympathize with any character). > > > > > I like the early ones better." > > > > > > NxNW inspired the James Bond film canon. the Bond series was born in > > > > > NxNW. > > > > > > i saw Vertigo recently. it is amazingly absurd and unbelievable, yet > > > > > i think it is on a short list of great American movies. no one has > > > > > really captured the futility of believing quite like Hitchcock's V. > > > > > Jimmy Stewart is also excellent; there's not a wrong note with any of > > > > > his lines. > > > > > I think Jimmy was good. He does this desperate kind of roles very > > > > well. Even in Rear Window, he was at his best, when he was in > > > > desperate situations. But I did not like Kim Novak. She was very > > > > wooden. > > > > > > a forgotten film from his early days is 'Young and Innocent'. it is > > > > > solid. > > > > > > my favorite AH movies are probably: > > > > > > 1. Notorious > > > > > 2. Rear Window > > > > > 3. Vertigo > > > > > 4. the Lady Vanishes > > > > > 5. Strangers on a Train > > > > > 6. Psycho > > > > > 7. Shadow of a Doubt > > > > > 8. N x NW > > > > > 9. 39 Steps > > > > > 10. Young and Innocent > > > > > Great list, what about Rebecca? I haven't seen Young and Innocent. I > > > > like it that you have The Lady Vanishes that high. It is a great > > > > movie. What about Dial M For Murder? Have you seen Rope or Lifeboat? > > > > They are great experimental movies.- > > > > shoot...i forgot about Rope, Lifeboat and Rebecca. they are all > > > awesome. > > > > Lifeboat is Hitchcock at his most real (i.e., complete opposite of N x > > > NW and V). it has some really inspiring scenes at the end. in a > > > particular scene, Tallulah Bankhead has lines that are unforgettable; > > > not just in Hitchcock's catalogue but everyone else's. > > > Tallulah back when she was young.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfibtX7YIZ4- > > haven't seen 'The Cheat'. i suppose it teaches you not to leave > branding irons and loaded guns within easy reach at home. lol, yeah.
From: Raja, The Great on 16 Jul 2010 08:50 Check this out... Lifeboat as high as #8. http://www.suspense-movies.com/directors/alfred-hitchcock/ Each time you enter a video store, you see them aimlessly wander the aisles. Dyed-in-the-wool movie fans, who after several years of renting, have exhausted the films they know or have heard something about. Even the most casual fan knows and appreciates Alfred Hitchcock's three most famous films: Psycho, North by Northwest and The Birds. These three masterpieces were made consecutively near the end of Hitchcock's brilliant career. But he made fifty-one other movies over a span of five decades. Not all are masterpieces. They range from breathtaking to annoying. Facing rows of DVDs in the "Hitchcock" section can cause sensory overload... so many choices, so many opportunities to skip over the classics and choose one of the dogs. With that in mind, here is my list of the ten "next best" Hitchcock films to rent after you've enjoyed the famous three. 1) Rear Window, 1954. Though too claustrophobic to equal his best movies, Rear Window nails all the themes that reoccur throughout Hitchcock's work. As Jimmy Stewart unravels a mystery, much of the film is without dialogue. Between the intriguing camera shots and Stewart's facial expressions, the audience must deduce what exactly is going on for themselves. 2) Strangers on a Train, 1951. Alfred Hitchcock believed in a film device called the McGuffin. A McGuffin is the thing the characters in the movie care about, but we as the audience ignore. The McGuffin is what sets the story in motion. Psycho's McGuffin is Janet Leigh stealing $50,000. Strangers' McGuffin may be the best ever conceived for a film. Robert Walker is unforgettable. 3) Foreign Correspondent, 1940. All Alfred Hitchcock films made during World War II are a bit flawed today by the extreme hysteria that was a natural reaction then. All, that is, except Foreign Correspondent. It features his most three-dimensional villain of this period and ends with an impassioned call to patriotism. If nothing else, we are shown how heroes are made out of the most unlikely candidates. Also, it'd be years before Hitchcock had this much fun again. 4) The 39 Steps, 1935. In the 1926's The Lodger, Hitchcock first presented his familiar predicament: an innocent man falsely accused of a crime. The 39 Steps has the twist of being about an innocent man falsely accused of being a spy. Loaded with memorable scenes and fun bantering between Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll, this film features one of Hitchcock's most intriguing stories. While flawed by some incomprehensible British dialogue (why do they swallow the last half of their words?), the film is frustrating because when one of the characters, in a riveting scene, answers the question, "What are the 39 Steps?", we want to know more. Unfortunately, the movie mostly ignores the 39 Steps themselves. (The Steps are the films McGuffin. A remake focused on the Steps themselves.) In fact, although the villains are obviously German, the production code of the time prevented the characters from using "German" or "Nazi". Such cowardly "forced apathy" was in a great part what led to the successes and tragedies of fascism. 5) Dial M for Murder, 1954. There aren't many straight men in the world who would want to get rid of Grace Kelly as their wife, but Ray Milland is one. Too talky (and the money involved sounds comical today), but still a wonderful unraveling of a "perfect" crime. The major flaw is the ludicrous casting of Robert Cummings as the heroic lead. The love of his life is about to be executed and he still has time to perfectly arrange his hanky in his breast pocket. Grace Kelly does a surprisingly poor job, but her part is small. Milland is terrific when smugly in control. 6) The Lady Vanishes, 1938. A fine mystery where the bad guys (again, nobody calls them Germans) seek to convince a previously ditzy heiress (Margaret Lockwood) she didn't see what she saw: believe us, not your eyes. Building to a wonderfully tense conclusion, The Lady Vanishes today can be viewed as a microcosm of what the world faced in World War II: treachery, apathy, the big lie, lonely heroism, and finally, redemption. Particularly memorable are two English twits more concerned with cricket than important events swirling around them, until the evil forces demand that they abandon their sense of fair play and be a party to the evil. (The twits' characters became so popular they reappeared in other films, most notably the excellent Night Train to Munich.) 7) Shadow of a Doubt, 1943. Uncle Charlie was Hitchcock's first psychopath. Even though marred by the obvious paranoia of the times (the outsider is welcomed, but then found evil), Shadow of a Doubt brings terror into the guest room. Alfred Hitchcock knew it takes elements of the familiar and comfortable to create the most terrifying nightmares. In that way Shadow is the direct ancestor of The Birds and many modern horror movies. 8) Lifeboat, 1944. More World War II paranoia, but this time the few characters must wrestle with the dilemma of what to do with evil when it's staring you in the eye. Savage and angry, Lifeboat shows what a difference a decade makes. Here not only are the Germans the literal enemy, but John Hodiak pronounces "gnatsies" like he's spitting out poison. 9) To Catch a Thief, 1955. Besides North By Northwest, Cary Grant excelled in Notorious, Suspicion and this movie, making him the quintessential Hitchcock leading man. (Jimmy Stewart has to settle for second.) A retired thief, even Grant has to wonder when evidence in a series of burglaries points at him. Not a classic, but Thief is an interesting twist on the "innocent man falsely accused" theme. Grant was guilty as sin years before, but now he protests his innocence. 10) Torn Curtain, 1966. Not as widely revered as some of his other films, Torn Curtain is nonetheless quite entertaining. Starring Paul Newman and Julie Andrews (looking both gorgeous and heartbroken), this movie is chocked full of ordinary people moved to heroism. The bad guys are made particularly nasty by making them East Germans, as if being either Commies or Nazis alone is no longer enough! The farmhouse scene is a fine study in the ingenuity of desperation. Honorable mention: Notorious, possibly the last movie Nazis were the enemy and not the Soviets. Saboteur, terrific locations including Statue of Liberty scene, marred only by Robert Cummings again. The Man Who Knew Too Much, the 1934 version, not the much worse 1956 remake where Doris Day croons "Que Sera, Sera" as her son is hostage a few yards away. Also: Vertigo, ingenious (and starring Kim Novak) but just too painfully slow in spots. Rebecca, a wonderful idea but stretches the slim story out much too long. Spellbound, has moments but the archaic presentation of psychoanalysis is silly. The Wrong Man, based on a true story where the look-alike of a crook is arrested. Suspicion, could have been great but censors forced a ridiculous changed ending. Rope, The Lodger, Topaz, Frenzy, Murder, and I Confess are worth checking out. Amazingly, after all these, Alfred Hitchcock still has a decent body of work available in Blackmail, Sabotage, Young & Innocent, Secret Agent, Number 17, Marnie, The Trouble With Harry and Family Plot. If you get this far, you'll have seen some of the finest movies ever made, but don't be surprised if every bird, crop duster and shower curtain you see makes your skin tingle.
From: Scott on 16 Jul 2010 09:06 On Jul 16, 8:50 am, "Raja, The Great" <zepflo...(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Check this out... Lifeboat as high as #8. > > http://www.suspense-movies.com/directors/alfred-hitchcock/ > > Each time you enter a video store, you see them aimlessly wander the > aisles. Dyed-in-the-wool movie fans, who after several years of > renting, have exhausted the films they know or have heard something > about. Even the most casual fan knows and appreciates Alfred > Hitchcock's three most famous films: Psycho, North by Northwest and > The Birds. These three masterpieces were made consecutively near the > end of Hitchcock's brilliant career. But he made fifty-one other > movies over a span of five decades. Not all are masterpieces. They > range from breathtaking to annoying. Facing rows of DVDs in the > "Hitchcock" section can cause sensory overload... so many choices, so > many opportunities to skip over the classics and choose one of the > dogs. With that in mind, here is my list of the ten "next best" > Hitchcock films to rent after you've enjoyed the famous three. > > 1) Rear Window, 1954. Though too claustrophobic to equal his best > movies, Rear Window nails all the themes that reoccur throughout > Hitchcock's work. As Jimmy Stewart unravels a mystery, much of the > film is without dialogue. Between the intriguing camera shots and > Stewart's facial expressions, the audience must deduce what exactly is > going on for themselves. > > 2) Strangers on a Train, 1951. Alfred Hitchcock believed in a film > device called the McGuffin. A McGuffin is the thing the characters in > the movie care about, but we as the audience ignore. The McGuffin is > what sets the story in motion. Psycho's McGuffin is Janet Leigh > stealing $50,000. Strangers' McGuffin may be the best ever conceived > for a film. Robert Walker is unforgettable. > > 3) Foreign Correspondent, 1940. All Alfred Hitchcock films made during > World War II are a bit flawed today by the extreme hysteria that was a > natural reaction then. All, that is, except Foreign Correspondent. It > features his most three-dimensional villain of this period and ends > with an impassioned call to patriotism. If nothing else, we are shown > how heroes are made out of the most unlikely candidates. Also, it'd be > years before Hitchcock had this much fun again. > > 4) The 39 Steps, 1935. In the 1926's The Lodger, Hitchcock first > presented his familiar predicament: an innocent man falsely accused of > a crime. The 39 Steps has the twist of being about an innocent man > falsely accused of being a spy. Loaded with memorable scenes and fun > bantering between Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll, this film > features one of Hitchcock's most intriguing stories. While flawed by > some incomprehensible British dialogue (why do they swallow the last > half of their words?), the film is frustrating because when one of the > characters, in a riveting scene, answers the question, "What are the > 39 Steps?", we want to know more. Unfortunately, the movie mostly > ignores the 39 Steps themselves. (The Steps are the films McGuffin. A > remake focused on the Steps themselves.) In fact, although the > villains are obviously German, the production code of the time > prevented the characters from using "German" or "Nazi". Such cowardly > "forced apathy" was in a great part what led to the successes and > tragedies of fascism. > > 5) Dial M for Murder, 1954. There aren't many straight men in the > world who would want to get rid of Grace Kelly as their wife, but Ray > Milland is one. Too talky (and the money involved sounds comical > today), but still a wonderful unraveling of a "perfect" crime. The > major flaw is the ludicrous casting of Robert Cummings as the heroic > lead. The love of his life is about to be executed and he still has > time to perfectly arrange his hanky in his breast pocket. Grace Kelly > does a surprisingly poor job, but her part is small. Milland is > terrific when smugly in control. > > 6) The Lady Vanishes, 1938. A fine mystery where the bad guys (again, > nobody calls them Germans) seek to convince a previously ditzy heiress > (Margaret Lockwood) she didn't see what she saw: believe us, not your > eyes. Building to a wonderfully tense conclusion, The Lady Vanishes > today can be viewed as a microcosm of what the world faced in World > War II: treachery, apathy, the big lie, lonely heroism, and finally, > redemption. Particularly memorable are two English twits more > concerned with cricket than important events swirling around them, > until the evil forces demand that they abandon their sense of fair > play and be a party to the evil. (The twits' characters became so > popular they reappeared in other films, most notably the excellent > Night Train to Munich.) > > 7) Shadow of a Doubt, 1943. Uncle Charlie was Hitchcock's first > psychopath. Even though marred by the obvious paranoia of the times > (the outsider is welcomed, but then found evil), Shadow of a Doubt > brings terror into the guest room. Alfred Hitchcock knew it takes > elements of the familiar and comfortable to create the most terrifying > nightmares. In that way Shadow is the direct ancestor of The Birds and > many modern horror movies. > > 8) Lifeboat, 1944. More World War II paranoia, but this time the few > characters must wrestle with the dilemma of what to do with evil when > it's staring you in the eye. Savage and angry, Lifeboat shows what a > difference a decade makes. Here not only are the Germans the literal > enemy, but John Hodiak pronounces "gnatsies" like he's spitting out > poison. > > 9) To Catch a Thief, 1955. Besides North By Northwest, Cary Grant > excelled in Notorious, Suspicion and this movie, making him the > quintessential Hitchcock leading man. (Jimmy Stewart has to settle for > second.) A retired thief, even Grant has to wonder when evidence in a > series of burglaries points at him. Not a classic, but Thief is an > interesting twist on the "innocent man falsely accused" theme. Grant > was guilty as sin years before, but now he protests his innocence. > > 10) Torn Curtain, 1966. Not as widely revered as some of his other > films, Torn Curtain is nonetheless quite entertaining. Starring Paul > Newman and Julie Andrews (looking both gorgeous and heartbroken), this > movie is chocked full of ordinary people moved to heroism. The bad > guys are made particularly nasty by making them East Germans, as if > being either Commies or Nazis alone is no longer enough! The farmhouse > scene is a fine study in the ingenuity of desperation. > > Honorable mention: > Notorious, possibly the last movie Nazis were the enemy and not the > Soviets. > Saboteur, terrific locations including Statue of Liberty scene, marred > only by Robert Cummings again. > The Man Who Knew Too Much, the 1934 version, not the much worse 1956 > remake where Doris Day croons "Que Sera, Sera" as her son is hostage a > few yards away. > > Also: > Vertigo, ingenious (and starring Kim Novak) but just too painfully > slow in spots. > Rebecca, a wonderful idea but stretches the slim story out much too > long. > Spellbound, has moments but the archaic presentation of psychoanalysis > is silly. > The Wrong Man, based on a true story where the look-alike of a crook > is arrested. > Suspicion, could have been great but censors forced a ridiculous > changed ending. > Rope, The Lodger, Topaz, Frenzy, Murder, and I Confess are worth > checking out. > > Amazingly, after all these, Alfred Hitchcock still has a decent body > of work available in Blackmail, Sabotage, Young & Innocent, Secret > Agent, Number 17, Marnie, The Trouble With Harry and Family Plot. If > you get this far, you'll have seen some of the finest movies ever > made, but don't be surprised if every bird, crop duster and shower > curtain you see makes your skin tingle. i don't think i've seen Number 17. that's the only one I haven't on the list so far. Frenzy is great. the contrast between murder psychology (i.e., both lead male characters are capable of it) and the spot-on humor thrown in (i.e., the detective wife's cooking, Barry Foster's Mum) is typical AH. Secret Agent and Saboteur are notable in that they broke rules. Secret Agent is famous for two scenes, both of which break established cinematic conventions of the time. Saboteur is great stuff; i enjoy the flow. forgot to mention Spellbound. here's the psycho-babble genre personified. Amusing in retrospect, but fascinating to watch. Love the ending here. Marnie and Trouble with Harry are enjoyable. Topaz is noteworthy for a murder scene, but overall, disappoints. The Wrong Man is too soporific; it is not easy to watch today. I Confess is notable for an excellent flashback sequence. haven't seen the Lodger or Murder in some years.
From: Raja, The Great on 16 Jul 2010 09:11
On Jul 16, 8:06 am, Scott <scott...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > On Jul 16, 8:50 am, "Raja, The Great" <zepflo...(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > > Check this out... Lifeboat as high as #8. > > >http://www.suspense-movies.com/directors/alfred-hitchcock/ > > > Each time you enter a video store, you see them aimlessly wander the > > aisles. Dyed-in-the-wool movie fans, who after several years of > > renting, have exhausted the films they know or have heard something > > about. Even the most casual fan knows and appreciates Alfred > > Hitchcock's three most famous films: Psycho, North by Northwest and > > The Birds. These three masterpieces were made consecutively near the > > end of Hitchcock's brilliant career. But he made fifty-one other > > movies over a span of five decades. Not all are masterpieces. They > > range from breathtaking to annoying. Facing rows of DVDs in the > > "Hitchcock" section can cause sensory overload... so many choices, so > > many opportunities to skip over the classics and choose one of the > > dogs. With that in mind, here is my list of the ten "next best" > > Hitchcock films to rent after you've enjoyed the famous three. > > > 1) Rear Window, 1954. Though too claustrophobic to equal his best > > movies, Rear Window nails all the themes that reoccur throughout > > Hitchcock's work. As Jimmy Stewart unravels a mystery, much of the > > film is without dialogue. Between the intriguing camera shots and > > Stewart's facial expressions, the audience must deduce what exactly is > > going on for themselves. > > > 2) Strangers on a Train, 1951. Alfred Hitchcock believed in a film > > device called the McGuffin. A McGuffin is the thing the characters in > > the movie care about, but we as the audience ignore. The McGuffin is > > what sets the story in motion. Psycho's McGuffin is Janet Leigh > > stealing $50,000. Strangers' McGuffin may be the best ever conceived > > for a film. Robert Walker is unforgettable. > > > 3) Foreign Correspondent, 1940. All Alfred Hitchcock films made during > > World War II are a bit flawed today by the extreme hysteria that was a > > natural reaction then. All, that is, except Foreign Correspondent. It > > features his most three-dimensional villain of this period and ends > > with an impassioned call to patriotism. If nothing else, we are shown > > how heroes are made out of the most unlikely candidates. Also, it'd be > > years before Hitchcock had this much fun again. > > > 4) The 39 Steps, 1935. In the 1926's The Lodger, Hitchcock first > > presented his familiar predicament: an innocent man falsely accused of > > a crime. The 39 Steps has the twist of being about an innocent man > > falsely accused of being a spy. Loaded with memorable scenes and fun > > bantering between Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll, this film > > features one of Hitchcock's most intriguing stories. While flawed by > > some incomprehensible British dialogue (why do they swallow the last > > half of their words?), the film is frustrating because when one of the > > characters, in a riveting scene, answers the question, "What are the > > 39 Steps?", we want to know more. Unfortunately, the movie mostly > > ignores the 39 Steps themselves. (The Steps are the films McGuffin. A > > remake focused on the Steps themselves.) In fact, although the > > villains are obviously German, the production code of the time > > prevented the characters from using "German" or "Nazi". Such cowardly > > "forced apathy" was in a great part what led to the successes and > > tragedies of fascism. > > > 5) Dial M for Murder, 1954. There aren't many straight men in the > > world who would want to get rid of Grace Kelly as their wife, but Ray > > Milland is one. Too talky (and the money involved sounds comical > > today), but still a wonderful unraveling of a "perfect" crime. The > > major flaw is the ludicrous casting of Robert Cummings as the heroic > > lead. The love of his life is about to be executed and he still has > > time to perfectly arrange his hanky in his breast pocket. Grace Kelly > > does a surprisingly poor job, but her part is small. Milland is > > terrific when smugly in control. > > > 6) The Lady Vanishes, 1938. A fine mystery where the bad guys (again, > > nobody calls them Germans) seek to convince a previously ditzy heiress > > (Margaret Lockwood) she didn't see what she saw: believe us, not your > > eyes. Building to a wonderfully tense conclusion, The Lady Vanishes > > today can be viewed as a microcosm of what the world faced in World > > War II: treachery, apathy, the big lie, lonely heroism, and finally, > > redemption. Particularly memorable are two English twits more > > concerned with cricket than important events swirling around them, > > until the evil forces demand that they abandon their sense of fair > > play and be a party to the evil. (The twits' characters became so > > popular they reappeared in other films, most notably the excellent > > Night Train to Munich.) > > > 7) Shadow of a Doubt, 1943. Uncle Charlie was Hitchcock's first > > psychopath. Even though marred by the obvious paranoia of the times > > (the outsider is welcomed, but then found evil), Shadow of a Doubt > > brings terror into the guest room. Alfred Hitchcock knew it takes > > elements of the familiar and comfortable to create the most terrifying > > nightmares. In that way Shadow is the direct ancestor of The Birds and > > many modern horror movies. > > > 8) Lifeboat, 1944. More World War II paranoia, but this time the few > > characters must wrestle with the dilemma of what to do with evil when > > it's staring you in the eye. Savage and angry, Lifeboat shows what a > > difference a decade makes. Here not only are the Germans the literal > > enemy, but John Hodiak pronounces "gnatsies" like he's spitting out > > poison. > > > 9) To Catch a Thief, 1955. Besides North By Northwest, Cary Grant > > excelled in Notorious, Suspicion and this movie, making him the > > quintessential Hitchcock leading man. (Jimmy Stewart has to settle for > > second.) A retired thief, even Grant has to wonder when evidence in a > > series of burglaries points at him. Not a classic, but Thief is an > > interesting twist on the "innocent man falsely accused" theme. Grant > > was guilty as sin years before, but now he protests his innocence. > > > 10) Torn Curtain, 1966. Not as widely revered as some of his other > > films, Torn Curtain is nonetheless quite entertaining. Starring Paul > > Newman and Julie Andrews (looking both gorgeous and heartbroken), this > > movie is chocked full of ordinary people moved to heroism. The bad > > guys are made particularly nasty by making them East Germans, as if > > being either Commies or Nazis alone is no longer enough! The farmhouse > > scene is a fine study in the ingenuity of desperation. > > > Honorable mention: > > Notorious, possibly the last movie Nazis were the enemy and not the > > Soviets. > > Saboteur, terrific locations including Statue of Liberty scene, marred > > only by Robert Cummings again. > > The Man Who Knew Too Much, the 1934 version, not the much worse 1956 > > remake where Doris Day croons "Que Sera, Sera" as her son is hostage a > > few yards away. > > > Also: > > Vertigo, ingenious (and starring Kim Novak) but just too painfully > > slow in spots. > > Rebecca, a wonderful idea but stretches the slim story out much too > > long. > > Spellbound, has moments but the archaic presentation of psychoanalysis > > is silly. > > The Wrong Man, based on a true story where the look-alike of a crook > > is arrested. > > Suspicion, could have been great but censors forced a ridiculous > > changed ending. > > Rope, The Lodger, Topaz, Frenzy, Murder, and I Confess are worth > > checking out. > > > Amazingly, after all these, Alfred Hitchcock still has a decent body > > of work available in Blackmail, Sabotage, Young & Innocent, Secret > > Agent, Number 17, Marnie, The Trouble With Harry and Family Plot. If > > you get this far, you'll have seen some of the finest movies ever > > made, but don't be surprised if every bird, crop duster and shower > > curtain you see makes your skin tingle. > > i don't think i've seen Number 17. that's the only one I haven't on > the list so far. Me neither > > Frenzy is great. the contrast between murder psychology (i.e., both > lead male characters are capable of it) and the spot-on humor thrown > in (i.e., the detective wife's cooking, Barry Foster's Mum) is typical > AH. > I haven't seen Frenzy. > Secret Agent and Saboteur are notable in that they broke rules. Secret > Agent is famous for two scenes, both of which break established > cinematic conventions of the time. Saboteur is great stuff; i enjoy > the flow. Sabateur was pretty good, but I have kind of forgotten it. I don't think I have seen Secret Agent. > > forgot to mention Spellbound. here's the psycho-babble genre > personified. Amusing in retrospect, but fascinating to watch. Love > the ending here. > > Marnie and Trouble with Harry are enjoyable. Topaz is noteworthy for a > murder scene, but overall, disappoints. The Wrong Man is too > soporific; it is not easy to watch today. > > I Confess is notable for an excellent flashback sequence. haven't > seen the Lodger or Murder in some years. I couldn't sit through Marnie or The Birds courtesy Tippi Hedren. She is just a pretty face, if there was ever one. I still can't figure why The Birds is considered a masterpiece. The whole idea of birds targeting some chick is somewhat ridiculous. And I don't think the reason for those attacks were ever explained. |