Perhaps this is the time to once again ask this question.
Years ago, I read/heard someone relate the following (paraphrased) anecdote:
"I was in the street with Hitchcock one day when a beautiful, well-dressed young woman walked by. After she passed, he turned to me and whispered: 'Wouldn't you just love to smear shit in her face?'"
I think it was told to illustrate something of Hitchcock's approach to his film's leading ladies.
I have never been able to find any subsequent confirmation of this story, though I have just remembered that it prompted a thread of mine on ILM.
― Alba, Thursday, 6 September 2007 16:51 (sixteen years ago) link
"Actors should be treated like cattle. Women should be treated like toilets."
― kenan, Thursday, 6 September 2007 17:33 (sixteen years ago) link
enough with the scurrilous hearsay, off to Cabin #1 with you
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 6 September 2007 17:39 (sixteen years ago) link
Rear Window.
― n/a, Thursday, 6 September 2007 17:51 (sixteen years ago) link
But I agree Vertigo is probably his "best" movie.
― n/a, Thursday, 6 September 2007 17:52 (sixteen years ago) link
really interested to see how this turns out.
― pisces, Thursday, 6 September 2007 17:57 (sixteen years ago) link
It will get about 12 votes total, like every other ILX poll.
― Eric H., Thursday, 6 September 2007 18:03 (sixteen years ago) link
this is toooooooooooooooooooooo fucking hard, esp. since with a lot of the later stuff I've only got my middle school memories to rely on (the Criterion stuff is what I've seen more recently).
― da croupier, Thursday, 6 September 2007 18:16 (sixteen years ago) link
also, WOAH, I had no idea Strangers On A Train came after Rope.
I'm stuck between North By Northwest, Strangers On A Train, Rebecca and Shadow Of A Doubt.
― da croupier, Thursday, 6 September 2007 18:17 (sixteen years ago) link
[/i]It will get about 12 votes total, like every other ILX poll.[/i]
― n/a, Thursday, 6 September 2007 18:21 (sixteen years ago) link
You get the idea.
The problem with Hitchcock: Joel McCrea wasn't in enough of the early American ones, and Thelma Ritter wasn't in enough of the later ones.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 6 September 2007 18:26 (sixteen years ago) link
Leo G. Carroll was in about 7 though, right?
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 6 September 2007 19:12 (sixteen years ago) link
like douglas sirk, he worked in hollywood most of the the time, so he had to fit to the genres rules, but he liked it probably, and it made his films as great and popular as they are.
-- Zeno, Tuesday, September 4, 2007 3:48 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Link
'cept for the 20-odd films he made in england...
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Thursday, 6 September 2007 19:18 (sixteen years ago) link
You mean Hollywood East?
― milo z, Thursday, 6 September 2007 19:20 (sixteen years ago) link
Oooh watch Blackmail and the original The Man Who Knew Too Much. Both are quite qorthwhile.
-- Alex in SF, Thursday, September 6, 2007 4:21 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Link
Yeah, those seem to be the two that everyone mentions. I will when I can! What about all the others, though?
-- Alba, Thursday, September 6, 2007 4:23 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Link
Oh, and The Lodger I hear talk about. The others, never.
-- Alba, Thursday, September 6, 2007 4:24 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Link
'rich and strange' is the conoisseur's choice.
the other '30s thrillers are good too.
the pre-'man who knew too much' ones get slept on. but even in america, until the early '60s, everyone preferred the british ones to the flabby hollywood ones. the turn-around came when the publicity budget for 'the birds' was used to pay for a full MOMA retrospective and peter bogdanovich's book.
but even rohmer and chabrol liked the english ones -- they liked 'the ring' and 'the manxman' especially.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Thursday, 6 September 2007 19:23 (sixteen years ago) link
stunned to recently learn he never won a Best Director Oscar
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 6 September 2007 19:23 (sixteen years ago) link
I wonder if anyone alive has seen The Pleasure Garden.
-- Alba, Thursday, September 6, 2007 3:20 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Link
i'm fairly convinced it was never released, just trade-shown, in britain. though i have a feeling it was shown in germany. pretty unlikely all the same.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Thursday, 6 September 2007 19:25 (sixteen years ago) link
xp
why stunned? The thriller was not judged to be 'art' by Academy standards, at least not til Demme/Lecter, and Rebecca was considered Selznick's picture (esp since it was AH's first).
When they gave him an honorary Oscar he said "Thank you" and walked off.
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 6 September 2007 19:27 (sixteen years ago) link
Selznick's name on Rebecca's credits are bigger than Hitch's.
Sabotage, based on Conrad's Secret Agent (not to be confused with, er, Hitch's Secret Agent), is my favorite of the Brits.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 6 September 2007 19:33 (sixteen years ago) link
"stunned" may be too strong, obviously the academy doesn't have a track record of rewarding quality or innovation or being massively influential ... I guess that given his prodigious output, mainstream success, and general omnipresence in the film world (altho maybe I only see this omnipresence in retrospect) I had just expected that he would've won at least once
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 6 September 2007 19:38 (sixteen years ago) link
The four nominated for Best Picture were Rebecca (the only one to win), Suspicion, Foreign Correspondent, and Spellbound.
― jaymc, Thursday, 6 September 2007 19:43 (sixteen years ago) link
And he did get four Best Director nods.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 6 September 2007 19:47 (sixteen years ago) link
as i recall, orson welles was among those who said "early hitch yay, later (hollywood) hitch nay."
― J.D., Thursday, 6 September 2007 19:49 (sixteen years ago) link
Welles also said, "Hitch has said he doesn't much like actors; watching his films you just don't think he likes people very muc."
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 6 September 2007 19:52 (sixteen years ago) link
As a sign of his cosmospolitan art-house cred, The Lady Vanishes won Best Director at the New York Film Critics Awards that year.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 6 September 2007 19:54 (sixteen years ago) link
Welles also said, "Hitch has said he doesn't much like actors; watching his films you just don't think he likes people very much."
Which is a strength.
― Noodle Vague, Thursday, 6 September 2007 22:56 (sixteen years ago) link
how so
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 6 September 2007 22:58 (sixteen years ago) link
Cold dead glare of camera eye aesthetically preferable to vaseline-smeared faux empathy or something.
― Noodle Vague, Thursday, 6 September 2007 22:59 (sixteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― ILX System, Thursday, 6 September 2007 23:01 (sixteen years ago) link
A one-two I can definately live with.
― Eric H., Thursday, 6 September 2007 23:50 (sixteen years ago) link
I'm really glad The Trouble With Harry got a vote. It's always been a bit unfairly maligned, I've felt, and it's probably Hitchcock's most "fun" movie. Well, North By Northwest is also a great deal of fun.
― Clay, Thursday, 6 September 2007 23:54 (sixteen years ago) link
This is a false binary opposition. Can you accuse Jean Renoir or Satyajit Ray of vaseline-smeared empathy?
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 6 September 2007 23:54 (sixteen years ago) link
I didn't really mean it, I was just glibly responding to Shakey Mo's glib questioning of my glib response to Welles' glib criticism,
― Noodle Vague, Friday, 7 September 2007 00:01 (sixteen years ago) link
I mean, what I like most about lots of Hitchcock movies is the (allegedly atypical) warmth of his depiction of everyday life; Sabotage and the 2nd Man Who Knew Too Much especially.
― Noodle Vague, Friday, 7 September 2007 00:06 (sixteen years ago) link
I voted for Psycho, but I wish I had it to do over again. I would have voted for Rear Window.
― Rock Hardy, Friday, 7 September 2007 00:19 (sixteen years ago) link
I want to believe this is a direct quote.
― da croupier, Friday, 7 September 2007 00:39 (sixteen years ago) link
wow i really must see NOTORIOUS then.
i'm surprised at the strong showing for STRANGERS... but *god* what a movie.
― pisces, Friday, 7 September 2007 00:51 (sixteen years ago) link
Yep, pretty much.
The most surprising in the top 10 for me is Rope.
― Eric H., Friday, 7 September 2007 01:37 (sixteen years ago) link
Notorious might be my favorite movie ever. Ingrid Bergman is so so so amazing in it.
― horseshoe, Friday, 7 September 2007 01:40 (sixteen years ago) link
It's one of the few Hollywood films of the period -- or ever -- to understand sex and what men expect from women who enjoy it as much as they do.
On the other hand, Rope is shit.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 7 September 2007 01:41 (sixteen years ago) link
what men expect from women who enjoy it as much as they do
disavowal?
― horseshoe, Friday, 7 September 2007 01:43 (sixteen years ago) link
marriage or whoredom; it's all the same in Cary Grant's eyes.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 7 September 2007 01:55 (sixteen years ago) link
what? rope is pretty overrated but it's a decent film, nothing at all wrong with it. xx-post
― J.D., Friday, 7 September 2007 02:08 (sixteen years ago) link
i like strangers on a train but the way hitch films that murder scene creeps me the fuck out.
― J.D., Friday, 7 September 2007 02:13 (sixteen years ago) link
We have to accept Hume Cronyn's approximation of New York cocktail party chatter and Jimmy Stewart as a philosophy professor, both of which are, admittedly, funny in lots of ways.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 7 September 2007 02:16 (sixteen years ago) link
I think Rope is really good up until the final self-righteous Jimmy Stewart speech. but maybe that's a joke on his character?
― horseshoe, Friday, 7 September 2007 02:20 (sixteen years ago) link
yeah ROPE has aged badly i think but i loved it when i was a kid.
― pisces, Friday, 7 September 2007 12:24 (sixteen years ago) link
Top five are absolutely great (masterpieces, even)! Voted for the winner myself. Surprised that Psycho didn't do better.
― JN$OT, Friday, 7 September 2007 12:37 (sixteen years ago) link