Alfred Hitchcock: Classic or Dud?

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (888 of them)
under/over/correctly (or variation of)?

Are You Nomar? (miloaukerman), Sunday, 23 October 2005 01:38 (eighteen years ago) link

Yeah, I was thinking that might be it, though I have no idea how to account for the original MWKTM as overrated... or Shadow of a Doubt as underrated (Hitch said it was his favorite, I think).

Eric H. (Eric H.), Sunday, 23 October 2005 01:40 (eighteen years ago) link

I can't be bothered to read the whole thread, but, really, why would anyone say D?

chap who would dare to spy on his best mate's ex (chap), Sunday, 23 October 2005 01:44 (eighteen years ago) link

eleven months pass...
I wish movies still looked like Vertigo.

milo z (mlp), Sunday, 22 October 2006 04:49 (seventeen years ago) link

Oh, Scottie, you'll never learn, will you?

The Redd 47 Ronin (Ken L), Sunday, 22 October 2006 05:14 (seventeen years ago) link

Or should I have said Johnny?

The Redd 47 Ronin (Ken L), Sunday, 22 October 2006 05:14 (seventeen years ago) link

isn't someone remaking the birds?

timmy tannin (pompous), Sunday, 22 October 2006 05:23 (seventeen years ago) link

'fraid so.

The Redd 47 Ronin (Ken L), Sunday, 22 October 2006 05:37 (seventeen years ago) link

five months pass...
okay it can't be that controversial to say, "Hitchcock movies are sadistic," right? this is not the same as saying "Hitchcock movies are bad"!

horseshoe, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 17:37 (seventeen years ago) link

i wouldn't think so, given that his most celebrated movie says exactly that

gabbneb, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 17:42 (seventeen years ago) link

A phrase like "torture the women" doesn't just fall off of the tongue of a bootlicker now does it?

sexyDancer, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 17:49 (seventeen years ago) link

why in the fuck would this be controversial???

but anyway how are we defining sadism towards characters? there are plenty of hitchcock classics that i would say are exempt from genuine sadism.

also note that inflicting pain on protaganists =/= sadism!!

i'm not disputing the thesis im just saying it aint rule of law or anything.

deeznuts, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 18:18 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah, I don't know. I'm starting to think I don't know what sadism means.

horseshoe, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 18:21 (seventeen years ago) link

calling them sadistic and saying sadism is their purpose are two rather different things

gabbneb, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 18:58 (seventeen years ago) link

please read ghost rider's post about Paul Newman's salad dressing on the Coen brothers thread and ignore my thread revive!

horseshoe, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 18:59 (seventeen years ago) link

No -- read this marvelous Pitchfork piece on the use of pop music in Rear Window!

Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 19:03 (seventeen years ago) link

so that's why it's my fave of his. always with the sound movies.

gabbneb, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 19:05 (seventeen years ago) link

one month passes...
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1955 “To Catch a Thief” has always been close to perfection as a romantic comedy; now it approaches that same state as a DVD, thanks to the superb widescreen transfer Paramount has commissioned for the film’s release in a “special collector’s edition.”

With Cary Grant as a cat burglar hoping to live in quiet retirement on the Côte d’Azur, and Grace Kelly as an American heiress with a taste for dangerous men, “To Catch a Thief” was filmed in VistaVision, the wide-screen process that Paramount developed to compete with Fox’s CinemaScope.

VistaVision was an unwieldy technology that required film to run horizontally through the camera, photographing one frame in the space on the negative that would be occupied by two frames in a conventional camera, dramatically increasing resolution. The results looked as strikingly sharp, clear and vivid as those of the 70-millimeter film stock that would later come into use.

Hitchcock was a big fan of VistaVision, using it first on “To Catch a Thief” and then on “The Trouble with Harry,” “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” “Vertigo” and “North by Northwest.”

According to Paramount, the new “Thief” has been taken from a restored VistaVision negative, and it shows in far crisper detail, much deeper colors and a new sense of depth. Unlike the colors in the unfortunate “Vertigo” restoration, this film’s have not been conspicuously tampered with, and it retains its warm, sun-soaked hues, as well as its inky nights (memorably interrupted by a fireworks display, as Mr. Grant leans in to kiss Miss Kelly for the first time).

The film may not be one of Hitchcock’s most profound works; it is a light, comic variation on the themes of voyeurism and projected desire in “Rear Window,” his feature just before it. But it is certainly one of his silkiest and most sheerly enjoyable. (Paramount Home Entertainment, $14.99, not rated)

-Dave Kehr, NY Times

Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 13:22 (sixteen years ago) link

"Close to perfection"!

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 13:29 (sixteen years ago) link

Nice scenery but it's not really that good, is it? Hitch says so himself, apart from two scenes, one where Cary opens the door and Grace kisses him/the camera and another where she says "Diamonds! Wouldn't you like to touch them?" Or maybe that's the same scene.

James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 13:34 (sixteen years ago) link

Either of those the fireworks scene?

What rom-com from the last 3 years wd you prefer to it? I think Robin Wood made a convincing case for all AJH's major themes being hidden in the fluff (no, I can't remember how).

I love Jessie Royce Landis putting her cigarette out in the eggs.

Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 13:50 (sixteen years ago) link

Probably the ultimate Grace Kelly movie.

John Robie: You know as well as I do: this necklace is imitation.
Frances Stevens: Well, I'm not.

C. Grisso/McCain, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 14:41 (sixteen years ago) link

I prefer spying designing Grace in Rear Window.

hey, TCAT has a Bogdanovich commentary.

Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 16:10 (sixteen years ago) link

three months pass...

speaking of Shadow of a Doubt (as we were on Rear Window thread) -- LOVE that "zombie waitress" in the dive who looks at the ring:

http://truespies.org/mirror-stage/2007/08/12/alfred-hitchcock-presents-the-night-of-the-living-dead/

Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 19:21 (sixteen years ago) link

you are making me want to see shadow of a doubt again.

i want to watch it with morbs and alex in SF!

Steve Shasta, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 19:26 (sixteen years ago) link

well, get the Castro to book it, ummm, next summer.

Also, gr8 opening shot of the Pulaski Skyway.

Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 19:27 (sixteen years ago) link

five months pass...

I'm not sure which of these is best -- Hirsch & McAvoy on the train ain't bad -- but someone needs to be punished for casting ScarJo as Grace Kelly:

http://justjared.buzznet.com/2008/02/07/vanity-fair-hollywood-issue-2008/

Dr Morbius, Friday, 8 February 2008 16:31 (sixteen years ago) link

I saw 'em earlier. I only really like Strangers and Seth Rogen doing North by Northwest.

Noodle Vague, Friday, 8 February 2008 16:33 (sixteen years ago) link

they should remake it. jason segal in the james mason role.

That one guy that hit it and quit it, Friday, 8 February 2008 16:36 (sixteen years ago) link

I'd love McAvoy's fingers around my...neck.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 8 February 2008 16:37 (sixteen years ago) link

I still don't think much of V compared to RW and NxNW, but I don't think I'd recognized just how good Kim Novak is - she carries the thing.

gabbneb, Friday, 8 February 2008 16:45 (sixteen years ago) link

Seth Rogan replacing Cary Grant in NxNW would be an improvement. Renee Zellweger looks surprisingly right in Vertigo. And the casting of that Lifeboat pic is sorta epic.

Eric H., Friday, 8 February 2008 17:09 (sixteen years ago) link

Seth Rogan replacing Cary Grant in NxNW would be an improvement

why must you continuously disappoint me?

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 8 February 2008 17:10 (sixteen years ago) link

OK, what kind of baiting is that statement? It's the best (intentional) joke in the spread.

Dr Morbius, Friday, 8 February 2008 17:11 (sixteen years ago) link

NxNW = Hitchcock's least interesting classic movie, so you could cast Renee Zellweger in Cary Grant's part and I'd call it an improvement.

Eric H., Friday, 8 February 2008 17:13 (sixteen years ago) link

^^^ Bottomless pit of Rong.

Wd rather see Rogen/Segel do Rope, tho.

Noodle Vague, Friday, 8 February 2008 17:15 (sixteen years ago) link

NxNW: TOO SCREWBALL :p

(Eric, we love you, but you braek heart. Hitchcock got the wrong-man-chase movie right, at last, w/ NxNW.)

Using Eva Marie Saint is a nice touch, but I hope the forog didn't have to use the Tallulah on-set "hairdressing" joke.

Dr Morbius, Friday, 8 February 2008 17:16 (sixteen years ago) link

fotog

(if you don't know the joke, Hitch was told by crew that Bankhead wasn't wearing underwear)

Dr Morbius, Friday, 8 February 2008 17:17 (sixteen years ago) link

What's the best of his earliest work? My daughter bought a 4-DVD set of his earliest films (for $5!) -- I think it has about 17 or 18 features on it and a couple of "AH Presents" episodes.

Rock Hardy, Friday, 8 February 2008 17:17 (sixteen years ago) link

Bottomless pit of Rong is slagging on Vertigo. Why does no one call that out?

Eric H., Friday, 8 February 2008 17:18 (sixteen years ago) link

The best of Hitchcock in public domain in the U.S. (which is what that set's no doubt filled with) is probably The Lady Vanishes (gasp! a screwball!) and maybe The 39 Steps, though I liked Sabotage too.

Eric H., Friday, 8 February 2008 17:19 (sixteen years ago) link

How early? 20s/30s? I like Sabotage an inordinate amount but it's probly the 1st Man Who Knew Too Much or The 39 Steps.

Noodle Vague, Friday, 8 February 2008 17:20 (sixteen years ago) link

Rear Window does the light and breezy but still totally suspenseful thing WAY better than NxNW. C'mon people!

Eric H., Friday, 8 February 2008 17:20 (sixteen years ago) link

I've got that 5-movie box with Juno and Rich and Strange on it to watch over the weekend.

Noodle Vague, Friday, 8 February 2008 17:22 (sixteen years ago) link

I would agree RW is greater, but cmon, they're significantly different stylewise!

Eric defines screwball broader than retro box sets define "noir."

Dr Morbius, Friday, 8 February 2008 17:23 (sixteen years ago) link

This is the collection.

(7.0) Blackmail (UK-1929) - Anny Ondra/Charles Paton/Cyril Ritchard
(6.2) Champagne (silent-UK-1928) - Betty Balfour/Gordon Harker/Jean Bradin
(5.8) Easy Virtue (silent-UK-1928) - Isabel Jeans/Franklin Dyall/Ian Hunter
(6.3) The Farmer's Wife (silent-UK-1928) - Jameson Thomas/Lillian Hall-Davis/Gordon Harker
(6.2) Jamaica Inn (UK-1939) - Charles Laughton/Maureen O'Hara/Robert Newton
(4.7) Juno and the Paycock (UK-1930) - Barry Fitzgerald/Maire O'Neill/Edward Chapman
(8.1) The Lady Vanishes (UK-1938) - Margaret Lockwood/Michael Redgrave/Paul Lukas/Dame May Whitty
(6.9) The Man Who Knew Too Much (UK-1934) - Leslie Banks/Edna Best/Peter Lorre
(6.3) The Manxman (silent-UK-1928)- Carl Brisson/Malcolm Keen/Anny Ondra
(5.9) Number Seventeen (UK-1932) - Leon M. Lion/Anne Grey/John Stuart
(6.1) Rich and Strange (UK-1931) - Henry Kendall/Joan Barry/Percy Marmot
(6.2) The Ring (silent-UK-1927) - Carl Brisson/Lillian Hall-Davis/Ian Hunter
(7.2) Sabotage (UK-1936) - Sylvia Sidney/Oskar Homolka/Desmond Tester
(6.7) Secret Agent (UK-1936) - John Gielgud/Peter Lorre/Madeleine Carroll/Robert Young/Lilli Palmer
(5.7) The Skin Game (UK-1931) - C.V. France/Helen Haye/Edmund Gwenn
(8.0) The 39 Steps (UK-1935) - Robert Donat/Madeleine Carroll/Peggy Ashcroft
(7.1) Young and Innocent (UK-1937) - Nova Pilbeam/Derrick De Marney/Percy Marmot

ALSO-- ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS:
(#13) The Cheney Vase (S.1, 12/25/55) - Carolyn Jones Darren McGavin/George Macready/Ruta Lee
(#268) The Sorcerer's Apprentice (S.7, ???) - Diana Dors/Brandon De Wilde/Larry Kert

BONUS: 55 minutes of Hitchcock movie trailers

Rock Hardy, Friday, 8 February 2008 17:24 (sixteen years ago) link

Wd rather see Rogen/Segel do Rope, tho.

YES

in the uk we have one box that has all the BIP films, and another coming out next week with all the gainsborough ones (ie pre-BIP) and gaumont films (ie post-BIP) plus the ones he did after gaumont.

That one guy that hit it and quit it, Friday, 8 February 2008 17:27 (sixteen years ago) link

Eric defines screwball broader than retro box sets define "noir."

I hate a lot of movies, so I have to.

Eric H., Friday, 8 February 2008 17:28 (sixteen years ago) link

is NXNW supposed to be "suspenseful"? I see it as a long romantic comedy (with some dead spots).

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 8 February 2008 17:29 (sixteen years ago) link

Is NxNW supposed to be "romantic"?!

Eric H., Friday, 8 February 2008 17:30 (sixteen years ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.