Hmm, I just can't get enough of him lately. Been watching alot of his stuff and I'm always mesmerized by his amazing talent to conjure suspenseful moments so naturally. Also catching up with his series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, which is also a gem. Just love his intro and outtro in every episode.

Anyone else a fan of him?

Add me to the list.

My favorite films:
- Strangers on a Train
- Rear Window
- Dial M for Murder (perfect compliment to Strangers)
- North By Northwest
- Vertigo
- Psycho
- Birds

Having said that, I didn't like To Catch A Thief, Rope, Topaz and Man Who Knew Too Much. Haven't seen the series or the complete filmography but yes, love him to bits.

Rope was amazing, my 2nd fav Hitchcock film actually. It was so simple but yet so tense. I heard that there're only 6 cuts in the movie, haven't really watch it the 2nd time though.

Didn't like the gay undertones and the coloration was absolutely horrid. Same goes for To Catch A Thief, Cary Grant looked as if his skin was burnt brown.

Strangers on a Train (1951)

Well, color me yellow and call me ignorant. I never knew the Low Yat movie thread had an Alfred Hitchcock forum, let alone two!!

I was thinking about starting one and was most surprise to find two.

Since I'm more familiar with Makakeke, I thought I'll post my stuff here. I've not visited the Low Yat forum for quite some time and is not even sure if he still visits...

Okay

Alfred Hitchcock work, is ingrain in many people minds. Yes even kiddies. They reason is, his works is so influential, a lot of current directors emulate him!!

Alfred Hitchcock was probably the first to come out with a formula for "Suspense" and "Thriller" in movies and people who are familiar with his work will also say in their minds anyway, Hitchcock had done this and Hitchcock had done that whilst watching a current movie!! (I do anyway)

Many modern director had tried (and some had failed miserably, never muck with the master, unless you know what you are doing!!)

Namely

Rope (1948) (supposedly based on true event) was remade as Murder by Numbers (2002) (a bad remake)
Dial M for Murder (1954) was remade as A Perfect Murder (1998) (I kinda like this remake)
Psycho (1960) was remade as Psycho (1998) (Pure and utter disaster!!)

I'm sure there are more, but for the life of me, at 1:16 am in the morning, the old noodle is stretched thin...

What had me tickled pink is they are now releasing most of Hitchcock's movies on Hi Def, which is good. Not all of Hitchcock's movie had been available DVD. And I don't think all his works will be made available on Hi Def... I doubt alot of his early works in England would ever be release on Hi Def....

The first time I watch this, I watched on on DVD.

Now having the opportunity to watch it in High Def, a lot more detail had popped up.

Mainly the texture of the characters' clothing and detail of objects.

There are some really soft scenes and that is mainly due to the shots with rear projection (an old fashion special effect technique)

The plot of the movie is thus

Guy Haines, and up and coming Tennis Superstar is entangled with his wife.

She has been making demands for him and had promised to give him a divorce.

Meanwhile, he is dating a senator's daughter and has been frank with her about his soon to be divorced wife.

He travels by train to his hometown to finalize his divorce.

On the train he meets up with Bruno Antony, who recognizes Guy Haines as the tennis player...

He also know a lot about his personal life and came up with the idea of switching murders...

As they say, the plot thickens...

I understand that this wasn't a big hit for Hitchcock, and he later commented that maybe his choice of the unknown lead actors namely Farley Granger and Ruth Roman maybe a poor one.

I actually appreciate both of them and thought that they did their respective roles well.

So kiddies, if you want to know the original master of suspense, give this a try.

I'll try to post all my observation about the Alfred Hitchcock movies as I revisit them on Hi Def

My Two Sen

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Oct 26 2012, 11:45 AM

psycho 4 me is the best hitchcock movie yet i will watch the other hitchcock filmography some other time haha

This post has been edited by skylinelover: Oct 26 2012, 10:10 PM

Haha! Think Psycho, think Hitchcock..

haha now only i realize y HITCHCOCK thread suddenly popped up...it is 2 coincide with the new movie HITCHCOCK starring anthony hopkins s the man in master of suspense himself

Or, his movies are now available in Bluray!!

Okay. Call it serendipity!!

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Oct 27 2012, 07:30 PM

The Lady Vanishes (1938)

This was release on Bluray on the Dec 06, 2011.

I must have watched it again some time soon after that.

I had intended to post my observations soon after but work/time schedule/procrastination set in...

As a bluray piece, most people familiar with the format would be disappointed.

Supposedly, Criterion had put alot of effort into transferring this from 35mm prints to the digital format.

It is suppose to be way superior compared to the DVD release.

Looking at the source material they had to work with I would go as far as to say, it is only decent.

Please bare in mind this movie came out in 1938...

The story is thus

A rich American playgirl, Iris Henderson, on a holiday in Europe, meets up with a semi retired governess Miss Froy. They were leaving the small village they were in on the same train in the morning. That evening Iris, was rudely awaken by Gilbert (he likes playing music loudly at night) and through this situation they meet. Iris is really cheese off by Gilbert.

In the morning, Iris and Miss Froy boarded the train. But before they could, a flower pot fell off a ledge at the train station and landed on Iris head!! Miss Froy brought her into the train and gave her some of her tea. Iris decided to take a nap because she has a headache and the last thing she saw was Miss Froy smiling face. She slept for a while and when she awoke, Miss Froy is no where to be seen and no one recollect seeing her... In her search, she bumps into Gilbert...

This is a very VERY old movie, and some part may seem... meh, but Hitchcock has the ability to draw you back in and takes you on a train ride!!

Give this a try why don't you...

My Two Sen

IMO while the popular classics stands in their own league (Psycho, Birds Etc etc) i liked the less known gem like Shadow of A Doubt, where the theme song stucked in my head for months! and also Torn Curtain, with Paul Newman n Julie Andrews. Although some said its a lesser Hitchcock, it's still hold its twists n surprises. My fav though has to be North by Northwest haha. in a not totally related way, my favourite Hitchcock movie not by Hitchcock is Charade (maybe there shud be a thread for movies like this!)

I, on the other hand, will have to say that my favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie is I Confess (1953). There really isn't much "thrills" and "suspense".

What I like about the movie is the moral question it ask. Would your "betray" you faith, if it means saving your life?

I don't think many a people in this day and age can look themselves in the mirror and honestly answer that question. Because to function in life, it is no longer black and white but different shades of grey. So this becomes an impossible question to answer....

Interestingly, I Confess is not part of the bluray being release by Universal... Possible, because the right belongs to Warner

Warner has so far release Dial "M" for Murder and Stranger on the Train. Who knows, maybe in the near future.

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Oct 28 2012, 11:15 AM

haha interesting analysis u got there

did u watch REBECCA 1940 n SUSPICION 1941? do post your review here when u r free ok. i found this 2 b the only HITCHCOCK work 2 win academy award big 2 which is BEST PICTURE n BEST LEADING ACTRESS. what a way 2 call in the hollywood presence in style.

This post has been edited by skylinelover: Oct 28 2012, 08:00 AM

Interesting choice of works

Rebecca (1940)

I cannot talk about Rebecca without mentioning David O. Selznick.

He produced Gone with the Wind. And because of the buzzed generated while producing Gone with the Wind, he used that as leverage to invited Alfred Hitchcock to America to direct movies.

Also interesting to note that Alfred Hitchcock had earlier visited America and was not able to get any studios interested in taking him on as a director, though at that time he had already made a couple of internationally critically acclaim movies, namely Jamaica Inn, The Lady Vanishes etc.

David O. Selznick and Alfred Hitchcock were NOT compatible. They both had VERY different working styles and I believe Hitchcock had gone as far as describing Selznick as being meddlesome.

There are stories of Selznick visiting Rebecca's set and demanding all kinds of changes, Hitchcock would shoot the scenes according to how Selznick "suggested" and as soon as Selznick leaves, Hitchcock would reshoot the scene as he had originally planned...

Having Laurence Olivier (already a well known actor) and Joan Fontaine (an ingenue at this point) weren't easy.

Laurence felt that Joan was not in his caliber and when they were not shooting a scene, he had totally ignored her. There is a story where the entire crew threw Joan Fontaine a surprise birthday party and after the candles were blown and the cake was cut, Olivia took his piece and walked back to his own changing room, ignore the party...

I like this movie. Probably one of the first Alfred Hitchcock movie I had the chance to watch in it entirety.

The reason I believe why Selznick was attracted to his material is probably because it is Wuthering Height-ish.

Also, I understand the first project Selznick originally wanted Hitchcock to work on, is a movie about The Titanic, but scrap the plan when he couldn't get a boat to sink!!!!

The story is thus

A young Au Pair meets a rich widower Maxim de Winter in Monte Carlo. They fall in love and got married. They then return to Maxim home. The new Mrs De Winter finds that adapting to her new life is a lot more complicated then she thought it would be. The original Mrs De Winter still cast a large shadow...

If possible kiddies, watch this if you get the chance.

Sorry for rambling on. As stated this was the very first Alfred Hitchcock movie that introduces his movies to me (I did see some Alfred Hitchcock Present before this) and I had dig as much "dirt" as I can about it...

I have done a review of Rebecca some time back, in a thread called Last Movie Watched

Here is what I had posted there Rebecca Review

My Two Sen

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Oct 28 2012, 07:00 PM

thanks 4 the reviews

The Birds (1963)

This is probably one of Alfred Hitchcock's best known work.

It is also probably one of Hitchcock's movie I like the least.

This is Hitchcock's most special effects laden or in another words, most technically demanding movie by Hitchcock and there lies the problem.

What Hitchcock wanted to present in the movie in 1963, was alot more complex then the technology which was available then, would allow.

Alot of the scenes would require either rear projection technique, or optical projection technique.

Because alot of green screen and many layering was required, but the time the nth layer was added, some layers just got too blurred... hence not able to sell the scene. At least for me.

Also alot of the action scene were done with blue/green screen, and because of the speed required, the blue/green edge is really visible, again, making the scenes a hard sell to me...

There is a silver lining.

There is a scene in the movie, when the proverbial "shit has hit the fan", the people in the village start to look for a scape goat. And the lead actress (Tippi Hedren) character, Melanie Daniels, got the blame. Hitchcock made a very sharp observation by saying that no matter how civilized/evolved we think we are, when something happens, we would still resort to our more based instinct.

I have mention in my previous posting, that Hitchcock's work, is often copied/emulated, I really cannot say for a FACT that this is what happened, it is my humble opinion that Stephen King and director Frank Darabont, was inspired and explored this more thoroughly in the book/movie The Mist (2007)!

The story is thus

Melanie Daniels a modern rich socialite, in San Francisco, is attracted to lawyer Mitch Brenner. So much so that she tracks him down (he often goes back to his home town Bodega Bay during the weekends). Once she had done so, the birds in Bodega Bay starts to act up!!

Give this a try why don't you. At least you see some old school special effects (and before you snicker about the aged special effect, please note that George Lucas practically used the same technique. The difference is, he is filth rich enough to go back to all his original master film rescan everything to digital format and recompile everything again, giving you the sharp edges and seamless merging between the different film elements)

There is one more thing that troubles me about this movie



My Two Sen

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Oct 29 2012, 08:39 PM

Saboteur (1942)

Good job Universal.

This is a good transfer to HD!

I love this transfer

This is alot better then the DVD transfer.

Please note that this was release two year after Rebecca (1940) and nine years BEFORE The Strangers On the Train (1951).

I really like this transfer. It is very consistent and unlike The Strangers On The Train the effects shots were minimum and weren't as obvious as Strangers...

This movie was made at the height of WWII, and it is interesting that "doing the right thing, liberty and good how good an average Americans are" are so "American".

I really feel that the cast, director and producer really believe in this (I'm sure there were some pressure put on movie company to make the "right" kind of movies during the war)

It is also interesting that the villains are all the the "rich and opulent" (old world) and that the average Joe (American) can "save" the day.

Priscilla Lane and Robert Cummings makes interesting leads and also have to add the actor who play Priscilla Lane uncle, have the best lines about governments, and it is STILL applicable at this day and age...

The story start with Robert Cummings being accuse of being a Saboteur (the air plane factory he works at had a bad fire, stopping it from producing air plane for the war effort). He goes on a run.

It has a very clunky story line, where the plot lines don't actually match up.

And the ending... well, let not go into that.

I know I sound down right negative about this movie, but despite what I say above, it actually works!!

If you like old movie and you like thrillers, give this a try why don't ya!!

My two Sen

The Trouble with Harry (1955)

This by far is Alfred Hitchcock's most beautiful movie!

The transfer is sharp and the colour palate, BEAUTIFUL.

I don't think he uses color like this before and never did again after.

The late spring early autumn colours were just brilliant!!

This is also Alfred Hitchcock's more "comedic" and "quirky" work.

Dark comedy I believe they call them now

A VERY young and pretty Shirley MacLaine is in this one and I never knew how "off beat" she can be and she is REALLY off beat here...

The story is thus

Capt. Albert Wiles discovers a body whilst he was hunting.

He thinks he had killed the man with a stray bullet.

As he attempted to bury the body, almost everyone started traping through the area.

One was so engross in what he was doing he do not notice the body.

Another was more interested in what he can "procure" from the body (he took the corpse's shoes)

A young lady and a small boy notice the body during their walk. The young lady obviously recognized the body but didn't want to do anything about it...

When the coast was clear, the captain again proceed to attempt the burial but was discovered by another lady from the villages...

And there are a whole lost more details to be reveal about the movie!!!!

Oh the dead person, if you had not guessed by now, is Harry!

Watch this. I cannot recommend this movie enough.

My Two Sen

Psycho (1960) (50th Anniversary)

For some odd reason, I keep watching this???!

I have watched this on TV, DVD and a couple of times on HD and now Bluray format.

The 50th Anniversary bluray is JAM PACKED with all kinds of wonderful special features!!

They'd interviewed Janet Leigh (Shower scene anyone?). They interviewed Joseph Stefano (screenwriter). They also interviewed Patricia Hitchcock who is Hitchcock's daughter, who has a small role in the movie.

Lots and LOTS of P.O.V. from them and interesting too.

For example, Hitchcock actually hired a nude model (people who poses naked for art classes) to stand in the shower so they can figure out how dense the water from the shower needs to be so Janet Leigh's naughty bits will not show up in the movie!! Also how some of the special effects were done practically (films as it happens). For example, Martin Balsam (Det. Milton Arbogast) fell down the staircase (without actually falling down the staircase) etc.

Having watched the movie Hitchcock (2012), about a month and a half to two months back, surprisingly, only heighten this viewing for me!!

I still feel that the opening credit is a little "soft" (video quality wise) but once the movie opens, everything is crystal clear. Beautiful, BEAUTIFUL black and white movie. One tidbit I learned from the special feature was, Hitchcock consciously made this movie in Black and White. There are two reason to this.

1) He had to finance this movie personally, because he contractually still owe Paramount Pictures one more picture before moving over to Universal and Paramount had out right refuse to budget the movie because of the subject matter. Filming it in Black and White would reduce the cost of production.

2) He did not believe the movie could pass the censorship board if it was filmed in color!!

(I told you, major tidbits)

I was having a conversation with an English gentleman a couple of weeks back. He is a self profess movie lover. And the conversation steer to Alfred Hitchcock where he expresses, 'Psycho?... I have watched it and it was meh...' I had to explain to this self professed movie lover how movies were like before Hitchcock and how he change the game and movie had never been the same... Forgive him, he is young (only 35 yo)

I really wonder, is there really an Alfred Hitchcock fan out there that has never seen this movie??

If there is, here is my challenge to you. Watch Hitchcock (2012) and then Psycho (1960) and then tell me honestly that Psycho had not influence cinema for the past 53 years. Think about that.

Again, as always, the above is merely my opinions. Everyone is entitled to their own.

My Two Sen

haha yet another nice review by the next ROGER EBERT in LYN

if pro movie reviewer dont suit you, how about you becoming film studies lecturer one day?

i believe there are huge differences between hollywood classics era and blockbuster hollywood years of today with over the top and over dependence in CGI

seriously i think old hollywood requires some switching your brain in 2 another mode 2 enjoy what the story is about

new hollywood on the other hand just needs you 2 shut your brain and you still can enjoy the whole movie as good plot no longer the top priority anymore

just my 2 sen

You are too kind...

I also believe, people in general had gotten very lazy...

Permit me to explain.

During Hitchcock's time, there is NO SUCH THING as an auto-focus camera... Meaning, the camera man had ho keep the camera pointed at the scene the way the director wanted, and his assistant will have to stand by the camera, turning the focus dial to make sure everything is focus!! So they probably had to have a few practice runs before the director shouts action. SO in short the camera guys had to prep before the director shows up the film the scene....

Also, another scene you might remember before Janet Leigh, stepped into the shower, you see the shower head being turn on, and water comes out of the shower head nozzle... Beautiful, here is the tricky part, none of the water stream hits the lens!! Want to know how they managed THAT?? The plumber had to angle every water nozzle AWAY from the camera and yet looks natural.... Try getting a plumber to do things exactly the way you want nowadays.... Sad...

They they truly craftsmen back then....

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Jul 16 2013, 12:24 AM

What a coincidence to see this thread pop up - after having finished watching the last blu-ray in the AH masterpiece collection - "Family Plot" - really liked the mirroring of the 2 couples - Barbara Harris' performance is fun and engaging as the fake psychic. Ending is played low-key but very suspenseful - had me cheering out of my seat as they slam the secret door shut as i expected.

In Hitch's words - "Always make the audience suffer as much as possible" - indeed.

Among the films in the collection, I find that i prefer the 'smaller' less star-studded titles like 'Rope', 'Trouble with Harry', 'Frenzy', 'Family Plot'.

That said, i really liked 'Rear Window', 'The Birds', 'Vertigo', 'Marnie', 'North by Northwest' - in the blockbuster range.

Not quite sold on 'Psycho' - i find it has a strong opening, and some problems (after the shower scene) with the 2nd half i can't put my finger on... i think it may have something to do with the fact that most of the plot is contrivance of the era where there were no celphones lol.. and the shock factor has worn off in this age even more heinous maladjusted misfits on film. Still, i admire the crafting of the scenes and the music - if nothing else. Won't be revisiting this as often as 'Vertigo' or 'Frenzy' for example.

Interesting choices. What are you thoughts on Stranger on the Train? I not it is NOT in the collection you mention, but it has been released on Blu... Not sure if you had the chance to view it. Also Dial M for Murder?

I believe the trouble you had for Psycho was actually masterfully crafted by Hitchcock. He made the audience to view the world through Janet Leigh P.O.V and 30 minutes into the movie, well you know what happen. He then MADE the audience switch view to Norman's P.O.V., and as Hitchcock had planned, unsettling, so much so that as horrendous as Norman Bates actions were, we are suppose to 'emphatise' with him... MASTERFUL

Out of the 14 movie available in Alfred Hitchcock collection, I like The Birds the least... mainly due to the unsophisticated techniques used for a special effect laden movie (you can see the blue/green screen outline in the birds. Because they (the birds) were moving so quickly, they just did not have the technical hardware/know how, to clean them all up thoroughly.

And the ending was WAY to abrupt...

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Jul 18 2013, 05:08 PM

Have not seen 'strangers ..' - yeah its not in the set... quite intrigued by the synopsis - will be getting it later.

Seen 'Dial M' some years go - can't recollect the experience - but i seem to remember constantly comparing Grace Kelly's performance between 'Dial M' and 'Rear Window' while watching. Want to get the 3D version..

This post has been edited by lyn_grayskale: Jul 17 2013, 09:57 AM

Do come back and let you know what you think of those two ya hear!

Saboteur (1942) Addendum

Had a chance to re-watch this.

A few interesting trivia.

When they started production for Saboteur, Japan just bombed Hawaii... (for reals)

Because of the war, the whole film was made in the studio's back lot!

Alfred Hitchcock puts alot of thought into his cameos. Apparently in this one, he and his secretary at the time we both suppose to make a cameo as a deaf and dumb person walking on the street. Hitchcock would then communicate with his secretary using sign language and she was suppose to slap him as if he had mad an "indecent proposal"!! But alas, the power that be decided that it would not properly portray dumb and deaf people so, they ended up standing in front of a drug store... (Boring)

Not one of my favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie, because of the abrupt ending.... Maybe because the script writers were away to fight WWII (they left immediately after finishing the script for Alfred, so he had to hire a lady for the re-write).... I don't mean it as a bad thing, but the story feels disjointed to me

Norman Lloyd played Fry. Interestingly, I did not recognized him. I'm more familiar with his works in Murder, She Wrote and The Practice!!

Normandy sank during the filming of Saboteur. Alfred Hitchcock asked the news agency in Universal to get all the footage of the scuttled Normandy and purposefully cut a footage of the said scuttled ship into the movie, to make it more real!!

For anyone who had actually watched this, I have only one for thing to say "he should have a better tailor...."

My ADDED two sen.

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Aug 6 2013, 10:04 PM

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

This is Alfred Hitchcock's favorite movie.

He has a formula. His leading man is always brunette and his leading lady is blond. If you watch his movie, you will notice is is always true, there are exceptions... Namely Rope (1948) and this!!

This movie is one of the movies that Hitchcock film on location. He is not happy with going on location, because he has no control over lighting...

Interestingly, I believe I've only watched this once before, on Australia TV...

The story is unique, in a sense that the leading man plays the uncle to the leading lady...



Interesting movie and the ending...

Unusual even for a Hitchcock movie

Lover of Hitchcock movie, you know what you should do.

My Two Sen

To Catch a Thief (1955)

This is an interesting Alfred Hitchcock movie, though not at the top of my Alfred Hitchcock must see list.

Why, because it actually DOES NOT INVOLVE MURDER!! (Yes, I am THAT macabre)

Cary Grant was thinking about retiring, and Hitchcock managed to talk him out of it to do this. (And after that to do North By Northwest)

Grace Kelly's last few works in Hollywood before she became Princess Grace!! She supposedly like the script to Marnie (1964) , but because of her duty to her adopted country and family, did not return to Hollywood to do that.

Lyn Murray (composer who scored this) introduced Bernard Herrmann to Hitchcock and they say, the rest is History.

I also would like to take a minute here to talk about Edith Head. I think in the Hollywood movie industry, she well know, not because he is the BEST costume designer around, but because she is the most "people oriented" designer at the time, which made her very popular amongst the stars!! The reason why I want to talk about her is that, Google her, find a picture of her. Does she look familiar? No?? Really? Not familiar at all? All I can say is Edna 'E' Mode (think The Incredibles (2004)) She is THAT well know in the movie industry, even Pixar paid Homage to her!!

Okay, sorry for my ramblings, back to the movie.

As stated above, not one of my favorite Hitchcock movie, though there are some interesting bits to it.

Cary Grant plays a retired "cat thief" who is living the life at the French Riviera.

Out of the blue the well to dos are losing their precious diamond collection one after another.

An insurance company representative H.H. Hughson, tracks down John Robie (Cary Grant) and requested him to find out who the "Cat" is and in the midst, John Robie meet up with a wealthy Jessie Stevens & and her daughter Frances Stevens (Grace Kelly)

While John Robie is trying to discover who the diamond thief is, Frances Stevens is trying to steal his heart!!

This is a rare thing for Hitchcock. Half of this movie was actually film on location (French Riviera) and the other half in the studio. Hitchcock HATES to film on location because of the lighting.

This movie also impress on us how Hitchcock alluded the censors. Back then he cannot show men or women in sexual context. What does he do, he has Grace Kelly wear a one piece swimsuit at the beach, rubbing sunscreen onto her skin! And when Cary Grant and Grace Kelly kisses, they then cut to a firework in the sky scene, letting the audience know that more is happening then meets the eye. I know they are sound rather tame by today's standards because these scene are copied to death, but back then, no one had done it before....

If you like Hitchcock stuff, you know who you are, watch this!!

My Two Sen

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Apr 29 2014, 09:01 PM

How's Alfred Hitchcock's Topaz, anyone?

Would you believe the only two major movies released by Hitchcock, the two I have not watch are Family Plot (1976) & Topaz (1969)?

Maybe this weekend...

Cheers

Mind to share some review after u have watched the film...?
Hmm....

Hartigan

This one is for you kid.

Topaz (1969)

Well, I have actually seen this before and had forgotten, and that is actually a good summary of the movie.

Most people believe this is the beginning of the end for the career of Hitchcock!

Things were changing around Hitchcock at this period in his life... The Studio system which he is very comfortable with was crashing around him. Hollywood was changing. America, his adopted country was changing. Film making was changing, and he was aging...

For me, these are the issues with the movie

1) The Subject matter, Cuban missile crisis... I really did not care much for the subject matter.

2) I have no issue with a director experimenting. Outside of the of Hitchcock English movie, this has the most European feel, and adding to that making a spy thriller, with actors who are actually very good, the characters are... almost alien, and not VERY relate-able.

3) After Torn Curtain (1966) and having alot of issues with it's stars Paul Newman & Julie Andrews, Hitchcock choose to use mainly European actors, who, outside of Europe is not very recognizable...

This movie was not well received, even when it was being previewed before the launch of the movie. The test card after the movie was really really bad, which cause the studio to go into a panic, and they pressured Hitchcock to make several alternate ending to the movie and none tested well... It is my personal opinion that the one that ended up in the movie were the worst of the lot. Cest La Vie...

Do not let my opinions to stop you from watching it.

It is a Hitchcock movie, and even a second tier Hitchcock movie is a good movie compared to most director's first tier movie!!

As always, My Two Sen.

Haha.... thanks for the review
Appreciate

You are welcome!

Family Plot (1976)

Alfred Hitchcock's last movie.

And... I like it!! I REALLY do!

After the two more European feel movies, Topaz (1969) & Frenzy (1972), Hitchcock's movies return to the States, namely San Francisco!!

It started with a little Agatha Christie and ended up, like Clue!! (Yes, the board game). I do not mean for it to sound like a put down. This movie is good!

No big stars attached and have to add, he got very good character actors for his roles, and they are good!! Barbara Harris's (Blanche Tyler) a RIOT!!

As dysfunction as the characters Blanche Tyler & George Lumley are, they really REALLY care for each other, and that is really sweet!! They really STEAL to show!!

A lot have been made off his more well know works, Rear Window (1954), North by North West (1959), Vertigo (1958) etc (the 50s was a golden age for Hitchcock), I have to say, the Master showed the world that in 1976, he is STILL the Master of Suspense!!

This movie is based on The Rainbird Pattern is a thriller novel by Victor Canning, and supposedly, the book is much much darker than the movie. Screenplay Ernest Lehman did an amazing job!!

Alma Hitchcock was fighting cancer during this period, and Hitchcock himself was also sick himself. They were both devoted to each other.

Through all that, he still made this GREAT movie! And underrated at THAT!!

The IRONY in this movie is palpable!!

He paid Paul Newman and Julie Andrew US 750,000 each on Torn Curtain (1966) (he never got over that), and when it was suggested that Al Pacino be cast as the lead in Family Plot, he put his foot down and cast Bruce Dern as the lead because he had been working with him for 12 years (in bit roles and also on Alfred Hitchcock Presents) and also he only needed to pay Bruce Dern USD 100,000!!

Another interesting bit of trivia about this movie is, John Williams (right after Jaws) did the score for this movie!! And it is CHEEKY (fits like a glove)!!

Nobody knew that this would be his last movie... He was working on another project when it occurred to him he physically cannot do it (The Short Night)

If you consider yourself a Hitchcock fan, watch this!!

My Two Sen.

In honor of Alfred Hitchcock

Frantic (1988)

After 1983 and 1984 (3rd Star Wars and 2nd Indiana Jones) I believe Harrison Ford, tried alot of things to prove that he is a worthy thespian, and this I believe is a very good movie!

Director Roman Polanski having gotten into legal troubles in the States, made States movie in Europe.

It is MY firm believe that this is actually Roman Polanski's love letter to Alfred Hitchcock!!

So I dare say this is the most Hitchcock movie not made by Hitchcock!!

The script, the direction and subject matter, amazingly Hitchcockian!!

American doctor and his wife is in France to attend a conference.

They are making it into a working holiday.

There was a screw up at the airport, and the doctor's wife ended up with the wrong luggage...

The doctor calls the airport to report the screw up, and then takes a shower.

The wife receives a call and went down the lobby... The plot thickens!!

Hitchcock lovers, go watch this. You know you want to...

Oh! I do believe Liam Neeson's Unknown (2011) did copy the first one third of the movie!!

As always, My Two Sen.

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: May 9 2014, 01:30 PM

haha interesting review there

You are too kind

Foreign Correspondent (1940)

Put this on a couple of weeks back and was really excited.

It is not usual for me to find an Alfred Hitchcock movie I have not seen before.

I have to tell you, my expectation was high... and after watching the movie...

This is a strange movie...

The plot is so... overly convoluted, it absolutely makes NO SENSE!!

In my opinion, I believe Hitchcock had made so many similar movie, he got bored, and this movie suffered for it...

The "highlight" of the movie was so... unbelievable and the last frame of the movie was basically a US poster for selling War Bonds (this movie was just before Pearl Harbour incident) so am actually puzzled by this.

This movie actually deminish Hitchcock a bit in my eyes...

I was disappointed, or could it be, I expected too much...

This movie was release the same year as Rebecca (1940) (Hitchcock first American movie) and I love Rebecca much much more...

My Two Sen

There will never be an autofocus cinema lens to begin with. To be technical the cinema lenses are a different category from dslr camera altogether. Until today when you uses Red camera or Arri Alexa,all lenses strictly on manual focussing so it's viable to use those lens on various camera body and to build the best optical lens already took up a lot of weight and volume,so it's impractical to slap another motor that are proficient and silent in every single focal length.Furthermore until today the technology isn't there yet to replace a human focus puller as the calculation simply couldn't keep up with the precision of a human hand-eye tracking a moving subject.The closest autofocus you can get is on a motion control rig but all point to point focus are pre-calibrated during rehearsal.Just to be clear.
Chroma key (green/blue and in rare cases red) only happens efficiently during the mid-90's as it uses COMPUTER software to do clean-up.Before that all either practical optical illusion or optical background projection or frame by frame painting/erasing or even sandwiching two different negatives to make a single negative.Hence you saw a different exposure of the attacking bird to overlap the background plate that gives away the crude outline.Pre Star Wars era,majority of effects shot are limited only to static framing (not counting jittery stop motion) as fluid 3 axis movement simply unfeasible before the invention of motion control rig when comes to compositing elements.

I hope for our sake you are in the local movie industry!!

Loved the rear window ...

North by Northwest (1959)

For the life of me, I cannot understand, how I had watched this movie a couples of time and not posted a review of this movie here...

I am really REALLY getting old.

My, Hitchcock sure liked Cary Grant. He had appeared in Hitchcock's, Suspicion (1941), Notorious (1946), To Catch a Thief (1955) & North by Northwest (1959).

SO much so, that one would question if Cary Grant knew that it is actually director Stanley Donen who directed Charade (1963) (a Hitchcock-ish movie) and not Hitchcock!!

Being one of Hitchcock's best known works, I don't know if there is any additional information I can add to this except for

1) Paramount Pictures contracted Hitchcock out to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) to do this, and after the success of this movie, Paramount supposedly pressured Hitchcock for another "North by Northwest-ish" project for Paramount and Hitchcock said no. Hitchcock then approach Paramount with Psycho and because of the subject matter, Paramount refused to fund the movie, and Hitchcock himself had to come up with the money for Psycho instead but he was under contract to make another 2/3 movies for Paramount... A solution was devised, Hitchcock would fund Psycho and Paramount would distribute and they would split the profits (if any). Allegedly, the movie was made under USD 1,000,000 and it went on to make USD 32,000,000. So, everyone was happy!!

2) After this movie, Hitchcock did offer Grant another role in his movie, namely, Torn Curtain (1965), and Grant declined, on the ground that he was already working on his last movie, Walk, Don't Run (1966) and would retire after that. Paul Newman got the role in Torn Curtains instead and allegedly, Paul and Hitchcock DID NOT GET ALONG.... Hitchcock swore he would never work with another "big star" after that, and he never did...

Oh, one last thing... If they had handphones back then, this movie's plot would not had worked...

My Two Sen

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Dec 8 2014, 05:20 PM

time 2 revive back the classic thread

haha based on your trivia,,,can i add that he had also successfully ended a "small star" career named TIPPI HEDREN that infamously starred in MARNIE who is mom 2 melanie griffith with his SPECIAL TIED CONTRACT towards her so that he can sex her off the camera

when she suddenly grew stronger dominantly,,,he had vowed 2 end her career AT ALL COSTS which had successfully destroyed her entire career after MARNIE speaking of harsh brutality in showbiz work eh

even COUNTESS IN HONG KONG by charlie chaplin the following year cannot revive back miss hedren career anymore

what a shame 2 the potential big star who should be following the footsteps of the previous hitchcock babes like ingrid bergman,,,marlene dietrich,,,doris day,,,grace kelly,,,kim novak,,,eva marie saint,,,vera miles today

by the way,,,got TV movie depicted the saga of hitchcock very obsessed with hedren during MARNIE filming
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_%282012_TV_film%29
you can check and let me know what you think of the biography

This post has been edited by skylinelover: Apr 2 2016, 08:33 AM

Thanks for that, I did not know that bit of trivia!!

Also, interesting how you "bumped" this when I just got pristine copies of The 39 Steps (1935) and The Wrong Man (1956)!!

Will put their reviews here

Cheers