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Poll

Your Favorite Alfred Hitchcock Film Is:

haven't seen any
0 (0%)
don't like any
0 (0%)
other
0 (0%)
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927)
0 (0%)
Blackmail (1929)
0 (0%)
Murder! (1930)
0 (0%)
The Skin Game (1931)
0 (0%)
Rich and Strange (1931)
0 (0%)
Number Seventeen (1932)
0 (0%)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
0 (0%)
The 39 Steps (1935)
0 (0%)
Secret Agent (1936)
0 (0%)
Sabotage (1936)
0 (0%)
Young and Innocent (1937)
0 (0%)
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
0 (0%)
Jamaica Inn (1939)
0 (0%)
Rebecca (1940)
1 (0.9%)
Foreign Correspondent (1940)
0 (0%)
Mr and Mrs Smith (1941)
0 (0%)
Suspicion (1941)
0 (0%)
Saboteur (1942)
0 (0%)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
3 (2.8%)
Lifeboat (1944)
0 (0%)
Spellbound (1945)
0 (0%)
Notorious (1946)
3 (2.8%)
The Paradine Case (1947)
0 (0%)
Rope (1948)
3 (2.8%)
Under Capricorn (1949)
0 (0%)
Stage Fright (1950)
0 (0%)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
3 (2.8%)
I Confess (1953)
0 (0%)
Dial M for Murder (1954)
3 (2.8%)
Rear Window (1954)
28 (25.7%)
To Catch a Thief (1955)
0 (0%)
The Trouble with Harry (1955)
2 (1.8%)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
0 (0%)
The Wrong Man (1956)
0 (0%)
Vertigo (1958)
36 (33%)
North by Northwest (1959)
10 (9.2%)
Psycho (1960)
13 (11.9%)
The Birds (1963)
3 (2.8%)
Marnie (1964)
1 (0.9%)
Torn Curtain (1966)
0 (0%)
Topaz (1969)
0 (0%)
Frenzy (1972)
0 (0%)
Family Plot (1976)
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 109

Author Topic: Hitchcock, Alfred  (Read 30108 times)

Slacker

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Re: Hitchcock, Alfred
« Reply #190 on: February 16, 2017, 03:42:52 PM »
Nice lists! Interesting to see The Wrong Man and I, Confess other so many of the more celebrated films.
Neither are typical Hitchcock films.  The Wrong Man is a serious social issue film, taking on the fallibility of the criminal justice system and the repercussions on a person caught in the gears of the system.

I Confess, I like mostly because I find the subject matter interesting but it is competently directed by Hitch.  It left me thinking afterwards and after I read some conversation about it, I actually changed my mind about the movie.

pixote

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Re: Hitchcock, Alfred
« Reply #191 on: July 06, 2017, 02:21:23 AM »


Blackmail  (Alfred Hitchcock, 1929)  [Silent version]

An improvement on the sound version, largely in subtle ways, but still plagued by many of the same problems — especially the way the drama stagnates in the morning after, as the blackmailer holds the 'murderer' and her cop boyfriend metaphorically hostage, but with no clear agenda and thus an absence of stakes. I was hoping for greater deviations from the sound version, with a stronger emphasis on visual storytelling, but even in silence, Blackmail feels caught between two eras.

Grade: B-

Up next: The Farmer's Wife (1928)

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philip918

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Re: Hitchcock, Alfred
« Reply #192 on: July 06, 2017, 03:59:23 PM »
North By Northwest
Rear Window
Psycho
Vertigo

The 39 Steps
Dial M for Murder

The Birds
Rope
Saboteur
Frenzy


I've seen To Catch a Thief and Notorious, but have very little recollection of either. Have a lot of Hitchcock to catch up on!

Knocked Out Loaded

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Re: Hitchcock, Alfred
« Reply #193 on: July 12, 2017, 01:56:09 AM »
Vertigo, 80°
North By Northwest, 65°

Strangers On A Train, 60°
Shadow Of A Doubt, 60°
Rear Window, 55°
Psycho, 55°
Rope, 50°
Spellbound, 45°

The Birds, 40°
Frenzy, 35°
Dial M For Murder, 30°
Saboteur, 30°
Notorious, 25°

Jamaica Inn, 20°


« Last Edit: December 25, 2019, 06:18:55 AM by Knocked Out Loaded »
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pixote

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Re: Hitchcock, Alfred
« Reply #194 on: October 06, 2017, 01:34:59 AM »


The Farmer's Wife  (Alfred Hitchcock, 1928)

I'm not sure I've ever seen a movie this drawn-out before. It's a three-reel comedy extended to 129 agonizing minutes. However, there's actually some debate about whether that running time is appropriate (a common problem with films the silent era). There are versions of The Farmer's Wife that run about ninety minutes but reportedly feel sped-up. The 129-minute version that I watched felt natural, in terms of the motions, but completely unnatural in terms of the comic timing (or utter lack thereof). I have no way of knowing whether that's just comedic ineptitude on Hitchcock part or an indicator that the movie was never meant to run this slowly. (Corndog, since you enjoyed this movie, I'm dying to know the running time of your DVD copy.)

Putting all that aside, I doubt there exists a version of this film that I'd actually enjoy. There's exactly one standout moment, when a child arrives at a party and sees a tray of desserts. The camera adopts his point of view and tracks in rapidly on those sweets. That's shot, in all its excited gluttony, may be the most Hitchcockian thing in the film, not counting what a creeper the protagonist is around women. I use the word "protagonist" loosely, since I hated the widowed farmer (despite the script's attempts to make him sympathetic) and felt sad at the idea of any woman's wanted to marry him. Lillian Hall-Davis, as his loyal housekeeper, is easily best part of the movie, but she's so luminous that she makes the plot rather predictable. A few other supporting players make good impressions as well, even though the script never uses them to good advantage. What a poorly structured script, by the way! Its sense of structure and narrative flow rivals its sense of humor.

Grade: D

Up next: The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

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Corndog

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Re: Hitchcock, Alfred
« Reply #195 on: October 06, 2017, 07:15:32 AM »
The Farmer's Wife  (Alfred Hitchcock, 1928)

(Corndog, since you enjoyed this movie, I'm dying to know the running time of your DVD copy.)

Wow, 2009...I am sure my opinion of the film will have changed, but I definitely have a recollection of being entertained. If I recall, it was a film that I sat down to write my review with a 3/4 rating in mind, and then talked myself up to 3.5 (FWIW).

I will have to look to see the runtime, but I also remember it being long, so my bet is on the 129 minutes.
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Hitchcock, Alfred
« Reply #196 on: October 06, 2017, 07:38:01 AM »
Oh man, that is one of Hitchcock's worst films. He's completely out of his element.

pixote

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Re: Hitchcock, Alfred
« Reply #197 on: October 20, 2017, 10:25:06 PM »


The Man Who Knew Too Much  (Alfred Hitchcock, 1934)

A handful of sublime scenes (the dentist, the concert) at the service of a story that's ultimately rather silly, with too little logic from scene to scene. I've skipped over Hitchcock's transition period into talkies, but he's certainly very comfortable working with sound by 1934, showcasing it to great effect in the concert sequence.

I very much enjoyed Leslie Banks' mix of seriousness and nonchalance in the face of whatever threats the story throws at him. He reminded me a bit of William Powell, and I'm a bit surprised his career didn't have a similar arc.

The skunk stripe in Lorre's hair is endlessly distracting.

Grade: B

Up next: The 39 Steps (1935)

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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Hitchcock, Alfred
« Reply #198 on: October 21, 2017, 08:29:18 AM »
I haven't revisited this one since watching Hitchock's British talkies, but my memory tells me it's one of the better ones of this era and I like it a whole lot more than I like the remake.

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Re: Hitchcock, Alfred
« Reply #199 on: December 18, 2017, 02:54:38 AM »


The 39 Steps  (Alfred Hitchcock, 1935)

"A handful of sublime scenes ... at the service of a story that's ultimately rather silly, with too little logic from scene to scene." That's from my review of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), but it's every bit as applicable, if not moreso, to The 39 Steps, which is much more of a popcorn movie than I remembered.

Grade: B

Up next: Secret Agent (1936)

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