I like this description of Michael Redgrave from our big film book: "His debut was the prancing musicologist in Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes, a lively study of the ingenious idiot hero, too seldom investigated by Hitchcock."
We talked a little about Hitchcock's leading ladies (cl, I meant to ask you what you thought about Doris Day). Do you have a favorite Hitchcock "hero"? Or maybe another way to phrase that is simply Cary Grant or Jimmy Stewart?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
17 comments:
I'm ashamed to say the only other Hitchcock movie I've seen is "The Birds," which we watched in seventh-grade English class.
You watched "The Birds" in junior high English?! Hehe. Did you discuss it afterward in that book report sort of template? Who's the protagonist? The Antagonist? What's the climax? What's the theme? (In my experience the theme was almost invariably "man's inhumanity to man"). Hehe
Dear, I think you'd really like "Dial M for Murder." We should watch it. I liked it better than "North by Northwest" and "Vertigo," which seem to be everyone's favorites. Although cl and DW are partial to "Rebecca," which I've never seen but really want to based on their recommendations.
DW, I peeked at your films on FilmAffinity and see that you recently rated "Rope." Any thoughts? (Probably Hitchcock's gayest flick. Hehe)
An aside: I think Lady Vanishes is the oldest film we've seen so far, isn't it? (1938)
Erin, you'd love "Rear Window," too. (I'm partial to the Grace Kelly ones).
Kc, I agree. I wonder if that is deliberate from being a retelling of Leopold and Loeb?
When we watched our Hitchcock, I went through and rated any Hitchcock’s I’d seen and could remember well enough to have a decided opinion. A few years ago I started to rewatch “Rope” late one night on TCM. As I got sleepy, I decided that my memory of the film as a not-so-successful Hitchcock was about right. Many of my favorite movies make use of long takes, but “Rope” does so to poor effect. I found that it created a stagy artifice that emphasized the artifice of the acting. So it became a stage play that took on a “heavy” theme and failed by being overwrought.
My suggestion for taking on Dostoevskian themes is to have a very subtle hand. Robert Bresson’s “Pickpocket” is perfect.
I do think highly of “Vertigo”, though. That may be in part because I’m generally a James Steward fan, and a San Francisco fan too.
The best thing about “North by Northwest” is the Suit. But we had that conversation already.
DW (and anyone else who has an opinion), how would you compare Hitchcock's brand of creepy/suspense with David Lynch's? I was thinking about this the other day especially in relation to "Mulholland Drive."
Gosh, that's tough. I'm torn between James Stewart from "Vertigo," "Rear Window" and "Rope" vs. Cary Grant in "North by Northwest," "Notorious" and "Suspicion." I'd say Stewart by a hair.
Maybe the best male performance though, in any Hitchcock movie I've seen is Robert Walker in "Strangers on a Train." He really set the bar for mentally unhinged villains. I found myself rooting for him, actually, since Farley Granger just seemed to mug his way through as the "good guy."
I can't remember whether I ranked "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (the Doris Day version). I don't think she stood out to me. She's in tough company -- Grace Kelly's obviously the female standout.
When I was a kid, my mom got me to watch "To Catch a Thief," a light-hearted Hitchcock with Grace Kelly and Cary Grant. I LOVED it! The debonair jewel thief, the spectacular, sassy girl, the scenes shot on the French Riviera. Fantastic. Sparkling.
I sort of had a kid crush on Doris Day. I can't think why now, exactly. I do remember my debate coach said he knew someone who "knew Doris Day BEFORE she was a virgin." And I remember finding that very awesome — that in reality this purer-than-thou type who was always saying no, no, no on screen was actually saying yes, yes, yes in life. AND she loves stray dogs. (OK, I still have a little crush.) But she's no Grace Kelly, dammit, whose own "purity" was even more exaggerated (now there was a woman who knew how to have a good time).
KC, did you see "Pillow Talk"? That's a cute movie.
And "That Touch of Mink" -- Doris Day would get a rash whenever Cary Grant made any moves on her.
Yes, "Pillow Talk," with Rock Hudson — someone else who was far from what he appeared on screen! Hehe
My mom had a seriously thing for Doris Day, with or without Rock Hudson. I remember watching "Pillow Talk" and "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" and "Move Over, Darling" on weekends.
We watched "The Birds" in English class mostly for fun after we had read the short story by Daphne du Maurier. I think maybe the movie was a favorite of our teacher.
Your teacher had more interesting tastes than mine did. I think my teacher was part of a secret cell dedicated to promoting hatred of language and the spread of illiteracy.
I remember studying “We Didn’t Start the Fire” in middle-school English.
Erin, I think Daphne du Maurier wrote the book that "Rebecca" is based on, too.
Post a Comment