Steven DeRosa New Year's Eve Champagne Tips Courtesy of Alfred Hitchcock Tip #1: When popping the cork, aim away from your guests (or the camera). (MORE)
Sound test with Polish-Czech actress Anny Ondra, for the movie Blackmail (1929), Hitchcock's first sound film.
Plot Holes in Vertigo (and why they don't matter) .LINK .(22 min video) I only saw Vertigo once, years ago, and didn't care much for it. Surprisingly I wasn't alone. One must ignore the plot holes to appreciate it. I can do that with B movies. At least I should give it a try again with Vertigo. "After their first viewing, many people need the Vertigo movie explained. This Alfred Hitchcock film is beguiling and its initial release in 1958 was disappointing. It made significantly less than other Hitchcock films to date and it was widely panned by critics. Subsequently, Hitchcock bought back the rights to the film but it was widely unavailable until 1983. And yet, as years went by, Vertigo slowly ascended the ranks of Hitchcock’s filmography, from cult favorite to critical favorite. Now, it’s considered not only one of Hitchcock’s best films, but one of the greatest cinematic achievements of all time." Could this mean the whole plot was just one giant MacGuffin? It would be interesting to know how closely the screenplay matches the novel it was based on. Kim Novak on Vertigo: "He was obsessed with it. ... He was playing the part of Jimmy Stewart."
Petrol station at the site of 517 High Road, Leytonstone, where Hitchcock was born; commemorative mural at nos. 527–533 (right). Alfred Hitchcock in Leytonstone Sebastian Harding, Illustrator & Modelmaker, made these models of buildings in Leytonstone associated with the great director to celebrate Hitchcock’s East End, a year’s worth of events produced by Create London and Barbican Film, commencing Saturday, 28th September, with a screening of ‘Vertigo’ at St Margaret of Antioch Church, just a stone’s throw from where he was born.
Do you suppose Alfred Hitchcock ever ordered the chili? Columbo: A Follow-up to Alfred Hitchcock Presents? "What got me curious about revisiting Columbo, which ran from 1971 to 1978, was a recent discussion where a fellow Hitchcock geek had been musing about what Hitch might have thought of the TV show, because the stories and how they're presented are essentially copies of Dial M for Murder, and because a lot of Hitchcock's stars appeared in it. After watching his (Columbo) debut movie, Prescription: Murder—a 'perfect murder' story about a wealthy psychiatrist who kills his wife—all sorts of Hitchcockian overtones jumped out at me: the sophisticated Dial M approach, the cat-and-mouse game played between detective and killer that's reminiscent of Rope, and the psychological gamesmanship."
Another similar movie is Clint Eastwood's "Play Misty for Me". Hitchcock could have made it. Play Misty for Me – Eastwood does Hitchcock