Alfred Hitchhiking

Discussion in 'Movies & Entertainment' started by Joe Riley, Apr 22, 2019.

  1. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2015
    Messages:
    14,078
    Likes Received:
    22,879
    Hitchcock, under the tree......o_O:confused::rolleyes:
    [​IMG]

    Vertigo
     
    #331
  2. Nancy Hart

    Nancy Hart Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jun 3, 2018
    Messages:
    10,875
    Likes Received:
    20,494
    An observation about Hitchcock's most well-known movies....

    It's true they are all about the suspense leading up to the ending. If you know the ending, the movies tend to drag on slowly. There is no incentive to watch one twice.

    A few weeks ago they had an Alfred Hitchcock weekend on Turner Classics. They showed all of his most popular movies. The only one I could watch all the way through was Vertigo. It was painfully slow.

    It's not a fault of his direction, but the type of story he chooses. I need to watch some of his older, less well-known movies. Maybe The Trouble with Harry or Mr. and Mrs. Smith?
     
    #332
    John Brunner and Joe Riley like this.
  3. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2015
    Messages:
    14,078
    Likes Received:
    22,879
    #333
    Marie Mallery and Nancy Hart like this.
  4. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2015
    Messages:
    14,078
    Likes Received:
    22,879
    Article: Alfred Hitchcock's Rope - A Film Ahead of Its Time

    [​IMG]
    "An impressive set was built, feature a large panoramic window that provided a view of the Manhattan skyline. This view was created using a massive cyclorama and model buildings that had actual working lights and smoking chimneys. Eight different fiberglass cloud formations were also built to absorb the multiple hues of lights that were to be used to simulate the sunset during filming."
     
    #334
    Jenna Parnellson likes this.
  5. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    May 29, 2020
    Messages:
    23,635
    Likes Received:
    33,970
    I've watched The Birds many times. But you make a good point about the rest. Only The Birds has action throughout most of it while the others are extended anticipation.
     
    #335
    Marie Mallery and Joe Riley like this.
  6. Nancy Hart

    Nancy Hart Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jun 3, 2018
    Messages:
    10,875
    Likes Received:
    20,494
    [​IMG]
     
    #336
    Joe Riley and Marie Mallery like this.
  7. Nancy Hart

    Nancy Hart Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jun 3, 2018
    Messages:
    10,875
    Likes Received:
    20,494
    I re-watched part of Suspicion that weekend. I was concentrating on how Cary Grant was able (or unable) to portray a man who WASN'T planning to kill his wife. Maybe the talent of the actors makes a difference too.

    Some movies I can watch over and over and pick up different things each time. Moonstruck comes to mind. I enjoyed it for the 4th time last week.
     
    #337
    Joe Riley and John Brunner like this.
  8. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2015
    Messages:
    14,078
    Likes Received:
    22,879
    Why Alfred Hitchcock Turned Down a British Honor in 1962
    [​IMG]
    Hitch waits for some love from the palace.


    "When Alfred Hitchcock was designated a Knight of the British Realm toward the end of 1979, henceforth his formal title was Sir Alfred Hitchcock, KBE. His life was quickly winding down, but between bouts of depression and heavy drinking, the old jokester flashed forth. Parlaying the honor into a brief PR stunt for his never-to-be-completed film The Short Night, he rechristened himself The Short Knight. His longtime friend, Universal Studios heavy Lew Wasserman, quickly threw together a celebratory luncheon attended by old friends Cary Grant, Janet Leigh and others. British consul general Thomas W. Aston bestowed the medal."


    "When a reporter asked him why it had taken the queen so long to bestow the honor, Hitchcock dryly replied, "I guess she forgot." Sadly, he was to enjoy the title for only another four months, whereupon he passed away."

    "That may be the end of the story. But it isn't the beginning." (MORE)
     
    #338
  9. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jul 13, 2021
    Messages:
    10,926
    Likes Received:
    10,106
    The birds and Psycho, was that Hitchcock? I wouldn't like them today though.
     
    #339
    John Brunner likes this.
  10. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2015
    Messages:
    14,078
    Likes Received:
    22,879
    His Movies are timeless.....it is the people who have changed. Movie viewers today, are driving without their rear-view mirror. :eek:
     
    #340
    John Brunner and Marie Mallery like this.
  11. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jul 13, 2021
    Messages:
    10,926
    Likes Received:
    10,106
    You like old movies, how about classics like The Great Waltz filmed in 1938.
     
    #341
  12. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    May 29, 2020
    Messages:
    23,635
    Likes Received:
    33,970
    I've said it before...this was special effects before there was such a thing:

    woman-screaming.jpg

    You watch today's Director's Cuts and there's 3 seconds of "acting" that gets digitally manipulated with digital scenery and loud music. It's infuriating that modern "celebrities" get the money and accolades that they do.
     
    #342
  13. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2015
    Messages:
    14,078
    Likes Received:
    22,879
    Review
    Family Plot
    Roger Ebert April 12, 1976
    [​IMG]



    "Alfred Hitchcock has always preferred visuals to dialog, yet "Family Plot" opens on a talkative note. A medium, the slightly spaced-out Madame Blanche, is holding a seance with an eccentric old lady. They're in the old lady's parlor, surrounded by antiques and heirlooms and an abundance of deep shadows, and the old lady is involved in this incredibly complicated tale about events of years ago."

    "It appears that her late sister had an illegitimate child and, times being what they were, the child was given up for adoption. Then the sister died, and the child was lost track of, and now the old lady is afraid of dying and wants to make amends by willing her vast fortune to the child. Madame Blanche's assignment: Find the missing nephew. He'd be almost 40 now."

    [​IMG]

    "Family Plot" is, incredibly, Hitchcock's 53d film in a career that reaches back almost 50 years. And it's a delight for two contradictory reasons: because it's pure Hitchcock, with its meticulous construction and attention to detail, and because it's something new for Hitchcock -- a macabre comedy, essentially. He doesn't go for shock here, or for violent effects, but for the gradual tightening of a narrative noose."

    (READ MORE)
     
    #343
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2024
    Nancy Hart likes this.
  14. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2015
    Messages:
    14,078
    Likes Received:
    22,879


    [​IMG]
    Hitchcock Gallery: image 8914​
     
    #344
    Nancy Hart likes this.
  15. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    May 29, 2020
    Messages:
    23,635
    Likes Received:
    33,970
    Smithsonian Associates is offering a lecture via Zoom on Hitchcock.
    Wednesday, June 26, 2024 - 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. ET
    $35 for non-members, $30 for members

    Film historian Max Alvarez traces Alfred Hitchcock’s professional and artistic development from silent filmmaker in 1920s England to a Hollywood commercial force to be reckoned with during the 1940s and ’50s. He includes electrifying selections from the director’s filmography and rare behind-the-scenes archival material illustrating how key Hitchcock productions evolved from page to screen.

    LINK
     
    #345

Share This Page