Topic: Alfred Hitchcock Marathon

[Dragonfire]

I know    ...but I had printed it out and was marking them off when watched.  The print out is what I lost.

I know I'm up to The Paradine Case...almost watched it a few times, but I wasn't really in the mood for Hitchcock those times.

But I will finish.  Maybe not until the 12 of never, but I will do it.   

[snowcat]

So I recently had my own mini Hitchcock marathon, I just finished watching my favourite film by him, Vertigo... im not sure what I love about that film but I could just watch it over and over.

..I think its because I have a thing for James Stewart ¬_¬

anyway, im not sure if you guys have ever heard this song, to be honest the first time I heard it I had not seen Vertigo and so I did not get it.... its by one of my favourite bands and even when I didn't understand it, it was a favourite of mine... anyway ;p spot the film references

WARNING! CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!

[Najemikon]

Interesting! 

Vertigo is one of my favourites too. I'd only watched it quite recently when it came around for the marathon, but had to see it again.

[Dragonfire]

Even though I am horribly behind on this marathon and have been basically since it started, I went and got a few more Hitchcock movies again.  Evidently I don't think I'm far enough behind.     Anyway...I decided to go with one of my new Hitchcock additions since it was made before the next one in my list. 
So..I watched Suspicion last night.   I'm making progress again.

Suspicion Well-to-do wallflower Lina McLaidlaw is in love, perhaps in danger. She suspects that Johnnie Aysgarth, the playboy who swept into her life and married her, is a murderer - and that she is his next intended victim. Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion shyly combines romance, mystery and atmospheric flourishes (like an eerie, glowing glass of milk, an effect achieved with a light bulb inside the glass). Joan Fontaine plays vulnerable, nerve-wracked Lina, following her acclaimed work in Hitchcock's Rebecca with a striking performance that won the Academy Award® and New York Film Critics Award as 1941's Best Actress. Playing against type, Cary Grant makes Johnnie an imposing charmer, wastrel and cad. But also a killer? Like the glass that may or may not contain poison, Johnnie's words and deeds may or may not be laced with menace. My Thoughts The movie has a slower pace, but that is needed to properly build the tension and suspense.  Things are shown from Lina's point of view, so the viewer knows only what she knows for the most part, though the viewer isn't as likely to be swayed by feelings like she is.  So much of what happens hints at Johnnie having a sinister nature, but then he turns around and has an explanation that sort of makes sense.  It is at least acceptable to Lina.  The uncertainty surrounding Johnnie works very well for the movie and makes many things more suspenseful, especially as Lina slowly starts to learn more about her husband.  The mystery and suspense work very well.  The music and lighting in various scenes really add to the atmosphere as well.  That glass of milk that looks like it is glowing is really creepy.  The movie also has some lighter moments, mostly early in Johnnie and Lina's relationship.  Johnnie's friend Beaky also adds some humor in his scenes.  Lina is a good character, though she has issues.  That makes her a more believable character in my opinion.  She has confidence issues when she first meets Johnnie.  She does seem to gain some confidence after the marriage, but then she sort of...slides back again at other times.  I think a big reason for that is because of her feelings for Johnnie and how he has manipulated her.  Joan Fontaine and Cary Grant are wonderful in the parts.  My problem with Suspicion is the ending.   I don't think it fits and it is the weak spot of the movie.  I found out, though the one extra on my DVD and from research online, that this isn't the original ending. (click to show/hide) While the ending that is in the movie resolves things, it just doesn't seem to fit.  So much of what happens throughout the movie is setting up how Johnnie is a bad guy..and the ending just seems to fall short of what has been set up.  After seeing how he manipulates people out of money..how he shows he has no desire to work..how he is upset when Lina doesn't inherit more from her father..I just don't buy that he was thinking of taking the poison himself.  That just doesn't fit with the character established in the movie.  I think the original ending, in which Lina writes a letter to her mother saying she thinks Johnnie is going to poison her when Johnnie walks in with the glass of milk.  She asks him to mail the letter and she drinks the milk.  That would have fit the movie so much better.  It wouldn't be a happy ending - but I don't think movies always have to happy endings.  I do usually prefer happier endings, but this one just doesn't work right with the so called happy ending.  But when the movie was made, the studio wouldn't allow Cary Grant to be a killer.  Every time one of his big flaws is introduced, like selling the chairs Lina's father gave them so he could gamble, something is done fairly quick to offset it or at least make it seem less of a problem.  He can't even be a full jerk of a character.  The movie was based on a book, from what I have learned about the book, Johnnie is much more..villainous in the book.  Much of that is lost in the movie.  Partly because of the time and the moral code and probably also because the studio didn't want Cary Grant being that bad.  Even though I don't think the ending fits the movie, I still enjoyed this one overall.  It is definitely worth watching for fans of Hitchcock and Cary Grant. I even got a review posted on Epinions. Suspicion

[Dragonfire]

I forgot to mention about the one extra on the disc.  It has people talking about the making of the movie and it does briefly bring up the change to the ending.

One person talked about how the movie was colorized at one point and some of the colorized scenes are shown.  One or two of them looked ok, but the colors in one just looked weird and unnatural.  The featurette thing is interesting and worth watching.

[Dragonfire]

The Paradine Case THE PARADINE CASE Academy Award® Winner Gregory Peck stars in this suspense thriller as a love -struck attorney defending a beauty charged with poisoning her husband. Restored and Remastered! Includes Audio Commentary, Audio Interview with Peter Bogdanovich and More! My Thoughts This movie had potential with the main idea of the plot - a lawyer, or barrister, is defending a beautiful somewhat mysterious woman accused of poisoning her husband and falls for her.  Unfortunately, the movie fails to meet the potential, and it ends up being rather dull and not suspenseful in any way. Maddalena's husband is already dead when the movie begins and she is arrested within the first few minutes.  At that point, very little is shared about the death of her husband.  It doesn't take that long for more to be shared about it.  Most of the movie is focused on Anthony - the attorney - working on the case and developing feelings for his client.  They aren't shown together that much, so it doesn't make much sense for him to have fallen for her, especially since he is happily married when he takes the case.  Several scenes don't really add much to what is going on and seem more pointless than anything.  I'm guessing that they were supposed to be suspenseful.  The big revelation late in the movie is probably supposed to be shocking, but it isn't.  Maybe it was more shocking when the movie first came out.  Once the trial actually starts, a lot of it is shown.  During those scenes, Hitchcock did do something different by using four different camera aimed at different characters.  The footage was then put together during the editing. None of the cast really stands out to me.  No one was bad, but no one was great either.  Ethyl Barrymore was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar and she is barely in the movie.  The few times she is on screen, her character is made out to be a bit loopy.  Maddalena had potential to be a really interesting character, but it isn't fully explored. This is the last movie that Hitchcock made with Selznick.  I have learned about the trouble the two men had working together and there was more of it with this movie as well.  Selznick even wrote the screenplay because he decided the adaptation that was done wasn't good enough.  New pages were sent to the set every day.  He also insisted on all kinds of reshoots that caused the filming to take longer and go way over budget.  The final amount spent was almost as much as spent on Gone With the Wind.  Hitchcock's cut of the movie was almost three hours long.  Selznick then decided to edit the movie himself and cut it down a lot.  I think the fact that Selznick did the editing is at least part of why the movie doesn't work. The story had the potential to be interesting, but it just didn't work out that way.  The movie ends up being rather dull with no suspense. It is a very different sort of Hitchcock movie in my opinion.  Fans of Hitchcock might find something to like about the movie, but they really aren't missing anything by not watching the movie either. I did get a review posted on Epinions. The Paradine Case

[Dragonfire]

Rope

This DVD is one of my mother and step-father's, so I don't have it in Profiler.

This is the version they have.  I've taken the other information from Amazon.com



An experimental film masquerading as a standard Hollywood thriller. The plot of Rope is simple and based on a successful stage play: two young men (John Dall and Farley Granger) commit murder, more or less as an intellectual exercise. They hide the body in their large apartment, then throw a dinner party. Will the body be discovered? Director Alfred Hitchcock, fascinated by the possibilities of the long-take style, decided to shoot this story as though it were happening in one long, uninterrupted shot. Since the camera can only hold one 10-minute reel at a time, Hitchcock had to be creative when it came time to change reels, disguising the switches as the camera passed behind someone's back or moved behind a lamp. In later years Hitchcock wrote off the approach as misguided, and Rope may not be one of Hitchcock's top movies, but it's still a nail-biter. They don't call him the Master of Suspense for nothing. James Stewart, as a suspicious professor, marks his first starring role for Hitchcock, a collaboration that would lead to the masterpieces Rear Window and Vertigo. --Robert Horton

Product Description
No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: PG
Release Date: 20-JUN-2006
Media Type: DVD


My Thoughts

The first shot of the movie, showing the murder, makes this movie a bit different.  It is clear right from the start that Brandon and Phillip have murdered David, so there is no search for a murderer.  The motivation for the murder comes out fairly early.  Things progress during real time over the course of the movie.  The pacing works well overall, though it does slow down a few times.  Things do seem to drag slightly in a few spots, but that works for the movie overall.  The entire movie is set inside Brandon's apartment, mostly in the living room, though a few other rooms are used briefly as well.  The kitchen is just seen through the swinging door, which creates some wonderful shots.  The movie is filmed with one camera in basically one shot, though the camera would only hold ten minutes of film at a time.  The changes in the reels are somewhat easy to spot, but they are still done well.  As characters go from room to room, the camera follows along behind them.  Hitchcock already used a small location in Lifeboat, and he would return to using an apartment as the location for an entire movie in Rear Window.

The living room has a wall of windows, showing the city skyline as the backdrop for what is going on inside.  There is smoke coming from different chimneys and clouds slowly move across the sky, disguising the fact that the background is actually static.  The lighting slow changes as well as it becomes dark out and lights in the different buildings slowly come on.  The use of the background is done really well and adds to the atmosphere of what is going on.  I don't think I've seen another movie that did this what a static backdrop.

Even though there is no question about who killed Dave or even why he has vanished, there is still a good amount of suspense to what is going on.  Brandon going through with a dinner party right after the murder, and even serving the food from the trunk or whatever that piece of furniture was where they stuffed the body.  Once people start to arrive, there is a lot of tension and suspense around the wondering if anyone will discover the body that is practically right under their noses.  Phillip is not dealing well with what they have done, and he gets more and more jumpy and nervous as the evening progresses while Brandon stays more calm and controlled.  One guest is a former teacher who has expressed the view of murder being a privilege for some.  The other guests include members of David's family, his girlfriend, and her ex.  Having so many people that connected to David be there adds to the tension of what is going on. 

Of the two murderous friends, it is clear that Brandon is the one in charge and making the decisions.  He has no remorse and relishes the danger of having the dinner party while the body is still in the room.  Brandon enjoys manipulating people and then sitting back to watch what happens.  Philip starts showing regrets almost immediately and he is horrified by the planned dinner party, and Brandon deciding to change things around so the food is served from the trunk hiding the body.  There is a good dynamic between the two of them.  Mrs. Wilson is the maid who arrives to help set up for the party.  She is confused by Brandon's decision to change things around.  Janet is David's girlfriend and she has known Brandon long enough to know that he likes to manipulate people.  She isn't happy about Kenneth, her ex, being there too.  David's father and aunt are the other two party guests.  As things progress, they are getting more concerned and worried over David's absence.  Rupert is the professor who slowly starts to become suspicious.  The cast all does well with their parts, with Jimmy Stewart being wonderful.



I did get a review of this one posted on Epinions a few years ago after I first watched the movie.

Rope

[Najemikon]

 

Glad to see you're still plugging away, Marie!

[Dragonfire]

Yup.  I told you I would get this finished even if it was ages after everyone else.  Which it is.   

[Najemikon]

Hmmm... I think there are a couple still following you!

[Dragonfire]

Oh?  I thought I was only one still not done.

So there is a chance I may not be last after all..cool.

[Najemikon]

According to page 1, Tom still has a handful and Rossroy a couple. I have a feeling the host has left us... 

[Dragonfire]

Ahh ok.  I thought Tom finished for some reason.

[Tom]

According to page 1, Tom still has a handful and Rossroy a couple. I have a feeling the host has left us... 

I am still following this thread and I will continue some day. Promise

I will also update the list sometime soon.

[Dragonfire]

I believe you still have less to watch than me, so you could still finish before me.