The Manilla Envelope
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Hitchcock cont./
5 Best
1. Psycho (1960)
One of the scariest films I've ever seen. Tension, suprise and bloody violence mixed up by the master to create probably his most famous film. Based on the novel by Robert Bloch about Ed Gein who lived as a recluse and had a mother fixation. Gein did well in the movies as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre also took him as inspiration with Leatherface.
Psycho changed the way people went to the cinema as the director initiated refused entry after the film had started. Obvious now but before 1960 it was considered normal to turn up whenever.
2. Rebecca (1940)
Your parents will dig it. B/w classic also based on a novel, this time by Daphne Du Maurier. The genius of it is that Rebecca is the dead wife of Lawrence Olivier's character, Max De Winter. You never see her but she is omnipresent throughout the story, as new wife Joan Fontaine, finds out. They shack up together at Manderley, De Winter's Cornwall mansion; a great setting for the fear and trembling that follows. The female housekeeper is especially unnerving, cold towards the new occupant; she still faithfully mourns Rebecca. The new Mrs. De Winter soon cracks under the pressure, a twist is revealed and events converge into a climatic ending.
3. Vertigo (1958)
James Stewart falls dangerously in love with Kim Novak, a little short of stable herself. Often referred as his most personal film, and not for nothing. Hitchcock used a little known French book about a woman who believes she has been reincarnated and weaves the ultimate tale of obsession and tradegy. Bernard Hermann's music throughout the film is heartbreaking as Stewart and Novak share tender yet bleak moments together and apart. The film ebbs and flows to put you on the edge of sanity, hence following Stewart's character into anguish, despair towards a chilling conclusion. It is perhaps strange that a man who shared such a healthy relationship with a woman for so long could create a film that deals with the dysfunctional otherside.
4. Rope (1948)
Much has been made of unbroken 'takes' in this film. Hitchcock opted not to cut the film throughout the whole feature. However realising the maximum for one reel of film back then was ten minutes he had to make some necessary splices, they were timed to coincide with an extreme close up of someone's back or an object to create the illusion of one continuous shot for the whole length. More amazing for the technical aspect and for the actors hitting their marks. One scene (well, I suppose the whole film is a scene) has a character is putting the piece of rope into a kitchen draw. The audience sees the action take place in stilted form from the outside as a two way door swings open then back again. Another example of extracting the viewing potential of everyday things. The story is simple, two intellectuals murder a colleague (don't worry, its right at the start) and then throw a party for him and his friends to see if they can get away with it. Genius.
5. Frenzy (1972)
A return to form by all accounts. In his second to last feature, Hitchcock relocates his wrong man formula to his hometown, London. A neck-tie murderer is terrorising the city and the lives of many innocent women and the freedom of one man. It is clear that the film is in some ways a homage to Jack the Ripper with colourful characters and mini sagas surrounding the events. Hitchcock includes one of his most graphic and provocative murder scenes and also one of the most subtle, in which the murder is never shown but the viewer is left in no doubt as to what is happening. There are many moments of humour with focus on the police chief leading the investigation and his wife's cooking! The ending is not the strongest but by then there have been enough decent twists and turns to keep us guessing.
5 Best
1. Psycho (1960)
One of the scariest films I've ever seen. Tension, suprise and bloody violence mixed up by the master to create probably his most famous film. Based on the novel by Robert Bloch about Ed Gein who lived as a recluse and had a mother fixation. Gein did well in the movies as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre also took him as inspiration with Leatherface.
Psycho changed the way people went to the cinema as the director initiated refused entry after the film had started. Obvious now but before 1960 it was considered normal to turn up whenever.
2. Rebecca (1940)
Your parents will dig it. B/w classic also based on a novel, this time by Daphne Du Maurier. The genius of it is that Rebecca is the dead wife of Lawrence Olivier's character, Max De Winter. You never see her but she is omnipresent throughout the story, as new wife Joan Fontaine, finds out. They shack up together at Manderley, De Winter's Cornwall mansion; a great setting for the fear and trembling that follows. The female housekeeper is especially unnerving, cold towards the new occupant; she still faithfully mourns Rebecca. The new Mrs. De Winter soon cracks under the pressure, a twist is revealed and events converge into a climatic ending.
3. Vertigo (1958)
James Stewart falls dangerously in love with Kim Novak, a little short of stable herself. Often referred as his most personal film, and not for nothing. Hitchcock used a little known French book about a woman who believes she has been reincarnated and weaves the ultimate tale of obsession and tradegy. Bernard Hermann's music throughout the film is heartbreaking as Stewart and Novak share tender yet bleak moments together and apart. The film ebbs and flows to put you on the edge of sanity, hence following Stewart's character into anguish, despair towards a chilling conclusion. It is perhaps strange that a man who shared such a healthy relationship with a woman for so long could create a film that deals with the dysfunctional otherside.
4. Rope (1948)
Much has been made of unbroken 'takes' in this film. Hitchcock opted not to cut the film throughout the whole feature. However realising the maximum for one reel of film back then was ten minutes he had to make some necessary splices, they were timed to coincide with an extreme close up of someone's back or an object to create the illusion of one continuous shot for the whole length. More amazing for the technical aspect and for the actors hitting their marks. One scene (well, I suppose the whole film is a scene) has a character is putting the piece of rope into a kitchen draw. The audience sees the action take place in stilted form from the outside as a two way door swings open then back again. Another example of extracting the viewing potential of everyday things. The story is simple, two intellectuals murder a colleague (don't worry, its right at the start) and then throw a party for him and his friends to see if they can get away with it. Genius.
5. Frenzy (1972)
A return to form by all accounts. In his second to last feature, Hitchcock relocates his wrong man formula to his hometown, London. A neck-tie murderer is terrorising the city and the lives of many innocent women and the freedom of one man. It is clear that the film is in some ways a homage to Jack the Ripper with colourful characters and mini sagas surrounding the events. Hitchcock includes one of his most graphic and provocative murder scenes and also one of the most subtle, in which the murder is never shown but the viewer is left in no doubt as to what is happening. There are many moments of humour with focus on the police chief leading the investigation and his wife's cooking! The ending is not the strongest but by then there have been enough decent twists and turns to keep us guessing.
