Toby Jones, a great Hitchcock in The Girl

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stuart.uk
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Toby Jones, a great Hitchcock in The Girl

Post by stuart.uk »

In Global terms, the recent Athony Hopkins film Hitchcock will be better known than the British TV movie The girl where actor Toby Jones played the all-time great director. I haven't seen Hopkins film, but from what I gather he's spot on as Hitch, but on seeing Toby Jones, the son of Freddie Jones, I can see the very same about him.

Spoiler

The film Hitchcock as I understand it is a love story between Hitch and his wife Alma played by the great Helen Mirren, whereas The Girl centres on Hitch's alleged obsession with Tippi Hedren. I Got the impression Hitch came over in The Girl as a hugely powerful figure that people were to scared to cross. At the end when Hedren demanded to be realesed from her contract, Hitch more or less told her it was the end of his career. American born, but British based Sienna Rose Miller was very good as Tippi Hedren, but it was a delight to see an actress the stature of Emelda Stuanton (Vera Drake) as Alma and Penelope Wilton (Cry Freedom) as Hitch's assistant Peggy Robertson.
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Vienna
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Re: Toby Jones, a great Hitchcock in The Girl

Post by Vienna »

Will be interesting to see Anthony Hopkin's Hitchcock.
I thought THE GIRL was dull and poorly written. It was supposedly a tale of obsession but failed miserably.
I cringed when Toby Jones ,after Tippi's rejection, quietly whispers, "Tippi and Alfie.!"
Seemed to be more about power corrupting. But will we ever know the truth. I doubt it.
It certainly traduced Hitchcock as a person and made no real attempt to explain his personality.
As portrayed, his treatment of Tippi Hedren was horrendous.
Alma Hitchcock was well played by Imelda Staunton but the script reduced her to a walk-on part .
I thought Sienna Jones was good as Tippi.
Even an attempt to make us feel some sorrow for Hitchcock fails because of the writing. I found Toby Jones lumbered with such heavy makeup that he just seemed odd and cold and one-dimensional.sad to say, almost a caricature .
And we certainly didn't get any idea of how THE BIRDS and MARNIE turned out. Might have been just as well to show some actual scenes from the films if that had been possible (with Tippi not too visible!)
It would be interesting to hear from someone who had never heard of the films or Hitchcock. Ie how would this be judged on its own merits.
A wasted opportunity .
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: Toby Jones, a great Hitchcock in The Girl

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I didn't watch it but my mother in law wasn't impressed so I don't think I'll be watcing it on the iplayer.

So many good programmes at Xmas and no time to watch them, I just wish they'd make such an effort for the rest of the year.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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CineMaven
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Re: Toby Jones, a great Hitchcock in The Girl

Post by CineMaven »

I enjoyed immensely, the Toby Jones Hitchcock film. It was the singular issue of his treatment of Tippi Hedren. I saw Anthony Hopkins' version of Hitchcock, and enjoyed it immensely. It dealt with getting "Psycho" off the ground and all that's entailed in making a movie: censors, leading ladies, collaboration, crushes. I really liked both films.
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: Toby Jones, a great Hitchcock in The Girl

Post by charliechaplinfan »

Maybe I should give it chance, from the trailers it looked like they were picking Hitchcock's legend apart. There's no doubt he liked a certain kind of girl and keeping control. Hopefully iplayer will keep it on until the kids go back to school and I can watch it in peace.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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