ALFRED HITCHCOCK

[knitwit45]

Ali, there are several here who don't care for Robert Cummings, I'm not one of them, but you know the old saying, "That's what makes a horse race" (or something like that)...

I liked Saboteur also. I'd never thought of the links between it and North by Northwest, but now....wow!

[charliechaplinfan]

I don't know the saying but I think the guy is really cute, I can only think that I've seen him in one other film and liked him there too, he perhaps never found his niche to be a top rung star but he's a good enough actor. I think German Shepherd dogs are cute too but in a different way

[RedRiver]

You're not missing anything ChaplinFan. It's not everybody's cup of Hitchcock.

[knitwit45]

Red, she saw the movie and liked it. She just couldn't figure out why RC was compared to a dog.....

[MissGoddess]

For those here in the U.S. who get the Starz! cable TV package, Encore Suspense is featuring a salute to the master with a different Hitch every night until August 13. This is to coincide with the British Film Institute's festival in London.

"Hitchcock's 113th Birthday Celebration" includes feature presentations of the following films beginning at 8pm ET/PT, each night. Films will then be followed by a different episode of "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour":

August 1 Saboteur
August 2 Shadow of a Doubt
August 3 Rope
August 4 Rear Window
August 5 The Trouble With Harry
August 6 The Man Who Knew Too Much
August 7 The Birds
August 8 Marnie
August 9 Torn Curtain
August 10 Topaz
August 11 Frenzy
August 12 Family Plot
August 13 Vertigo; followed by Psycho

Read more: http://tv.broadwayworld.com/article/Enc ... z22If4Rn1h

[CineMaven]

"Sight and Sound" just named "VERTIGO" as the "greatest film of all time" toppling "Citizen Kane." My friends and I had a lively talk about "Vertigo" that you can check out by clicking on Novak and Stewart below:



Now besides my ham-handed attempt to get you to watch my project, does any one have any thoughts on "Vertigo" being chosen for this prestigious spot? Is it prestigious or commercial? Is it the greatest film of all time? Is it the greatest film Hitchcock ever did? Where do you think it fits among Hitch's own films? Does each director have his or her own masterpiece? Is the word masterpiece just plain over-used??

Me personally? Gee, I love "VERTIGO." I think Hitch did a great job of deconstructing what L-O-V-E is. Hell, is this EVEN love or is it obsession? Obsession on Scotty's part but love on Judy's part? Or are they both just two wacky crazy kids...after all, Judy falls in love with a man she is about to set up for murder...and the patsy ( Scotty ) falls in love with another man's ( supposedly ) crazy wife. Awwww, Hitch is gloriously all over the map with this movie and I love the ride. What do you think?

[JackFavell]

I think it's absolutely Hitch's masterpiece, in a career filled with them, somehow Vertigo is on a different plane. As for greatest film of all time, I think that can only be answered subjectively, it's not written in stone, unless of course I share the opinion! I have a hard time with this, because I am a huge huge Citizen Kane fan... but if any film had to topple Kane for the crown, I'm glad it was Vertigo.

I laughed so hard at the description given in Entertainment Weekly of why Vertigo finally knocked Kane out of 1st place:

“This result reflects changes in the culture of film criticism,” James tells the BBC. “The new cinephilia seems to be not so much about films that strive to be great art, such as Citizen Kane, and that use cinema’s entire arsenal of effects to make a grand statement, but more about works that have personal meaning to the critic. Vertigo is the ultimate critics’ film because it is a dreamlike film about people who are not sure who they are but who are busy reconstructing themselves and each other to fit a kind of cinema ideal of the ideal soul mate.”

Meaning critics are really deluded geeks who re-invent themselves into ultra powerful lovers in their own minds, but really they are still just lost delusional guys who don't really live a life? Whoa! lol.. Kinda harsh.

Pretty soon they'll be making a movie about cinephilia (still sounds like a disease or something perverted). It will do for critics what High Fidelity did for independent record store employees...

[ChiO]

I got into a rather heated, but friendly, discussion with a Facets instructor Monday night over the list, but we approach it from different perspectives. She cheered the fall of CITIZEN KANE (The nerve! But we're still friends.) and rise of VERTIGO, but otherwise railed against it for failing to recognize women (except Akerman), Africans (American and African), Fassbinder, Ophuls, Fuller, Ray and having BICYCLE THIEVES as the Neo-Realist entry rather than anything by Visconti, Rossellini or Pasolini (we didn't get into 8-1/2). In short, she views it as a staid, boring white boys' Film 101 list.

I lamented the fall of CITIZEN KANE, but took hope in the continuing resurrection of THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC and the appearance of Vertov's THE MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA. And that, yes, it may be a staid, boring white boys' Film 101 list, but that has pedagogical value. Being a bit of a staid, boring white boy myself, the list and its canonical nature provide a good starting point for those wanting to appproach film thoughtfully. One can whine and argue about the selections (SUNRISE over THE LAST LAUGH? No way. AU HASARD BALTHASAR over A MAN ESCAPED? I disagree, but it's more a quibble than disgust. No Ophuls, Ray, Fuller, Powell, Cassavetes? Would love to see them make it, but that's more a issue over the career value generally of those directors rather than a specific movie -- and the relative consistency in their careers may have resulted in their movies splitting votes. 2001 instead of WANDA or KILLER OF SHEEP? It's an incredible cinematographic work, but as a movie it leaves me nowhere.), and that -- again -- is part of its value.

At least three of my Top 10 made the Top 10 (no staid, boring white boy cracks, please): CITIZEN KANE, THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC and TOKYO STORY. I need to see MIRROR (see -- the list does provide value).

[JackFavell]

I'm here to quibble!

I am really surprised at 2001, A Space Odyssey showing up on both lists. Influential? yes. Great? yes. A complete vision? yes. but coming in at #2? I just can't get behind that. There are probably at least 20 films I would pick before 2001 on my 'greatest' list.

Another quibble - The Godfather AND Apocalypse Now on the same list. I am quite willing to concede that one or the other should be there, even if they are not my idea of 'the greatest', though I lean toward Apocalypse Now as the better film. But really, is Francis Ford Coppola a better director than Ophuls? Never. Never in a million years.

Quibbling done!

[MissGoddess]

Coppola is like the Angolan national basketball team up against the US NBA All-Star team.

that made me laugh!

[RedRiver]

I probably shouldn't even say this. Keep in mind, it's merely my opinion. I don't even think VERTIGO is Hitchcock's best. REAR WINDOW is a more effective "in the head" thriller. So, for that matter, is PSYCHO. As for the overall list, I wouldn't even put it on the top ten. 2001? Maybe it's me. I don't see the greatness. I haven't seen TOKYO STORY. Without going into my personal favorites, Mr. Welles' master work is in no danger of losing ground to the aforementioned competitors.

HEY, THERE! IT'S YOGI BEAR is not even on the list?

[JackFavell]

Pee Wee's Big Adventure.

While I think Psycho is a perfect film, I would put Vertigo higher on the list because of what it says about man (that's generalized 'man', not men). I think Vertigo is also a perfect film, but the theme is so tremendously, deeply thoughtful, and the way this theme spirals within itself and in ourselves, I think it pulls rank.

[ChiO]

JF wrote:
There are probably at least 20 films I would pick before 2001 on my 'greatest' list.

There are at least 3 Kubrick films I would pick before 2001 on my "greatest" list (and one of those would crack the Top 10: I tell you something else, if this thing turns out to be half as important as I figure it just might be, I'd say that you're all in line for some important promotions and personal citations when this thing's over with. That goes for ever' last one of you regardless of your race, color or your creed.).

And again:
But really, is Francis Ford Coppola a better director than Ophuls? Never. Never in a million years.

I agree, but that is one of the strange things about lists (or, at least my lists) of movies. I would put Ophuls on a Top 10 list of directors (and, probably, Top 5 or 6) and not Coppola; however, I'd place THE GODFATHER higher than any Ophuls film. But I'd have about three Ophuls films on my long list before the next Coppola film (THE CONVERSATION) and three more before another (APOCALYPSE NOW). So, as I remind myself, a Top 10 of movies is not necessarily any measure of a director's overall place in the hierarchy of "favorite" or "greatest" directors.

KR wrote:
ChiO, if we're agreeing on three reasonable candidates for the Top 10--CITIZEN KANE, THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC, and TOKYO STORY--then maybe the world is coming to an end.

Yikes! And then you wrote "SUNRISE combines great direction with an uninteresting story and characters; plenty of films have both." I'm with you there, too (did I mention THE LAST LAUGH?). But: Well, I, uh, don't think it's quite fair to condemn a whole program because of a single slip-up, sir.

And again:
but this is a Hitchcock thread, so maybe this isn't the right place

Ah, yes, Hitchcock and VERTIGO. His finest achievement. It and REAR WINDOW might make my Top 50. I'm an old crank. Hitchcock just doesn't do it for me -- too cold and bloodless for my taste. But I'm the outlier. I firmly believe that liking Hitchcock doesn't make one a bad person.

My Top 10 Favorites of the moment (Would somebody please let the BFI know?):
1. CITIZEN KANE
2. THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC
3. STARS IN MY CROWN
4. A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH
5. DR. STRANGELOVE
6. LOVE STREAMS
7. KILLER OF SHEEP
8. WANDA
9. THE LAST LAUGH
10. TOKYO STORY