ALFRED HITCHCOCK

[JackFavell]

Oooh, If I were there, I'd probably go to the Ophuls. The Birds has never been my favorite, or even high on my list of Hitch films, but man! to see it on the big screen with an audience, I don't want to miss the chance. I also have to admit to never having seen it all the way through from beginning to end at one sitting.

[MissGoddess]

An interview by Pia Lindstrom (Ingrid Bergman's daughter) and another journalist (James Macandrew??) in 1972:

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[RedRiver]

I find THE BIRDS Hitchcock's flat-out scariest movie. Not the best. But the one that makes me jump the highest. The tension is excruciating. In a (literally)smaller way, it's like JAWS. Animals attacking people! I appreciate the colorfulness of the film too. So many of the classics we admire are black and white. It's refreshing sometimes to see bright, rich tones. This film has them to spare.

[Konway]

I thought I should put my review on Alfred Hitchcock's only musical Waltzes from Vienna (1934).

Hitchcock's only Musical and a great one

A Great Musical Film by Hitchcock. He made this film when he was at the lowest point of his career. But he put all of his efforts into this project.

I love the humor used in this film. I love the scenes where Esmond Knight develops his music by watching workers arrange the bread and other food.

"Fear" is one of the major elements in a Hitchcock film. In this film, we see the fear of being ignored, fear of failure, fear of losing someone you love." Edmund Gwenn was brilliant as Johann Strauss Sr. We can really see his fear through his actions and emotions. He is a man who is dedicated to the world of music. But he is getting old. And he is afraid that his career as a composer is almost over. And he is also afraid that he will be forgotten in the future years as a great composer who put all his great efforts for the world of music. For Example, Johann Strauss says to his son Young Strauss "You think I am already at a standstill. Perhaps even a back number." This is mentioned before Young Strauss plays his music in front of his father and other composers in the middle of the film. This is connected to Hitchcock's life during that time.

When Hitchcock was making this film, he was at the lowest point of his career. Like Gwenn's character Johann Strauss Sr, Hitchcock was completely in fear that his career as a filmmaker is almost over and there is no hope for him in the future as a great filmmaker. He didn't have any projects for thriller genre during that time. So he picked this musical project so that there will be some hope for him in the future as a great filmmaker.

With the help of his wife Alma Reville, he puts his fear and pain into the character of Johann Strauss Sr. and his son Young Strauss. His wife Alma Reville co-wrote the screenplay.

Young Johann Strauss Jr. is afraid that he will never become a successful composer in the future. During that time, Hitchcock was afraid that his career will never become successful future. If you look into Hitchcock's life, then you will see how this film is connected to his life. Just check Truffaut/Hitchcock Interview. Hitchcock's 2 previous films (Rich and Strange, No. 17) before this film were failures.

Jessie Matthews (Rasi) fears that she may lose Young Strauss to Countess Helga (Fay Compton). That's why she is jealous of Countess Helga. Fear can lead a human into becoming a cruel person. That's what see in character Johann Strauss Sr (Gwenn). In Hitchcock's film Saboteur (1942), Blind Man (Vaughan Glaser) asks his niece Patricia Martin (Priscilla Lane) a question "Are you frightened, Pat? Is that what makes you so cruel?" We see this through the character of Strauss Sr too. Gustav (Frank Vosper) fears that his wife is having affair with another man. Hitchcock puts some of the film's humor through Gustav.

Hitchcock used lengthy shots in this film. Hitchcock used long take technique for the first time in Juno and Paycock. Here we see some lengthy shots in the film.

This film also shows Hitchcock's ability to make a film outside thriller genre.

Although this film is ignored, still I think it is a great film from Alfred Hitchcock. Even though Hitchcock wasn't really interested in this project, still he put a great deal of effort into this film through the script and the direction.

Like I mentioned before, another thing I love about this film is the personal elements applied by Hitchcock. For Example, the scene where Rasi's father comes and talks to Rasi about Johann Strauss Jr (Esmond Knight). Rasi's father says this to Rasi - "He (Strauss Jr.) will never make a baker. He hasn't his heart in it." This is like Hitchcock saying "I am not interested in making musicals. I am interested in making films in the thriller genre." I think these elements make this film stronger, because Hitchcock is giving his personal statements to the audience through this film in a subtle way.

I saw Countess Helga as a cunning lady villain. Countesss Helga "really" did want Strauss Jr. to become a successful musician. But she cunningly used the idea of providing a successful music career to Strauss Jr. so that she could eliminate the love relationship between Strauss Jr. and Rasi. She was interested in Strauss Jr. romantically and she also knew that Rasi was jealous. But the love Strauss Jr. and Rasi have for each other comes from the bottom of their hearts.

When Rasi tries to leave Strauss Jr. in the middle of the film, Strauss Jr. comes to her and tells her that he loves her and he sacrifices his whole music career for her by becoming a baker. Even after Rasi tries to end the romantic relationship, she comes to save her beloved Strauss Jr. when she finds out that he is in danger. It must be noted that Strauss Jr. becomes a successful music career "mainly" because of Rasi. Strauss Jr.'s musical work comes to "fruition" only after Rasi gets involved in his work. It was Rasi who gives the "music tune" of success to Strauss Jr. Not Countess Helga. Through Rasi's love, Strauss Jr. succeeded with his musical work. Although Strauss Jr. gets his great success as a composer, still he reveals to Rasi that he is nothing without Rasi. Despite all the conflicts, the deep romantic feelings they (Strauss Jr. and Rasi) have for each other brings them back together in the end.

I liked performances especially from Jessie Matthews, Esmond Knight, and Edmund Gwenn. My request is give this film a second chance. Afterall, it is a film from Hitchcock. I rate this film 10 out of 10.

[CineMaven]

"SHADOW OF A DOUBT"

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He may not be to ev'ryone's tastes, but Steve Hayes sure does know and love classic movies. And I love him. Here, he talks about "Shadow Of A Doubt." Hmmmm, I wonder if I can get him on my "MovieCHAT" show....

[Robert Regan]

Theresa, I too love Steve Hayes, but just between us, I wouldn't call him tired or old!

[moira finnie]

Steve Hayes is great. Are any of you New Yorkers going to see his Live Movie Show at the Guild Hall at the Little Church on East 29th Street this Thursday? It sounds as though it might be pretty funny.

[CineMaven]

I have seen Steve's live show last year and he was hilarious...very knowledgeable about the classics. But I'll be missing him this time go 'round. The Anthology Film Archives will have GIALLO FEVER and I want to check out this genre of Italian films: http://anthologyfilmarchives.org/film_s ... dar#day-19 Sorry to be missing him though.

[CineMaven]

In a word:

WoW!!!!


( Rod Taylor, ‘Tippi’ Hedren and Jessica Tandy )

My friend and I went to see “THE BIRDS” yesterday at New York’s AMC 25 ( click on the photo above for my brief account ) on the great white way of 42nd Street. We got there about two hours earlier than show-time ( admittedly I miscalculated the stampede that would rush to stand on line, but the theater was wide open and you could just go in and sit down, so we did ) and had the dark theatre to ourselves as we yakked it up. Soon enough, people started streaming in with popcorn and candy and anticipation, scrambling for seats.

It’s great to see our Robert O. larger than life on the big screen with sonorous voice and blue eyes. (( Sigh! )) The pre-recorded prologue to the movie featured old talks with Rod Taylor and Suzanne Pleshette ( I miss her a lot ) and a new talk with ‘Tippi’ Hedren interviewed by Robert at TCM’s recent film fest. Seeing her and Pleshette and Taylor older showed how much time passed. But it also served to remind me that at the very least, these three do have this classic film under their belt of their filmography. And that is very special indeed.

So now on with the show...

There is something about seeing a movie you know ( or think you know ) IN THE MOVIES; on THE BIG SCREEN... Am I alone as a film fan in literally being overwhelmed? My senses are overwhelmed by taking it all in. And that’s how I felt watching “THE BIRDS” last night. The story starts out slowly. In fact, you might think it takes a long time to get going. ‘TIPPI’ HEDREN looks exquisite in this movie; very sleek and 60’s in her fashion. Yeah yeah, you can see the spectre of Grace Kelly in this “Hitchcock blonde” but Hedren definitely is her own persona. She looks like a china doll, petite, keen features and hair like silk. And she can handle a line too. Hitch served as acting coach to her as well, Pleshette says in the interview. Okay, fine...but the actor still has to be able to deliver the goods. Hitch gives her the pedestal to be flirty, and angry; hurt and compassionate. She handles it all very well. And this is her first motion picture. I thought Hedren did a great job.; she’s the catalyst for the coming events. She’s a society girl who does seem to go a long way to play a practical joke with a pair lovebirds. She, in fact no one, could foresee where this would all lead.

ROD TAYLOR is your strong leading man. The take charge hero type. I loved just looking at him. He’s ruggedly tanned, with a dimpled chin, very strong masculine physical features and a big voice. Mmmmm, you know what I'm talkin' about. He’s playful when he wants to be...and forceful when he needs to be. I could see the Gable in him. I felt bad for him because he had to take charge, secure the house, protect everyone, be mindful of his mother’s insecurity while still living his own life. And in the midst of this ornithological horror show, he falls in love.

SUZANNE PLESHETTE is my favorite to watch. Spinster schoolmarm? Don’t get it twisted, anything but. She saddens me b’cuz of her unrequited love. She settles for a kind of a friendship with Taylor’s Mitch Brenner; tilling her soil to stay...busy. We watch her in the background, her silent disappointment at seeing her “rival” succeed. She’s so opposite of ‘Tippi’ in the gorgeous jet blackness of her earthy look, and that great voice of hers. I liked her quiet command of the children during their “fire drill” where they would have to run for their lives. Oh, those brunettes like Lynn Bari and Ruth Hussey would be proud to call Suzanne “mi hermana.”

JESSICA TANDY as Mrs. Brenner is wonderful too. You can see her also in the background a bit, seething with jealousy and insecurity and desperation over being abandonned. All those emotions wrapped into one where she tries ever so unsuccessfully to keep them tamped down. Hitch worked with her husband twenty years before in “Shadow of a Doubt” and now he’s luckily working with the second half of that acting team. Good solid acting from her, nothing over the top. She’s not shrewish so there’s room for you to feel sorry for her even if you are pulling for those “lovebirds” Mitch and Melanie. Her one big outburst of "I wish your father were here!" was good. I liked how Hitch dollied up to Tandy and Taylor. The tension is more than just an impending bird attack. There’s not enough time for me to individually watch the movie for one person at a time...I have to take them all in very quickly at the AMC. I enjoyed feeling them in their roles and Hitch does give us moments with each of the four leads. But of course, the movie belongs to, The Master.

HITCHCOCK is in charge and don’t you forget it. He builds things up slowly... ( where is this going? ) See, I was willing to psyche myself out...to forget that I’d seen this movie many times since 1963. ( No I didn’t get to see it in the movies, but I remember kids in class saying “kids get killed in the movie!!!” Nawwwwwww, no kids were killed in the movie, but when you’re eleven and you see other little kids like you in a movie getting terrorized by our fine feathered friends, you can’t blame ‘em for a little hyperbole. ) So things get started slowly, and then Hitch drops a hint or two; a seagull smashes into the door though there is a full moon out. Taylor does a double take just before he goes into his house when he sees a couple of cawing birds amassing. And with little dramatic character moments taken care of ( and out of the way, finally, ) Hitch gives us what we've come for...the birds.

And their set-pieces ARE spectacular. Chasing the school kids, coming down the Brenners’ chimney, attacking the town. I am still taken a bit out of the moment a little by Hitch's reaction shots of 'Tippi' but I get quickly back into the terror of things. My favorite shot...the “bird’s-eye" view of the gas station and the town under siege. I never quite noticed it watching the movie on my tv set, that many people in the town, in the out of focus background were being attacked as well. That town attack was an amazing suspenseful disaster movie.

Hitch doesn’t use the great Bernard Hermann’s musical mastery in this film, though I think I saw Hermann’s name listed for sound design ( ??? ) Much of it is underscored in silence. When ‘Tippi’ hears the fluttering upstairs and goes to investigate one could hear the low rumbling of music from the theatre next door accompanying her ascent up the steps. But her going up, for me, is akin to going up those stairs in “The Exorcist.” She opens the door, she sees part of the ceiling and roof has been torn open, and she’s in a room full of birds. They attack. I felt badly because I knew that this was the worse day of shooting for Hedren. I felt badly because Melanie was in there alone, unable to scream and fight the attack. And there was no music to help you get through the scene.

And as the new little family makes their escape Hitchcock, again in silence, wrings one last ounce of suspense and dread out of us: Mitch walks out into a sea of birds covering his property. The audience gasps. He must get the car, and then get his family into that car, including a traumatized Melanie. Her dead, zombie-like stare is put into focus when she sees what she must walk into; they’ve got to keep her quiet so as not to set off these birds. And then Mitch must go for his little sister, who asks to take the lovebirds with them. “They didn’t do anything.” Hitch's last little joke on us. And now we can almost breath as we watch the car slowly drive off, the birds taking over the property, the car receding into the distance, the cackling of the birds...just...watching. It was suspenseful. It was chilling. And the most chilling, suspenseful and scary thing of it all? We are never given a reason for why the birds turn on man. And that's a plus. We don't need a reason.

As the audience files out you can tell they had a great time, mumbling with excitement and smiles. My friend and I left there laughing. We left the theatre finally being able to breathe.

Thank you TCM!

And now: "STRANGERS ON A TRAIN" :

[movieman1957]

There is something about seeing a movie you know ( or think you know ) IN THE MOVIES; on THE BIG SCREEN... Am I alone as a film fan in literally being overwhelmed?

No. I recently saw "The Searchers" on the big screen. There's a film I know pretty well and it was impressive. I didn't go to see "The Birds" last night but am scheduled to see "Bridge On The River Kwai" tonight. It is also a film I know pretty well but this will be my first time on the big screen. My friend has never seen the film so for a first viewing on a big screen this will be a bigger night for him.

Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the essay.

[MissGoddess]

Great review, T! That's the way to do it. I hope you show this to TCM or post it over there in the Hitch thread (if you feel comfortable...l understand if you don't, ha)

I wish I had felt up to going, but I have seen it before in a theater so it was great re-living it through your words and video! I love this movie, I can't explain it except to say that it not only is exciting as a thriller/scary movie, but so fascinating psychologically...oh, and ha, YES, I do like that Roddy (especially in his off-white cable-knit sweater!)

I hope your friend enjoyed it as much as you?

P.S. What movie DID the quote from "If" appear? I didn't notice the answer....and I wonder how was the audience? Was it packed? Were they laughing AT the movie or with it? You know I get mad when they laugh AT an old movie too much.

[JackFavell]

I hope they do another re-run of it, since I was unable to go last night. Your splendid review, highlighting the ups and downs of the movie makes me wish I could have gone even more. Thanks for 'taking me with you', mentally at least!

Is this the film where you hear the sound of the rope or chain, swinging in the wind, hitting the flagpole in the deserted school yard? Or did I make it up? I can't hear that sound without thinking of Hitch.

[RedRiver]

Rod Taylor was a great leading man. A slightly underrated actor, meaning he was given some credit, but deserved more. As far as I know, Suzanne Pleshette never had an untrue moment on screen. On the Newhart show, she was just as funny as the star. This is a terrifying, literate movie. I've probably been told this a dozen times, but was little Melanie Griffith named for the character? Or was it the other way around?

And now: "STRANGERS ON A TRAIN"

On to an even better thriller!

[RedRiver]

"River Kwai" is one of my favorite "large and slightly too long" epics. David Lean's best work, the Dickens tales not withstanding. It drags from time to time, but overall, it's quite moving.

[CineMaven]

...I recently saw "The Searchers" on the big screen. There's a film I know pretty well and it was impressive. I didn't go to see "The Birds" last night but am scheduled to see "Bridge On The River Kwai" tonight. It is also a film I know pretty well but this will be my first time on the big screen. My friend has never seen the film so for a first viewing on a big screen this will be a bigger night for him. Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the essay.

The scheduling didn't permit me to see "THE SEARCHERS" at TCM's film fest, and I really wanted to check it out on the big screen having seen it recently on tv back in March/
April and was really blown away by a movie I should have seen years ago. Did you wind up seeing "...the River Kwai" MM'57? If you did, what were your reactions to seeing it big-screen-style? And your friend? How'd he enjoy it?

I hope they do another re-run of it, since I was unable to go last night. Your splendid review, highlighting the ups and downs of the movie makes me wish I could have gone even more. Thanks for 'taking me with you', mentally at least! Is this the film where you hear the sound of the rope or chain, swinging in the wind, hitting the flagpole in the deserted school yard? Or did I make it up? I can't hear that sound without thinking of Hitch.

Oh man! Sorry you didn't get to go Wendy. That is a bummer. You know, some events are so special, ya just gotta jump on it no matter who, what, when or where. ( But things do happen. ) I do hope you attend the very next thing you want to go to. Re: the movie...I don't recall hearing the flagpole being struck. I just hear that ( silly ) song those school kids are singing in the classroom while Melanie is in the yard for a smoke. Again, Hitch sets up the tension nicely between the glee and joy of childhood and the terror of a thing gone horribly wrong.

Great review, T! That's the way to do it. I hope you show this to TCM or post it over there in the Hitch thread (if you feel comfortable...l understand if you don't, ha) I wish I had felt up to going, but I have seen it before in a theater so it was great re-living it through your words and video! I love this movie, I can't explain it except to say that it not only is exciting as a thriller/scary movie, but so fascinating psychologically...oh, and ha, YES, I do like that Roddy (especially in his off-white cable-knit sweater!)

You're so right about how scary/psychological the movie is. I agree with you that Hitch has given us a very layered movie. Yeah, on the face of it the movie is about the birds...but Hitch shows he can handle the humor ( the lovebirds leaning with the turns in the road or Melanie really seeming like Other when she blows into town in full makeup and mink coat ) and the dramatic situations. They were very quiet. I still love Annie bowing her head when she hears Melanie tell Mitch that she's decided to stay on. Quiet.


ROD TAYLOR and JESSICA TANDY

Yeah...the knit sweater. He fills it out nicely. But I liked him in the tweed jacket as well, and I loved him in the white shirt with those green work pants with the pockets on the outside. Did I say rugged?

I hope your friend enjoyed it as much as you?

She liked it very much. I asked her to write me a coupla words about it.

P.S. What movie DID the quote from "If" appear? I didn't notice the answer....and I wonder how was the audience? Was it packed? Were they laughing AT the movie or with it? You know I get mad when they laugh AT an old movie too much.

The theatre was crowded but there were empty seats up front. I wanted to see it at Union Square's theatre, but it was sold out. There were a just a couple of titters from the crowd. When Melanie takes the lovebirds to Mitch's house and she takes her purse with her when she gets out the boat caused a few titters, as did Lydia running out of the farmer's house whose been killed in a bird attack. They didn't really laugh too much, which was good. I also HATE when folks laugh AT a movie. And to answer the question about "IF..." :



Thank you guys for enjoying my write-up.