Between 4th April 2015 and 5th February 2016, I watched all of Alfred Hitchcock's (talkie) films - from The Man who knew too Much (1934) to Family Plot (1976); that is, apart from Lifeboat (1934). Although, like all the rest, I have it on DVD, I just didn't fancy it, thinking it too claustrophobic (the same reason I have never watched Das Boot). Perhaps I should try it; I would love to be proved wrong.
It was the second or third time I had viewed most of the films, but a few I had never watched before. A friend of mine is also a fan of Hitchcock's movies and we each drew up a list of our Top Ten; fiendishly hard when you get down to it.
My Top Ten Friend's Top Ten
Notorious Strangers on a Train
North by Northwest Shadow of a Doubt
Strangers on a Train North by Northwest
Shadow of a Doubt Rebecca
Vertigo Rear Window
Rebecca Vertigo
Rear Window The Thirty-Nine Steps
Dial 'M' for Murder Spellbound
The Thirty-Nine Steps Dial 'M' for Murder
Frenzy The Birds
It is interesting that eight of the films appear on both lists and two of the top three are the same but in a different order.
I notice that I also wrote down the films I thought 'okay': Spellbound (1945); Rope (1948); Psycho (1960); The Birds (1963); Topaz (1969) and Family Plot (1976). Partly this was due to 'wooden' acting or mis-casting.
I disliked Mr and Mrs Smith (1941); The Trouble with Harry (1956); and Torn Curtain (1966). The first was just silly/slapstick; the second, quite simply boring; the third, poor casting and acting by Paul Newman and Julie Andrews. Secret Agent (1936) was also poor - bad sets, wooden acting by John Gielgud and over-the-top by Peter Lorre. Jamaica Inn (1939) was ruined for me by bringing in the character of Squire Humphrey Pengallen (not in du Maurier's book) and the - usual - over-ripe, ham acting by Charles Laughton in the part. *
I did enjoy Young and Innocent (1937); I Confess (1952) - but Montgomery Clift seemed so uncomfortable in his role; and To Catch a Thief (1955), a typical light caper for Cary Grant.
Looking again at my list, I realise the films I liked best were where the story line - not necessarily strength of plot - the directing (camera angles etc.) and the acting created a quality experience. Grant and Bergman and Rains in Notorious; Grant again and Mason in North by Northwest; Walker and Granger in Strangers on a Train; Cotten and Teresa Wright in Shadow of a Doubt; Stewart and Novak in Vertigo; and so on.
As for Hitchcock's Silent Movies - I watched the twelve available on DVD between 29th July 2019 and 29th August 2019. Again, a little bit of a switchback ride. I found nearly all of them 'interesting'; I wasn't that keen on Juno and the Paycock (1930) or Rich and Strange (1932); but favoured The Lodger (1926), Blackmail (1929) and the two Lillian Hall-Davies (who tragically died by her own hand, aged 35 in 1933) films - The Ring (1927) and The Farmer's Wife (1928).
Lillian Hall-Davies (1898-1933)
Yes, I know cinema leads us into the land of make-believe. However, Hitchcock's unrealistic backcloths and questionable sets; the unnatural acting; a few banal scripts do not spoil the memory of some quality hours spent away from 'real' life. Moreover, I still can't warm to CGI.
Useful books I have on Hitchcock are:
Donald Spoto - The Art of Alfred Hitchcock (W.H. Allen, 1977)
John Russell Taylor - Hitch: The Life and Works of Alfred Hitchcock (Faber and Faber, 1978)
Charlotte Chandler - It's Only a Movie: Alfred Hitchcock (Simon and Schuster, 2005)
Quentin Falk - Mr. Hitchcock (Haus Publishing, 2007)
Peter Ackroyd - Alfred Hitchcock (Chatto & Windus (2015)
* A good line from Quentin Folk about Jamaica Inn: 'There's so much ripe ham on display - especially when Laughton, as the duplicitous squire, and younger co-star Robert Newton are in full flow - it's like indulging in an extremely tasty pig roast.'
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