Cinema....among other things: Hitchcock

Showing posts with label Hitchcock. Show all posts

Thursday, March 27, 2025

Double Feature Time: Topaz/Bridge of Spies

Here are 2 Cold War thrillers that I always thought could be a double feature.

Both Alfred Hitchcock & Steven Spielberg are certainly 2 of the most commercially successful directors ever! This is one reason I thought Hitchcock's Topaz, released in 1969, and Spielberg's Bridge of Spies, released in 2015, could be an interesting double feature. Hitchcock's film centers on a French agent (Frederick Stafford) who becomes entangled in a Soviet spy ring just before the Cuban Missile Crisis. Spielberg's film focuses on an American attorney (Tom Hanks) who succeeds in avoiding the death penalty for the accused Soviet spy (Mark Rylance) he's defending, just before being sent to East Germany to negotiate for the release of Francis Gary Powers (Austin Stowell) who was shot down while flying over the U.S.S.R. in 1960. Of the two films, Spielberg's has a tighter pace (Rylance deservedly won an Oscar for his performance), while Hitchcock's actually slows down in its final act. In fairness, studio heads were unsatisfied with certain aspects of Topaz, which led to Hitchcock filming an alternate ending. Topaz, like Hitchcock's previous film Torn Curtain (1966), may have also suffered from comparison to the James Bond series, which was in full swing by 1969 (Topaz was released the same year as the 6th Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service).

Monday, February 10, 2025

Double Feature Time: Vertigo/Tightrope

Here are two films which I always felt had a bit in common.

For starters, these two films are thrillers in which James Stewart & Clint Eastwood, respsectively, play police detectives who have specific weaknesses which are exploited by the forces they find themselves combating. In Hitchcock's film, Stewart plays Scottie Ferguson, a San Francisco detective with a fear of heights who becomes obsessed with the woman (Kim Novak) whom her husband (an old friend) has asked Ferguson to keep an eye on because of fears that she may be suicidal. In Tightrope, Eastwood plays Wes Block, a New Orleans detective with a penchant for getting involved with the prostitutes of the world that he's supposed to be keeping in check, which makes his task of tracking a murderer quite difficult as the victims are prostitutes Block has been involved with. Soon, Block realizes that the killer is also targeting his two daughters, as well as the woman (Geneviève Bujold) who runs a rape prevention center whom Block has befriended. As these two films go on, the two detectives face their respective weaknesses head on, emerging as different people by the end. Both films are quite different from what audiences expected from Hitchcock & Eastwood by this point in their respective careers (I initially thought Tighrope was another entry in the Dirty Harry series when I first saw the poster for it), but both are loved by fans of both legends.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Marnie (1964)

"You don't love me. I'm just something you've caught! You think I'm some sort of animal you've trapped!"
"That's right - you are. And I've caught something really wild this time, haven't I? I've tracked you and caught you and by God I'm going to keep you."
-Marnie Edgar and Mark Rutland.

Alfred Hitchcock's career was at an all-time high in the late 1950s/early 60s. Television was becoming more and more prominent during that time, which is what led to the creation of the classic series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, a show that is classic not just for its storylines, but for Hitchcock's wonderful appearances which bookended each installment (some have said that Steven Spielberg's series Amazing Stories may have had a longer run if Spielberg had hosted each episode).

Hitchcock even used the production crew from the show to make his most famous movie Psycho (1960), rightfully believing that the low-budget look applied to that film would make it more effective.

Psycho was just one of a string of films Hitchcock made during this period which became very famous and influential: Vertigo (1958), North By Northwest (1959), and The Birds (1963). Although all three had a bigger-budget than Psycho, they all became just as legendary.

At virtually the same time, the James Bond film series began with Dr. No (1962). The success of that film and its followup From Russia With Love (1963) made Sean Connery a star. As I noted in my review of The Hill, Sir Sean was determined to prove to the world that there was more to his acting than Bond. He told Bond producer Albert Broccoli that he would like to work with Hitchcock. Strings were pulled and Connery was signed on as the lead in Marnie.

With Hitchcock behind the camera and Connery sharing the screen with 'Tippi' Hedren, who had just starred in The Birds, expectations were high for the film.

However, the finished product was viewed by 1964 audiences as disappointing, especially in comparison to Hitchcock's previous films. Plus the fact that, just a few months after its release, Marnie was overshadowed by the release of Goldfinger, the third Bond film & the one which kicked Bondmania into high gear.

Happily, some critics have reevaluated the film in subsequent years, to the point were some, such as Donald Spoto (author of the Hitchcock biography The Dark Side of Genius), have declared it Hitchcock's last great film, although I personally think that honor goes to Frenzy (1972).

Unlike Hitchcock's other films, Marnie isn't really a 'shocker,' but rather a psychological character study, which none of Hitchcock's other films could be classified as. I'd say that this departure from the norm is what initially turned audiences away.

The title character (Hedren) is a quiet, disturbed woman who has a penchant for landing a job and, after some time, vanishing taking her employer's money with her. As the film opens, her latest potential victim is widowed publishing company executive Mark Rutland (Connery). He takes a liking to her and even shares a subtle but memorable kiss with her one evening. True to form, however, Marnie steals money from his safe before disappearing. This moment, curiously, is the only point in the film that suspense is generated, as Marnie must time her actions precisely before a passing custodian sees her.

However, Mark manages to track her down. He was helped by the fact that his friend Sidney Strutt (Martin Gabel) had previously fallen victim to Marnie's tactics & that Strutt introduced her to Mark prior to that (Marnie, naturally, used a different name and a slightly different look at that time).

Here lies the best moment of the film: Mark has tracked Marnie down and has every right to hand her over to the police (I certainly would, no matter how attractive she may be). Instead, he blackmails Marnie into marrying him in hopes of understanding what drives her to do such things.

Once they are married, the rest of the film focuses on the Mark and Marnie facing off. She has a deep distrust of men and a fear of thunderstorms and the color red. Mark initially respects her wishes for privacy on their honeymoon cruise, but (presumably) rapes her shortly afterward when her frigidity proves maddening.

At the same time, Mark does show some kindess to Marnie, such as when he arranges for her to ride her horse, Telepathy (which Marnie is sadly forced to later kill when he breaks his leg). They also try their best to present themselves as an ideal couple, although Mark's sister-in-law Lil Mainwaring (Diane Baker) has her suspicions, fueled by her own love for Mark.

In the end, Mark discovers that Marnie sends the money she steals to her indifferent mother (Louise Latham). He also learns that, as a child, Marnie killed a sailor who was attacking her mother during a thunderstorm. After bringing all that agony out in the open, Marnie wishes to remain with Mark.

Although Hitchcock made four more films after this one, Marnie, in some ways, marked the end of an era. First and foremost, it was the last Hitchcock film with a musical score by Bernard Herrmann. The music Herrmann composed for Vertigo, North By Northwest, and Psycho was magnificent, and the same can be said for the score for Marnie, which may be the most romantic musical score for any film I've ever heard. However, studio pressure eventually led Hitchcock to instruct Herrmann to put a more pop and jazz beat to his music. When Herrmann refused, Hitchcock unilaterally cut off all ties with him during post-production of Hitchcock's next film Torn Curtain (1966). The music for that film was composed by John Addison.

Marnie was also the last Hitchcock film which had the traditional 'Hitchcock blonde' as a leading lady.

I, too, initially thought the film was too slow. But as a character study, it comes off better. Today, I'd be surprised if this film wasn't viewed by students of psychology. It is also, for me, the first great film Sir Sean did once he started drinking vodka martinis shaken not stirred.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Peeping Tom (1960)

"Imagine...someone coming towards you...who wants to kill you...regardless of the consequences."
-Mark Lewis

As I noted in my review of The Beguiled, Play Misty for Me was an ahead-of-its-time thriller which may have an entry on this blog were it not for the fact that its star and then-novice director, Clint Eastwood, hadn't already become a world-famous actor. But Misty was overshadowed in its year of release by a more famous but equally potent thriller, Dirty Harry. The irony here, of course, is that Eastwood also starred in that film, which remains, arguably, his most famous. Nonetheless, the fact that he starred in two thrillers and a period piece which stretched his acting muscles and fulfilled his lifelong dream of directing all in the same year ensured that westerns were just one genre Clint excelled at.

In his book Clint: A Retrospective, Richard Schickel notes in his review of Misty that, in the years since the film's release, audiences just kept rediscovering it, especially when the overrated Fatal Attraction (1987) lifted elements from it.

However, that would not be the case for Peeping Tom, a film which, like Misty, was ahead of its time and overshadowed by another thriller in its year of release. In this case, the 'other' thriller was Psycho. Both films were quite controversial upon their releases, with Tom being released three months before the Hitchcock film. One major difference, though, is that Hitchcock was already world famous by the time he made Psycho. Hence, all the controversy which surrounded his film ended up simply enhancing his career and made Psycho the template by which all movies involving psychopaths-and even some that don't, such as Jaws (1975)-have since been judged. Tom, however, was directed by one Michael Powell, who, while having a few strong films, such as The Red Shoes (1948), under his belt by 1960, didn't have the name recognition of Hitchcock. As a result, his movie was all but lost and, while Clint would go on to win two Oscars for directing, Powell would have great difficulty finding work for some time after Tom's release.

The title character is Mark Lewis (Carl Boehm), a photographer and aspiring filmmaker. His specialty is photographing lovely women, which, as the film progresses, becomes a dangerous obsession when he begins murdering his subjects with a knife on one of the tripod legs of his camera. Like Norman Bates, Lewis is a shy man who befriends a kind woman. In Lewis's case, it's his neighbor Helen (Anna Massey). Lewis reveals to Helen that, as a child, his father (a renowned psychologist) would subject him to experiments designed to test the human nervous system, while his father recorded the reactions. Lewis also tells her that he's making a documentary and, eventually, she sees his handiwork on film, which details the murders he's commited. However, Helen's more fortunate than the other women Lewis has come across when the police arrive just as she's about to become the latest victim. Lewis then commits suicide with his own tripod knife and the camera running on him.

Other connections to Hitchcock in this film include the film's title sequence, which is reminiscent of the one in Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958). In a way, Hitchcock returned the favor when, upon seeing the controversial reaction to Tom, elected not to have a press screening for Psycho.

Roger Ebert probably said it best in his review of this film when he noted that the film makes us voyeurs in that we sit and watch their lives unfold, making Tom similar to Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954). Powell takes it in a different direction here, though, by having the director of Lewis's films, Lewis himself, actually killing the people in his films and recording their reactions, which is what horror directors basically do, although their 'victims' are assured a return trip.

While this disturbing film never got the acclaim Psycho did, it was saved from obscurity in 1978 when Martin Scorsese agreed to put up the money to give the film a wider release. Interestingly, when Powell died in 1990, he was married to Thelma Schoonmaker, who is known for her wonderful film editing of many of Scorsese's films.

Cinema....among other things