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A sub-category might be who was his better leading man: Cary Grant or Jimmy Stewart.
Rope:
Rope:
It's so bizarre to me that Vertigo ranks above Rear Window. Not even in the same ballpark IMO.Huge fan of North By Northwest. Suspenseful but also playful. Still like Rear Window better, but not by much.Film buffs in some online poll recently voted Vertigo as the best film of the all time in the Top 100 list (Citizen Kane usually had always had the honors before that). Among Hitchcock fans, for years Rear Window was the favorite. And hard not to pick Psycho since it was such a ground breaking film for its time.
That said I voted for North By Northwest, where he finally made the perfect film of the man wrongly accused of something and chased by the authorities and the bad guys. He tried it originally with the 39 Steps, then again with Saboteur and finally got it right in North By Northwest. Cary Grant is perfectly cast and underplays his part well (i.e. crop dusting scene). James Mason plays a deliciously evil sociopath and Eva Marie Saint, though no Grace Kelly (who would have been cast if she had not retired) surprisingly pulls off the part of the blond ingenue.
It struck me as rather odd too, although discussing the two is an apples and oranges comparison. I found the link on this and it was a poll of film critics (which perhaps explains it):http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/vertigo-citizen-kane-greatest-film-of-all-time-357266It's so bizarre to me that Vertigo ranks above Rear Window. Not even in the same ballpark IMO.Huge fan of North By Northwest. Suspenseful but also playful. Still like Rear Window better, but not by much.Film buffs in some online poll recently voted Vertigo as the best film of the all time in the Top 100 list (Citizen Kane usually had always had the honors before that). Among Hitchcock fans, for years Rear Window was the favorite. And hard not to pick Psycho since it was such a ground breaking film for its time.
That said I voted for North By Northwest, where he finally made the perfect film of the man wrongly accused of something and chased by the authorities and the bad guys. He tried it originally with the 39 Steps, then again with Saboteur and finally got it right in North By Northwest. Cary Grant is perfectly cast and underplays his part well (i.e. crop dusting scene). James Mason plays a deliciously evil sociopath and Eva Marie Saint, though no Grace Kelly (who would have been cast if she had not retired) surprisingly pulls off the part of the blond ingenue.
Per EB's question re: Stewart or Grant.....easy call. Cary Grant had an on-screen presence that Stewart could never match.
this.Cary Grant as his top lead, but Rear Window as his best movie.
For a bit of North By Northwest casting trivia re Stewart and Grant:It's so bizarre to me that Vertigo ranks above Rear Window. Not even in the same ballpark IMO.Huge fan of North By Northwest. Suspenseful but also playful. Still like Rear Window better, but not by much.Film buffs in some online poll recently voted Vertigo as the best film of the all time in the Top 100 list (Citizen Kane usually had always had the honors before that). Among Hitchcock fans, for years Rear Window was the favorite. And hard not to pick Psycho since it was such a ground breaking film for its time.
That said I voted for North By Northwest, where he finally made the perfect film of the man wrongly accused of something and chased by the authorities and the bad guys. He tried it originally with the 39 Steps, then again with Saboteur and finally got it right in North By Northwest. Cary Grant is perfectly cast and underplays his part well (i.e. crop dusting scene). James Mason plays a deliciously evil sociopath and Eva Marie Saint, though no Grace Kelly (who would have been cast if she had not retired) surprisingly pulls off the part of the blond ingenue.
Per EB's question re: Stewart or Grant.....easy call. Cary Grant had an on-screen presence that Stewart could never match.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053125/triviaJames Stewart was very interested in starring in this movie, begging Alfred Hitchcock to let him play Thornhill. Hitchcock claimed that Vertigo's lack of financial success was because Stewart "looked too old". MGM wanted Gregory Peck, but Hitchcock instead cast Cary Grant, who, ironically, was actually 4 years Stewart's senior.
While filming Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock described some of the plot of this project to frequent Hitchcock leading man and "Vertigo" star James Stewart, who naturally assumed that Hitchcock meant to cast him in the Roger Thornhill role, and was eager to play it. Actually, Hitchcock wanted Cary Grant to play the role. By the time Hitchcock realized the misunderstanding, Stewart was so anxious to play Thornhill that rejecting him would have caused a great deal of disappointment. So Hitchcock delayed production on this film until Stewart was already safely committed to filming Otto Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder before "officially" offering him the North by Northwest role. Stewart had no choice; he had to turn down the offer, allowing Hitchcock to cast Grant, the actor he had wanted all along.
Very off-topic.Of all the people I have known from Michigan, they brag about this movie being filmed in their state. This movie and the first "Robocop".filming Otto Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder
Chinatown is utterly immaculate. Greatest/most memorable movie I've ever seen.Loves me some Rebecca & Suspicion (or any film where Cary Grant calls his beloved "Monkeyface"), but NxNW is behind only Chinatown as the most immaculate movie ever made.
Ahhhh....Novak.....maybe Hollywood's most indecipherable siren. Is she a pounce pillow, a vixen, a freak?Chinatown is utterly immaculate. Greatest/most memorable movie I've ever seen.Loves me some Rebecca & Suspicion (or any film where Cary Grant calls his beloved "Monkeyface"), but NxNW is behind only Chinatown as the most immaculate movie ever made.
eta* Went Vertigo. Kim Novak and Madge.
Italiziced is Jabberwock talk, eh?Ahhhh....Novak.....maybe Hollywood's most indecipherable siren. Is she a pounce pillow, a vixen, a freak?Chinatown is utterly immaculate. Greatest/most memorable movie I've ever seen.Loves me some Rebecca & Suspicion (or any film where Cary Grant calls his beloved "Monkeyface"), but NxNW is behind only Chinatown as the most immaculate movie ever made.
eta* Went Vertigo. Kim Novak and Madge.
I've spent the last 5 yrs (almost finished) writing a musical that brings Carroll's Alice into the 21st C. The followup - if there is one - will be a musicalization of Bell, Book & Candle (Stewart & Novak again). IF, that is, i'm able to conclude that a normal woman can play Gillian.
I may be mimsey in the borogove, but that's what i quit FFApping to finish.Italiziced is Jabberwock talk, eh?Ahhhh....Novak.....maybe Hollywood's most indecipherable siren. Is she a pounce pillow, a vixen, a freak?Chinatown is utterly immaculate. Greatest/most memorable movie I've ever seen.Loves me some Rebecca & Suspicion (or any film where Cary Grant calls his beloved "Monkeyface"), but NxNW is behind only Chinatown as the most immaculate movie ever made.
eta* Went Vertigo. Kim Novak and Madge.
I've spent the last 5 yrs (almost finished) writing a musical that brings Carroll's Alice into the 21st C. The followup - if there is one - will be a musicalization of Bell, Book & Candle (Stewart & Novak again). IF, that is, i'm able to conclude that a normal woman can play Gillian.
I'm going pounce pillow for Novak.
I'm going to have to see Bell, Book, and Candle somehow.
Hitchcock avoided providing any explanation for the avian attacks on Bodega Bay during his lifetime. The actual meaning of the film was discussed at the TCM site:Anybody have any idea what The Birds is really about? I'm sure the whole thing is a big metaphor about the Cold War or women or fear or all of the above.
Also funny how the main character has big time issues with his controlling mother limiting him just like Psycho.
Certainly the idea of nature run amok is central to the narrative but so are other themes, particularly Melanie's own search for a mother figure (having been abandoned by her own years before) and a general fear of loneliness and entrapment. Over the years film scholars and critics have come to read other meanings into the movie; some see it as a metaphorical Western with the birds replacing Indians as the demonized 'other.' And some see the film as an allegory about sexual repression. Even today, The Birds continues to fascinate with its ambiguous ending in which the bird attacks are never explained.
In early drafts of the screenplay by Evan Hunter - a first time collaborator with Hitchcock whose novel The Blackboard Jungle became a hit movie in 1955 - there was a concerted effort to provide an explanation for the bird attacks even though they remained a mystery in the original Du Maurier novella. Yet none of the script changes - Melanie's suggestion of a species war against humans or political parallels to the world outside (the use of radio broadcasts from President Kennedy) - pleased Hitchcock and he continued to fuss over the screenplay (with creative input from actor Hume Cronyn - whose wife Jessica Tandy was cast in the film - and fiction writer V. F. Pritchett) after Hunter left to work on his next script, Marnie. Eventually, Hitchcock opted to remain ambiguous, eliminating a final bird attack on Mitch's departing car in favor of an announcer stating on the car radio, "It appears that the bird attacks come in waves with long intervals between. The reason for this does not seem clear yet."
It's like Catherine Zeta-Jones in Intolerable Cruelty by the Coen brothers. A film that would otherwise be considered mere fluff from a serious director gets serious when it comes to costumes and stunning feminine beauty. Grace and Jones make those movies memorable and verify that there are good ways in which Hollywood operates.Notorious should be mentioned in the same breath as Psycho and Rear Window.
But my oh my is Grace Kelly breathtaking in To Catch a Thief.
It has been reported that Hitchcock bought the rights to the David Dodge novel "To Catch a Thief" with Grace Kelly in mind. I dunno know about that, but here is some background info on the history/production of the film for those that are interested...It's like Catherine Zeta-Jones in Intolerable Cruelty by the Coen brothers. A film that would otherwise be considered mere fluff from a serious director gets serious when it comes to costumes and stunning feminine beauty. Grace and Jones make those movies memorable and verify that there are good ways in which Hollywood operates.Notorious should be mentioned in the same breath as Psycho and Rear Window.
But my oh my is Grace Kelly breathtaking in To Catch a Thief.
Interesting read. Edith Head (who is so famous as a costume designer that she was lionized in a They Might Be Giants song, and as a fictional costume designer for the Incredibles' re-design in the Pixar movie) and Mary Zophres, who was nominated for an Academy Award for True Grit, were the costume designers for To Catch A Thief and Intolerable Cruelty, respectively.It has been reported that Hitchcock bought the rights to the David Dodge novel "To Catch a Thief" with Grace Kelly in mind. I dunno know about that, but here is some background info on the history/production of the film for those that are interested...It's like Catherine Zeta-Jones in Intolerable Cruelty by the Coen brothers. A film that would otherwise be considered mere fluff from a serious director gets serious when it comes to costumes and stunning feminine beauty. Grace and Jones make those movies memorable and verify that there are good ways in which Hollywood operates.Notorious should be mentioned in the same breath as Psycho and Rear Window.
But my oh my is Grace Kelly breathtaking in To Catch a Thief.
http://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/To_Catch_a_Thief_(1955)
I think the one in To Catch a Thief is funny.Big fan of Hitchcock films and his television work, Rear Window is my favorite and by a wide margin. So good, layered, a lot of items only noticed after repeated viewings, great performances, and the classic Hitchcock edge of your seat viewing.
Other Hitchcock topic worth discussing: What was his best cameo?
In Rear Window he is seen through the alleyway walking down the street.
Shadow of a Doubt and the 39 Steps being shut out? That's too bad. Great movies.
Well, you didn't vote for them...Shadow of a Doubt and the 39 Steps being shut out? That's too bad. Great movies.
I know, just thought they would get some love from someone. Hitchcock has a strong lineup though, can't fault votes for most others. I'm not sure about the Birds though.Well, you didn't vote for them...Shadow of a Doubt and the 39 Steps being shut out? That's too bad. Great movies.
It's better than often credited though.Wow. I voted The Birds because that movie scared the crap out of me when I was a kid. I doubt anyone else would consider it his "best", though.
It really is. The scene with the bird attack on the center of town with Hendren in the phone booth is about as good as Hitch did, not up to the crop dusting sequence in NBN, but stands on its own. Could only find a black-and-white clip of it on YouTube for some reason, you need to see the color version for full impact:SaintsInDome2006 said:It's better than often credited though.Wow. I voted The Birds because that movie scared the crap out of me when I was a kid. I doubt anyone else would consider it his "best", though.
I voted NBNW because it was the first Hitchcock flick I saw and I loved it. But Rope is a close second for me, and it amazes me how few people have actually seen it. It's brilliant.There has not been much attention to "Rope".The protagonists of the film were the "hipsters" of their day--young people with an exaggerated sense of their self-worth.
I just love how the entire movie is done in one shot with obvious hiccups every 10 minutes to replace the film in the cameras.I've seen Rope, back when it was free for a bit. Not a bad movie, but not one of my favorites.
I laughed, but seems he could have done a bit better than that. Read he started putting his cameos earlier in the films as time went on. Apparently he felt viewers were being distracted looking for it.Andy Dufresne said:I think the one in To Catch a Thief is funny.Big fan of Hitchcock films and his television work, Rear Window is my favorite and by a wide margin. So good, layered, a lot of items only noticed after repeated viewings, great performances, and the classic Hitchcock edge of your seat viewing.Other Hitchcock topic worth discussing: What was his best cameo?
In Rear Window he is seen through the alleyway walking down the street.