The Silver Screen Oasis

MissGoddess wrote:Mr. Arkadin, would you care to share what your favorite Hitchock films are? I'd love to know.

That's a really loaded question because I was raised on Hitchcock films, as they were my father's favorite movies. He was also the first director I saw that made me aware of the camera. As a result, I'm pretty much a fan of most of his work with the exceptions of Suspicion, To Catch a Thief, Stage Fright, and The Trouble with Harry, but even in those films I find points of interest.

My favorite film is Rope (1948). The rest of the top five would include (in no order)

Blackmail (1929)
Sabotage (1936)
The Wrong Man (1957)
Vertigo (1958)

P.S. I dig Family Plot as well.

FAMILY PLOT is not bad. It's not excellent. But the characters are cute. The situation, more or less a comic one, is entertaining. Foregttable in a discussion of a great filmmaker. But worth watching if you're bored!

As for LIFEBOAT, it would be presumptous of me NOT to listen to the views of such well informed fans as yourselves. I'll take a closer look!

RedRiver wrote:
As for LIFEBOAT, it would be presumptous of me NOT to listen to the views of such well informed fans as yourselves. I'll take a closer look!

This movie makes you think about life. I considered this movie one of Hitchcock's better movies and I would love TCM to play it again someday. Every time I watch it ... I come away with a different perspective on things on life and believe me I for one get a different one each time I watch it. It's mind boggling Red River! ... Take a closer look at this movie ... believe me its a great HITCHCOCK Classic!

Hey! I missed this conversation and am so glad someone pointed me in the right direction.

Lifeboat is one of my favorite Hitch films, for the same reasons Miss G stated, and the info here is just great. Thanks for posting these fascinating articles and letters. I too always thought Canada Lee was very moving and not at all a comic element. I love Steinbeck, but I think he was maybe a little too sensitive on the subject. My respect for him, however, goes up, because of his heartfelt feelings on what he saw as the inherent racism in films.

No matter what, I'm thrilled to see that this movie is going to get some more viewings - I will definitely be watching it over again this week.

Great, Wendy....I'm very glad to hear Lifeboat is a favorite. It's not shown much on TCM or elsewhere, so perhaps gets a tad overlooked, however I have always found it fascinating. It would make an interesting double bill with Abandon Ship!.

Oh yes! And The Cruel Sea! It's always been one of my favorite Hitch films. I think it's so well done, and I love those microcosm-of-the-world-in-a-small-space movies. I personally like the limitations Hitch put on himself, and I think Lifeboat is his best. I really love that he was able to go off on these tangents and make movies differently once in while, it makes his career so much more interesting, and brings him down to earth for me as a man.

Plus, the entire cast is outstanding, and I mean perfect. I love Tallulah, I don't think she was ever better on film, she and Hitch seem to have a great rapport and share a wicked sense of humor. Is it possible that she "got" him better than anyone? and William Bendix, gosh I still can't bear to see his later scenes, I am always crying there on the edge of my seat, as if I could grab him and stop him every time I watch the film.

MissGoddess wrote:Great, Wendy....I'm very glad to hear Lifeboat is a favorite. It's not shown much on TCM or elsewhere, so perhaps gets a tad overlooked, however I have always found it fascinating. It would make an interesting double bill with Abandon Ship!.

Lifeboat and Abandon Ship ... that's a great double bill! MissG. :!:

i haven't seen the cruel sea, yet. is that the jack hawkins movie you mentioned elsewhere?

i think as technically challenging as this movie must have been, hitch's expertise with actors is what stands out here. it's almost a character piece, a study in human contrasts. and i too am drawn to his sort of "one off" movies, the ones that don't fit the mold. I like the others just as much, it's just i like exploring deviations from directors who are known mostly for one thing.

Yes, that's the one!

Maybe that's why I like it so much, I love his character studies, as much as he pretended not to care about actors, most of his movies have such realistic interactions between people and personalities. He really was a masterful observer of human nature.

Wendy, another movie that I think dwells more on character interaction than technique, though it certainly is a ravishing film, is Rebecca. Here is Peter Bogdanovich's recent article on Hitch's first American movie:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/peterbogdano ... t=My+Yahoo#

[youtube][/youtube]

Has anyone ever seen the great American Masters documentary about Selznick and Hitchcock?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181577/

KR, I think Hitch's films with Selznick are remarkable. How much of that, beyond of course the vast resources Hollywood producers like Selznick could offer him, was due to his new association and how much to him alone---I couldn't say. With Rebecca I do see the strongest hand of D.O.S., particularly his insistence upon sticking with the novel's original story and characterizations, whereas Hitch often liked to just take the "skeleton" and build his own story on top.

In a way, it's a novel beginning for a promising director from another country. So many were given almost carte blanche with their first Hollywood films, only to end up burning out and either turning out product they were unhappy with or returning to Europe. Hitch, on the other hand, was restricted and did not get his way in the beginning, but eventually managed to sink roots and flourish in the studio system like no other director. Maybe patience really is a virtue.

CinemAva, I saw that documentary a long while ago, but I may just watch it again. Thank you for posting it!

No use throwing your weight around with D.O.S.!