WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[charliechaplinfan]

Thanks Robert, I was very much engaged by your discussion on Movie Chat, nice to see you on screen too, I wish I could have been sat on the porch with you. Even though I'd listened to what you said I saw things of my own too. I feeling an urge to revisit the lesser known Hitchcock's the ones before Rear Window. For me Hitch had more idiosyncracies than any other director, it's like ad added joy to a movie and he always keeps me guessing. I've never found a film of his I didn't like.

[CineMaven]

Hitchcock is like an old friend to me; one I might not see for a long time, but when we do meet again...it's all familiar and comfy. Alison I'm flattered your watching us made you re-visit the film. That's one of my goals as well. I just saw "SHADOW OF A DOUBT" here this past Monday:



...where the theatre is celebrating Universal Studio's 100th Anniversary. Sitting back and watching this on the big screen was a great experience. I could really see Uncle Charlie's arrogance and contempt in all its glory. He was allowed to come into The Family and take it over. ( Yes, as you noticed Alison, watch him hang back as his relatives carry his luggage as though he was on safari. )

And this time, subsequent to Bob's and my conversation, I noticed The Father. Oh yes, he might've been a silly goose talking murder with his chum and maybe a bit judgmental ( or jealous ) of his brother-in-law. But this time as I sat back in my chair looking up at the big screen, I really noticed The Father ( Henry Travers ) in his first scene with young Charlie. She lays in bed in the throes of a malaise she can't articulate. Her father stands by the door. He doesn't fawn over her like the landlady did over Uncle Charlie's bed. Father listens to her like Daddies usually listen to their little girls...with quiet concern; maybe humoring her just a tad. There is "something" about that early early scene that struck me this time and made me take notice: his quiet confidence...subtly amused. He lets Charlie flit around the house...in fact, he lets the house flap its wings with Mom's busy-ness, Charlie's bossy-ness, Ann's studious-ness. ( He matter-of-factly asks Ann for a kiss even if she doesn't look up from her book. He lets her do her thing. ) He's in the center of this domestic hurricane but notice how they all know it's Dad's Newspaper Uncle Charlie has cut up. I can't say I noticed his Paternity before. He sees Charlie has a little growing up to do, the way fathers do. No one anticipates that she would get a crash course with Uncle Charlie's visit.

Am I making more of it than what's there? Nope, I don't think so. It's just something I noticed this Monday, after seeing the film for the umpteenth time over the years. You know Bob you're right: I guess a great film IS one you can keep talking about forever.

Please click here:



for just this briefest of reminders of what it's alllllllll about.

[CineMaven]

One that especially stands out is the resemblance between Charlie and Louise, her high school classmate. It's not extreme, but it's there, as though the latter is the girl next door from the other side of the tracks. Also, that wonderfully disturbing restaurant scene is one of the few times we see soldiers, reminding us that there was a War going on.

Hi man. ( When are you coming down to the Forum? ) Yes, the soldiers. I also noticed when the waitress walks away to get Charlie (x 2) a drink, I saw one of the soldiers waaaay in the back of the scene give Louise an appreciative once-over. And watch how Teresa Wright almost steps on Shaw's line during the introduction. You know, I do see the resemblance of the two girls; whoa...there but for the grace of God goes Charlie... though actress Janet Shaw's demeanor reminds me of Gloria Grahame. And speaking of Grahame...

Thanks Robert, I was very much engaged by your discussion on Movie Chat, nice to see you on screen too, I wish I could have been sat on the porch with you...

"Have Chat, Will Travel." Hmmm, London calling. Let's see...first, I've got to get to Chile...then England...then Texas. Well..there goes my house work.

[RedRiver]

Wes Anderson has talent. I did like RUSHMORE. THE ROYAL TENNENBAUMS is good. Haven't seen the new one.

[Robert Regan]

Alison, it would be a delight to sit on the back porch talking about movies with you and Theresa. I am also thrilled that we were able to inspire another visit to Shadow of a Doubt.

Your remarks and Theresa's remind me that Hitchcock has almost always been taken for granted in one way or another. When I was growing up, he was one of the very few directors whose name was widely known, even before his tv show, and yet his critical reputation was that of a purveyor of slick popular thrillers with no depth. In the US it was generally accepted that his English films were far superior to anything he had done here. As good as that early work was, there was nothing there that quite approached Shadow of a Doubt, for example.

I must admit that I was skeptical when word started to reach us that there were people in France who considered him a great artist. Then there was a mimeographed periodical here called the NY Film Bulletin which translated a lengthy analysis of Rear Window, one of those superficial thrillers. As I read how Jean Douchet compared James Stewart's character with us, the audience, and the apartments across the backyard with the movie screen, it all started to make sense. Andrew Sarris, Robin Wood, and the wonderful English magazine Movie helped point us in the right direction.

By the seventies, it was generally accepted that the Master of Suspense was much more than that, and around the turn of the century one of my daughters was able to take a college course that studied Hitchcock and Jean-Luc Godard! And now there is a new generation of cinephiles, some of whom wonder what's so great about Alfred Hitchcock. So here he is, being taken for granted again by many, but clearly not by all, and not on this site. Let these young people open their eyes!

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Robert and Mave, I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode of MovieChat!

Was Louise the waitress, played by Janet Shaw? She was so mesmerizing in the few moments she was onscreen. She really had that something...

So when is the next one?

[charliechaplinfan]

Hitchcock is so accessible, he's multilatered and even if you just take the top layer you still come up with a good movie. I'm jealous your daughter got to study him Bob. I could do wih a lesson on Godard, his film making sometimes passes me by whereas HItchcock can play to the lowest common denominator.

On other thing I noticed and this isn;t necessarily a Hitchcock thing but Charlie's parents seemed old, more like grandparents in age but they must have been right for the time and I can testify that my Grandma looked old in her thirties.

[CineMaven]

Yes Christy...the waitress is played by Janet Shaw. I just looked over her filmography and she worked a lot but it's not a very illustrious career. I wonder what Hitch saw in her to pick her. She nailed it. She hit the ball outta the park with just one scene. Her career never really connected in a big way. But I like her. And I always wait for her scene in "Shadow..." And if I see her in a small scene in a movie I go: "Hey, the waitress!!!" Bob, if you're reading this, I think she might be a candidate for one of your "lost women."

You know Alison, Charlie's folks did look a little old. But I think a lot of folks looked older than their years in movies back then. A woman of 50 in 1943 probably looks older than a woman of 50 today. In fact I'm sure of it. I also thought the little actress who played younger sister Ann marked a striking resemblance to....



I think TCM would do well to seek out both ladies for a brief chat on Hitchcock before screening one of his films at the next film festival.

Christy...Alison...Hey Kath! Thanx for your feedback on my "MovieCHAT" project. Some titles coming down the pipeline will be "All About Eve" and "Vertigo." And Bob & I will be chatting very very soon about "In A Lonely Place." Get ready Bob.

[charliechaplinfan]

I can't wait Theresa. I'll view each movie in turn to be able to discuss them here.

[Robert Regan]

Right, Theresa, Janet Shaw's extraordinary performance in Shadow of a Doubt surely qualifies her as one of the Lost Women of Hollywood. She stuck with it for fifteen years from '35 to '50 in at least 70 parts, many bits and many uncredited. I've seen her at least a dozen times in parts so small that I never recognized her. Do you remember her in They Won't Believe Me as Susan Hayward's roommate? She may have been under contract to Universal at the time of Shadow, but I'm sure that Hitchcock was quite deliberate in taking advantage to her resemblance to Wright. What would have become of her part if Joan Fontaine had played Charlie? Come to think of it, with all due respect to one of his finest leading women, what would have become of the movie?

And how perceptive, Theresa, to have spotted the Patricia Hitchcock/Edna May Wonacott connection! The Morlocks had a long post about her in '08, followed by many comments from, among others, Edna May herself, her oldest son, other relatives and friends. The most recent addition to the thread was early this month! She was one of the Santa Rosa residents cast in Shadow which encouraged her family to move down to Los Angeles where she was in seven more movies, usually uncredited, before her retirement at twenty. Apparently, she and Pat became friends on location, and she often visited the Hitchcocks during her brief sojourn in Hollywood. Her first film was her peak as an actress.

[CineMaven]

I actually do remember fleetingly seeing Janet Shaw as Hayward's roommate ( and saying, "Hey...The Waitress." ) Of course, we have no way of knowing what would have become of "SHADOW OF A DOUBT" with Joan Fontaine in the lead. Now yes, I have finally seen the 'light in the piazza' after seeing Fontaine play youthful in "The Constant Nymph" and "Letter From An Unknown Woman." But I still don't think she has the right tone and sweetness and girl-next-doorness Teresa Wright has. Then again, I'm also of the mind that with the power and force of nature that Hitchcock is, the film would still be a success. But then again, there's still something about Wright...

( Uh-0h...JANE!!!! STOP this crazy thing!! As you can see, this can go on and on and on... )

Thanxx Bob for pointing me to "The Movie Morlocks." I searched the archives and found the article here on: EDNA MAY WONACOTT. My question is this:

What would "THE WOMEN" be with Miss Wonacott as Shearer's daughter as opposed to Virginia Weidler?

( Somehow I see her drinking her milk in a martini glass and telling the Countess DeLave how silly she is. And ohhhhhhhhhh would she give Joan Crawford a run for her money!! )

[Robert Regan]

Yes, Theresa, I love Fontaine, but in no way is she ever The Girl Next Door, at least not in the US. Her sister was much more American, but Joan was always a bit "foreign", at least in our neck of the woods.

With Edna May in The Women "Little Mary" would have been about five years younger!

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Thanks for affirming my faith in the work of Janet Shaw, Robert and Theresa. I think she is one of the best moments in the entire film. So affected, so desultory, so desperate to step out of her lot in life. And her voice remains echoing that phrase.."I'd just about die for a ring like that...." all the way through to the end...and by that time, we all know that somebody did.

[CineMaven]

...and by that time, we all know that somebody did.

Oooh!! As we in the "South of France" say SuexSue...brilliant!!! Her flat affect gets me ev'rytime. I wonder what she's seen.