I’ve just spotted that Elephant Films are releasing a batch of Hitchcock Blu-rays in France during October, including the British Film Institute’s recent restorations of Easy Virtue (Le Passé ne Meurt Pas), Downhill (C’est la Vie) and The Lodger (Les Cheveux d’Or). The 3 films are also being released in a box set along with The Man Who Knew Too Much and The 39 Steps. The releases are listed on Amazon France: The Lodger Downhill… (read more)
I’m pleased to announce that Network UK are releasing Hitchcock’s underrated 1937 film Young and Innocent on Bluray in January 2015! According to the early information on the Network site, the extras will be taken from the previous DVD release and include an introduction by Charles Barr and the venerable Hitchcock: The Early Years documentary, which has been popping up on DVDs since 2001. Network are also releasing two other Hitchcock films on Bluray in… (read more)
An advert publicising the trailer for The Birds from a June 1963 issue of Film Bulletin journal.
Here’s a interesting article I stumbled across in the July 1941 issue of Motion Picture magazine: IS FONTAINE’S FUTURE IN HITCHCOCK’S HANDS ? JOAN WAS GETTING NOWHERE FAST TILL HITCHCOCK GAVE HER ROLE OF “REBECCA.” HE MADE HER AN ACE ACTRESS. NO WONDER SHE DOESN’T WORK FOR ANYONE ELSE! The most discussed star-director combination in Hollywood at the moment is that of Joan Fontaine and Alfred Hitchcock. And all of the discussion simmers down to… (read more)
I’m wondering how many Hitchcock fans have spotted this one before? Both Easy Virtue (1928) and To Catch a Thief (1955) feature the stunning bridge near the village of Èze in southern France. Constructed between 1911 and 1914, the bridge is known locally as “Pont du Diable” (“The Devil’s Bridge”). According to Wikipedia, it’s just one of 49 bridges in France to have that nickname, although most date from the medieval period.
Way back in 2007, I did some DVD screen grabs of a possible Hitchcock cameo in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934). Even with the best quality DVD transfer available, it wasn’t particularly conclusive. Anyway, I’ve just gone back and taken a new set of grabs using the Criterion Bluray transfer. See what you think (I’ve boosted the contrast to make them easier to view)… …the figure then crosses the road and is in… (read more)
Yes, that’s right — I’ve found Hitchcock’s long lost film, The Mountain Eagle! …OK, I’ve not actually found a print of the film, because that would be amazing beyond belief, but what I have found is some new information about what happened to The Mountain Eagle in the UK. As is well known, both of Hitchcock’s first two full directorial efforts, The Pleasure Garden and The Mountain Eagle, were deemed too uncommercial for release by… (read more)
Reproduced from the Winter 1933-34 issue of Cinema Quarterly. ALFRED HITCHCOCK on MUSIC IN FILMS In an Interview with STEPHEN WATTS When the British student of intelligent cinema turns to survey the creative side of film-making in his own country the names available for reference are pathetically few. Even ranging over the whole of the talkie’s short history he can probably produce a bare half-dozen, say (alphabetically for safety!) Asquith, Dupont, Grierson, Hitchcock, Korda, and… (read more)
The Yorkshire Evening Post carried details of the death of Charlie Brown in December 1936. However, this wasn’t the Peanuts cartoon character created by Charles M. Schulz — this was the head carver at the famous Simpson’s in the Strand: Charlie Brown is dead. After working at Simpson’s in the Strand for 59 years he was pensioned off two moths ago (writes the London correspondent of “The Yorkshire Post”). Deprived of his barons of beef… (read more)
Here’s another article from the archives, this time from the Dundee Courier (27/Jan/1953)…
