In a similar vein to Nat King Cole’s “Marnie”, here’s Billy Eckstine‘s recording of “Vertigo”… The song was written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, who also wrote “Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)” for The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956). I’ve read a couple of claims about the track and its link to Vertigo (1958), but I’m not sure which is the most accurate. As ever, if you have more information,… (read more)
A small selection of Japanese posters for Hitchcock films… Rebecca (1940) Saboteur (1942) Spellbound (1945) To Catch a Thief (1955) The Trouble with Harry (1955) The Wrong Man (1956) Vertigo (1958) North by Northwest (1959) The Birds (1963) Topaz (1969) Frenzy (1972) Family Plot (1976) …you can view more Japanese film posters here.
The opening chase in Vertigo (1958) was staged on the rooftops of Taylor Street, San Francisco, with a sweeping camera pan from right-to-left. Here’s a composite image of the rooftop sequence (download image)… It’s worth noting that the camera pan starts with Brocklebank Apartments in the background and ends on Coit Tower, representing Madeleine Elster and John “Scottie” Ferguson (or possibly even Midge, whose apartment is half-a-mile closer to the tower than Scottie’s?) respectively. You… (read more)
Previously only available as a bootleg transfer taken from a UK TV broadcast, Elstree Calling (1930) is being released for the first time on DVD by Network at the end of April. Although Hitchcock’s exact contribution to the film is unknown, James M. Vest speculated in “Alfred Hitchcock’s Role in ‘Elstree Calling’” that it may amount up to a quarter of the film. In their review of the film, The Times reported that the film… (read more)
I love finding useless bits of trivia, so here’s some for The 39 Steps (1935)! Mr. Memory It’s widely known that the character of Mr. Memory (played by actor Wylie Watson) was based on a real-life music-hall performer — William James Maurice Bottle (1875-1956), who performed under the stage-name “Datas: The Memory Man” from 1901 onwards. Hitchcock told François Truffaut about Bottle’s act and why Mr. Memory is unable to stop himself revealing his secrets… (read more)
Nearly every Hitchcock film has a least one telephone scene, but can you name all of the films these framegrabs are from? Call 555-1234-567 now!
The British Film Institute‘s excellent recent restoration of Downhill (1927) has been released on Blu-ray in Spain. Extras: Apuntes sobre Hitchcock: Sus primeros años (aka “Hitchcock: The Early Years”) Escalera al infierno Galeria Fichas Filmografias
Criterion Collection are releasing Foreign Correspondent (1940) on Blu-ray on February 18th, 2014. Features: New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray New piece on the visual effects in the film with effects expert Craig Barron Hollywood Propaganda and World War II, a new interview with writer Mark Harris Interview with director Alfred Hitchcock from a 1972 episode of The Dick Cavett Show (previously available as part of a DVD box set)… (read more)
Criterion have just announced that they’ll be releasing Hitchcock’s original 1934 version of “The Man Who Knew Too Much on DVD and Blu-ray. The features are listed as: New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition New audio commentary featuring film historian Philip Kemp New interview with filmmaker Guillermo del Toro The Illustrated Hitchcock, an extensive interview with director Alfred Hitchcock from 1972, conducted by journalist Pia Lindstrom and film historian… (read more)
A couple of pieces of Hitchcock news via Alain Kerzoncuf! On Thursday September 27th, The Space will be streaming Hitchcock’s 1928 silent classic “Champagne” with a new score by Mira Calix, live from the BFI on London’s Southbank. Betty Balfour Secondly, Dread Central has a cool video showing scenes that were trimmed from the US release of “Psycho” (and have never appeared on any of the DVD releases). Janet Leigh on the job!
