I’m sure most people are aware that “The 39 Steps” was recently turned into a highly successful stage play by playwright Patrick Barlow. Well, it looks like the same has now been done for “Vertigo“. The Derby Evening Telegraph has a write up of the adaptation by Jonathan Holloway: Holloway returns the psychological thriller to wartime Paris and, in supremely theatrical style, frames the tale of the tortured hero as a public demonstration of hypnosis…. (read more)
The UK Times newspaper is giving away 7 Hitchcock DVDs, starting on Sunday September 7th: The 39 Steps (Sunday) The Man Who Knew Too Much (Monday) Sabotage (Tuesday) Secret Agent (Wednesday) Young and Innocent (Thursday) Jamaica Inn (Friday) The Lady Vanishes (Saturday) Presumably these will be licensed transfers from Granada International?
Not too sure how much truth there is in this story, as the Daily Mail seems to be the only source, but… Playboy boss Hugh Hefner, 82, has donated $120 million towards a new School of Cinematic Art, to be built in Hollywood in memory of Alfred Hitchcock. Why? Hef declares that he wished to honour Hitchcock as “he managed to work with the three women I most wanted to pose nude for me, and… (read more)
Via Dan Auiler’s “All Things Hitchcock” blog, here’s your chance to own a prop from “North by Northwest“: Antique Secretary Desk – $5000 The desk puts in an appearance in the Townsend house… It’s also where Martin Landau gets the bourbon from…
Whilst we still wait for news the first official Bluray releases (my guess is that “North by Northwest” will be announced soon), standard DVDs just keep on coming! In the next few months, we have a new DVD of “Suspicion” (Kinowelt, Germany) as well as a bundling of Hitchcock’s two wartime propaganda films “Hitchcock French Resistance” (Network, UK). In France, Universal are bundling together all of their previous DVD releases (including both their US films… (read more)
Knife related crime seems to be on the rise in the UK, with over 20 people killed in London this year. To try and help combat this, the government has enlisted Alfred Hitchcock to come up with a solution. Yep — I did a double-take too, but this is Manchester born policeman, 49 year old Alf(red) Hitchcock. I’m sure Hitch, who filmed some of his most memorable murders with knives, would have raised an eyebrow.
The DVD Times site is reporting that the long awaited Universal releases of “Psycho” and “Vertigo” will be released in October, along with “Rear Window“… Universal Studios Home Video have announced the Region 1 DVD release of new Two-Disc Special Editions of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Rear Window and Vertigo on 7th October 2008. Priced at $26.98 SRP each, these two-disc sets are released under the Universal Legacy Series banner and offer the following features… Psycho… (read more)
4 years after MGM initially announced it was going to release a box set of Hitchcock films (including the films he made for Selznick), it looks like we’re finally going to get something! Because MGM wanted to release the films, Criterion had to move their existing DVDs to “out-of-print”, so the Hitchcock/Selznick films have been unavailable in the US since then. Full details of the set are available on the DVD Active web site: Title:… (read more)
Initial reports were that the fire at Universal Studios in LA wasn’t near the film and video vault, but BBC News is now reporting that Ron Meyer (Head of Universal Studios) is saying that in the region of 40,000 to 50,000 videos and reels of film have been damaged in the blaze — the plastic video containers being partly responsible for the thick black smoke. Time will tell if any of their Hitchcock material was… (read more)
News is starting to spread that actress Suzanne Pleshette, who played the role of Annie Hayworth in “The Birds“, died yesterday (19/Jan/2008). US actress Suzanne Pleshette dies (BBC News) Actress Suzanne Pleshette Dies (Time) Suzanne Pleshette, Co-Star of TV’s `Newhart Show,’ Dies at 70 (Bloomberg) Suzanne Pleshette dies at 70 (CNN) Suzanne Pleshette in “The Birds”…
