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)
Quite a few people have already blogged about this, but toy manufacturer Mattel are releasing a Barbie doll of Tippi Hedren‘s character from “The Birds” in time for Halloween… More details are available on the Entertainment Earth web site. Of course, this isn’t the first time that Hedren has been turned into a doll. Hitchcock had makeup artist Robert Dawn create a lifelike doll of the actress, which was presented to her young daughter (Melanie… (read more)
The Jacob Burns Film Center (364 Manville Road in Pleasantville, NY) is showing a season of Hitchcock under the banner of “Hitchcock Returns” throughout July. The list of films is: Notorious – July 2, 6, 7 Dial M for Murder – July 3, 4 Lifeboat – July 5, 9 The Wrong Man – July 5, 10 To Catch a Thief – July 8, 11, 14 Mr. and Mrs. Smith – July 12, 15 Rebecca –… (read more)
Via Dan Auiler’s blog, both he and “Hitchcock’s Music” author Jack Sullivan took part in a fascinating 45 minute program on NPR about “Vertigo” — well worth a listen! Happy 50th, “Vertigo”
The University of Texas has an online archive of Mike Wallace interviews, including a 1958 pre-“Psycho” interview with Anthony Perkins: solstice.ischool.utexas.edu/tmwi/index.php/Tony_Perkins
Although Alfred Hitchcock often said he couldn’t drive and never owned a license, that was just one of his many “stories” he rolled out to journalists and interviewers. In fact, until his health declined, he often drove his daughter to school and church. CFTKTV is reporting that Hitchcock’s driving license is one of the items up for auction at an event being held June 21st-22nd in Las Vegas.
This interesting article appeared on the UPI.com web site yesterday… Health News: Some movies affect more brain activity Using advanced functional imaging, U.S. and German neuroscientists found some motion pictures can exert considerable control over brain activity. Study authors New York University neuroscientists Uri Hasson, Barbara Knappmeyer, Nava Rubin and David Heeger and doctoral candidate Ohad Landesman as well as Ignacio Vallines of the University of Munich used fMRI and inter-subject correlation, or ISC analysis,… (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)
“Naturally, the knife never touched the body; it was all done in the montage.”(Hitchcock talking to Truffaut about the shower scene in Psycho) However, when analysed frame by frame, one of the short segments does appear to show a knife piercing Marion’s flesh. It’s only 8 frames in length (or 1/3 of a second) and the final frame is this: At first glance, the knife does appear to have cut into the belly. However, I… (read more)
The Cornerhouse in Manchester (UK) is showing Hitchcock’s 1938 film “The Lady Vanishes” on May 25th 2008. Although there’s nothing about this on the web site, apparently this is a new digital restoration and will be shown in HD.
