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)
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)
“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.
The Internet Movie Database usually lists a number of genre keywords for each film, and I thought it would be interesting to use those to find out which Hitchcock films are similar. So, for each Hitchcock film, I’ve listed the top five other films that have the most keywords in common with that film. For example, the most similar film to “Psycho” is “Frenzy”, and the most similar to “Spellbound” is “Vertigo”. What do you… (read more)
The Telegraph newspaper is reporting that Alfred Hitchcock’s former country retreat in Shamley Green, Surrey is up for sale. Alfred Hitchcock: A long way from the Bates Motel The asking price? A cool £2,500,000. Here are 3 more images that aren’t included in the article on the Telegraph site:
In November 1914, a 15 year old Alfred Hitchcock joined W.T Henley Telegraph Works as a junior technician. According to McGilligan’s biography, Hitchcock moved to the advertising department in 1917… His new job was more picture-oriented: designing, laying out, and pasting up the advertisments and brochures for Henley’s products. The following are adverts for Henley’s that appeared in The Times newspaper in October and November 1917 — I wonder if the 18 year old Hitchcock… (read more)
