The Internet Movie Database has a list of genre keywords for most films, so I thought it’d be fun to grab together all of the ones from the Hitchcock films and turn them into a cloud. The keyword lists aren’t exhaustive and are incomplete for some films, but here’s what came out…
In early 2006, Tom Sutpen started posting parts of the famous Hitchcock and Truffaut interviews from 1962 on his “if charlie parker was a gunslinger…” blog. All in all, Hitchcock and Truffaut recorded over 50 26 hours of interviews (with the help of translator Helen Scott), and these were eventually edited down into the “Hitchcock/Truffaut” book (released in 1967). Approximately 12 hours of the interviews were broadcast a few years ago on French radio as… (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”…
Thanks to John Hodson for spotting that Network have added details of the upcoming 10 disc “Hitchcock: The British Years” to their web site. Looks like they’re pulling out the stops to include some great extras… Digitally restored versions of “The Lodger“, “The 39 Steps“, “Sabotage“, “Young and Innocent“, “The Lady Vanishes” and “Jamaica Inn“ “Cinema: Alfred Hitchcock” – unseen for forty years, Mike Scott interviews Hitchcock about his life and career “Aquarius: Alfred the… (read more)
It’s that time of the year when we look back at the Hitchcock collaborators who passed away. In 2007, the following people died… Roscoe Lee Browne (Topaz) Lonny Chapman (The Birds) Laraine Day (Foreign Correspondent) Ray Evans (The Man Who Knew Too Much) Hansjörg Felmy (Torn Curtain) George Grizzard (Alfred Hitchcock Presents) Peter Handford (Under Capricorn & Frenzy) Teddy Infuhr (Spellbound) George Tabori (I Confess) William Tuttle (North by Northwest) Peter Viertel (Saboteur) Jane Wyman… (read more)
I’ve added full details and images to the site for the new Criterion DVD of The Lady Vanishes. It’s pretty much a given that any Criterion Hitchcock DVD is well worth buying (especially as the out-of-print titles become very collectable). As with the last wave of Criterion Hitchcock DVDs (Spellbound, Notorious, and Rebecca), Criterion have come up trumps with both the transfer and the extras. The transfer is an improvement on the original DVD release… (read more)
After reading Brendan Dawes’ “Analog In, Digital Out“, I’ve revisited the colours of “North by Northwest” (see earlier blog post). Rather than squish every frame to a single horizontal line, this time each frame is squished vertically — see if you can spot the “crop duster” sequence: ( full sized version on Flickr )
Hitchcock fans in Austria will want to check out the Hitchcock retrospective at the Österreichisches Filmmuseum, running from 01/Dec/2007 to 04/Feb/2008. The press releases are available here and here, and there’s also a copy archived on the wiki. The web site also has a collection of hi-res Hitchcock images!
Okay — so I forgot to include a few memorable baddies (like Bruno in “Strangers on a Train“), but here’s the results from last month’s poll: Interesting to see that neither Vandamm or Elster (who was surely the most cold-hearted of all Hitchcock baddies) picked up any votes. So, ladies and gentlemen, I give you the winner of this round — Joseph Cotten as evil Uncle Charlie! You think you know something, don’t you? You… (read more)
News is starting to spread that actress Laraine Day, who starred in “Foreign Correspondent“, died on Saturday (10/Nov/2007). Curiously, the news reports are split on Day’s year of birth — some list it as 1917 and others as 1920. IMDB, which is often used as a source by journalists, says 1917.
