Shadow of a Doubt (1943) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Joseph Cotton, Teresa Wright, Macdonald Carey, Hume Cronyn

****

New to DVD this week is John Patrick Shanley's "Doubt" (see review below). Another even better film about doubt is "Shadow of a Doubt", a mid-career Alfred Hitchcock classic about a small town teenage girl's discovery of her Uncle's heinous past of crime and corruption.

I’ve always thought Hitchcock’s B&W films were his best, and this early Hollywood crime mystery is certainly one of my favourites. “Shadow of a Doubt” fits in the Hitchcock oeuvre as one his small scale ventures, like “Psycho” or “Lifeboat”, or “The Lady Vanishes”.

In the quaint Californian town of Santa Rosa lives the Newton family – mother Emma, father Joseph, two young kids Ann and Roger and their teenage daughter Charlie (Teresa Wright). Charlie is named after Emma’s brother Uncle Charlie with whom the younger Charlie seems to have a special connection. When we meet Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotton), he's a shifty citydweller wanted by the police for some unidentified nefarious activity. On the run he decides to escape to Santa Rosa for a surprise visit to the Newtons'.

Immediately the young Charlie is smitten with her handsome and big city exotic Uncle who arrives with lavish gifts. But as she attempts to get to know him, her prying questions are met with diverting white lies. Uncle Charlie can’t pull the wool over young Charlie’s eyes as she quickly reads through his deceptions. She thinks nothing of it, other than humble privacy, until two investigators come snooping around the town looking for a wanted murderer. With this ‘shadow of doubt’ in her mind, her idealized love for Uncle Charlie comes crashing down, especially when she finds herself the next target for his violent nature.

Uncle Charlie is one of Joseph Cotton’s great performances. Cotton is perfectly cast according to his likeable warm qualities he established in his two Welles performances ("Citizen Kane" and the "Magnificent Ambersons"). And so, even when Uncle Charlie is at his worst the ‘shadow of doubt’ that he is innocent always remains. We barely get to know Uncle Charlie’s motivations, only partially revealed in Cotton’s great dinner table speech – an angry rant which reveals his latent misogynistic disgust of widowers. It suggests a complex backstory of pain which corrupted a once optimistic and gentle man.

Of course, it’s never all-too serious in a Hitchcock picture. His trademark black wit is provided by the wonderful performance of Hume Cronyn as Herbie Hawkins, the crime novel enthusiast who banters with father Newton about the best ways to bump someone off and get away with it.

It’s one of Hitch’s pulpiest films as well. The actors express themselves with exaggerated performances. Cotton’s mysterious shiftiness, Patricia Collinge’s nave matriarch and Teresa Wright’s dramatic emotional shifting hit home the story beats as forcefully as Hitch has ever had them hit.

But the larger-than-life performances aid in Hitchcock’s theme of suburban Americana. Much is made of investor Graham’s subterfuge as a journalist doing a story on ‘the typical American family.’ Uncle Charlie represents the poisonous influence of big city crime into the wholesomeness of young Charlie's utopia. Of course, the film was made during WWII, and before the suburban post-war sprawl which we would see in the 50’s. So, in many ways, this story is a decade ahead of its time.

Hitchcock’s daughter Patricia has said “Shadow of a Doubt” was her father’s favourite film. It’s definitely one of his most complete. We all know he is a master of the dramatic set piece, and indeed there are some great individual scenes, but the strength  is an underlying tension which is sustained throughout the entire film and the emotional destruction we witness of young Charlie’s idyllic and sheltered optimism of the typical American family. Enjoy.

To Catch a Thief (1955) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, Jesse Royce Landis, John Williams

**

Alfred Hitchcock made over 60 films, so there’s bound to be a dud or two in there. “To Catch a Thief” is arguably one of his weaker and most disappointing. Hitch making a heist film, in 1955 – in the middle of his greatest decade of work – should have been a knock out of the park, instead it’s one of his most sanitized unHitchcocklike films.


Cary Grant plays John Robie, a suave playboy and former cat burglar living in the French Riviera under an assumed name. When another burglar starts knocking off rich ladies' jewellery in his neck of the woods Robie becomes the chief suspect. By necessity and, in part, a gamely challenge, Robie comes out of retirement and puts himself in the line of fire in order to catch the imposter thief.

Robie decides to case the jewelry collection of an older American woman and her daughter vacationing. The younger gal, Frances (Grace Kelly) develops a close relationship with Robie, first as innocent flirting then revealing an attraction to his criminal burgling skills.  With the help of Frances and her Lloyds of London insurance agent Robie tracks down the elusive cat burglar in order to clear his name.

Of course, this radical two-star rating is in context of the other Hitchcock classics, as the film is not without merit. Grace Kelly and Cary Grant create major sparks, so much so Hitch shot their great seduction scene with a grand fireworks display in the background. Grace Kelly is stunning and obviously caught the eye of Prince Ranier of Monaco who would soon take her away from Hollywood and into European royalty.

A couple of car chase sequences are staged through the Cannes countryside, creatively shot entirely from a helicopter’s view. And every exterior location, shot in brilliant and bold widescreen technicolor, are stunningly beautiful.

But it’s the lack of effort Hitch shows with his heist scenes which disappoint most. A heist scene should be a showcase for Hitchcock’s best skills – stand-alone set pieces, focusing on action and suspense. The burglaries are shot with minimal if any tension with rudimentary shot selection.

1955 was also the year of "Rififi", Jules Dassin’s masterpiece, featuring the immaculately conceived and executed heist scene shot entirely in silence. Sadly both films were at the same time, we thus missed out on some creative one-upmanship.

"To Catch a Thief" is available on DVD in a new reissued Special Edition from Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Jimmy Stewart, Doris Day

****

“The Man Who Knew Too Much” is one of my favourite Hitchcock films and I don’t think it gets the respect it deserves certainly compared to his more famous films. Maybe because it’s a remake of his own 1934 British version – an early acclaimed classic which helped him garner international attention. I confess not having seen the original, so I can’t compare the two, but all skills from the master of suspense are on display in this riveting thriller about a man whose son is kidnapped by a group of international terrorists.

Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day play Ben and Jo McKenna on vacation in Morocco with their young son Hank. They meet a kind Moroccan-French stranger named Louis Bernard who shows them around town. But Bernard is not who he says he is, and Ben uncovers an international assassination plot involving Bernard. With this knowledge Ben becomes a target and finds his own son Hank kidnapped and ransomed in exchange for his silence. Ben and Jo are forced to conduct their own investigation which takes them to London for a climatic cinematic showdown at the Royal Albert Hall.

Like so many of Hitchcock’s films location play an important role in the action. The film starts out in Morocco where the McKenna family are cultural outsiders and victim of their own naiveté and friendliness. Hitchcock expertly uses foreign and exotic Marrakech to establish his shady characters. The second half takes place in London, a place more familiar to Ben and Jo but still a foreign land without the safety net of familiarity.

The Royal Albert Hall sequence is one Hitchcock’s finest set pieces of suspense. Hitch, aware of his own brilliance, even sets up the scene in the opening title credit sequence. But a number of slow brewing tense situations lead up to the Albert Hall sequence. One of the best is the preparation Ben takes before revealing to Jo that their son has been kidnapped. The build-up starts with the phone call Ben takes at the Moroccan police station. Ben is scared but knows he can’t assume the worst yet. A hysterical wife would not help the situation. He makes the difficult choice to hold the information from Jo until he has all facts. And when he gets to his hotel room and realizes its true he’s even more careful to spill the beans. All of this is implied by Stewart’s reactions, mannerisms and facial expressions. When Ben eventually does tell Jo, Doris Day plays the scene perfectly. It’s arguably one of Day’s finest moments as an actor.

Another classic sequence is Ben and Jo’s visit to the Ambrose Chapel, when they hide at the back of the service scouting out the scene for the Draytons. In each of these sequences Hitchcock uses controlled pacing and reaction shots to build his tension.

As always comedy plays a vital role as counterpoint to the seriousness of the situations. There are only two comic sequences and both are placed at key moments in the story. The first is Ben’s misdirected visit to meet Ambrose Chappell, a scene which starts with a classic sequence of Hitchcockian suspense but ends with a slapstick fight. And the second key scene is the running gag with the snobby British guests of the McKennas who stay at their house and drink tea while Ben and Jo rescue their boy from the kidnappers.

If there’s a fault with Hitchcock it’s his rather flat and uncreative use of rear projection – something which stands out even worse in technicolour. The entire opening bus ride and then the following rickshaw ride are played against ugly and obvious rear projection. It was the technology of the time, but considering Hitch was so ahead of the curve in other aspects of his storytelling, his stubbornness with studio shooting has always irked me.

Jimmy Stewart is my all time favourite of Hitch’s everymen actors. I much prefer the innocent intelligence to Cary Grant’s playboy suaveness. The role of Ben serves the talents of Stewart better anyways. “The Man Who Knew Too Much” is one of Hitchcock’s most involving and tense films because the so-called Maguffin is a tangible person – a child of the protagonist. The adventure and stakes are taken to another level of intensity and intrigue, resulting in a thoroughly enjoyable Hitchcock masterpiece. Enjoy.

Lifeboat (1944) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix, Walter Slezak, Mary Anderson, Hume Cronyn

****

An interesting companion piece to yesterday’s review (“Titanic”) is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s earliest and best films – “Lifeboat”. Hitchcock likely took on the project as a creative challenge to himself - a film told entirely on a lifeboat of people rescued from a sunken ship during WWII. Hitchcock’s talents are put to the test to make 90mins in a small contained boat on the water, exciting and believable. It’s an amazing achievement which further supports the greatness of the Master.

The film begins on the water (of course) as the camera shows the trail of debris left by a sunken civilian ship. It’s 1944 Atlantic, which was a hotbed of naval activity. An upper class gossip columnist journalist Connie Porter (Tallulah Bankhead) climbs aboard the lifeboat to safety. In these opening moments one-by-one more survivors swim their way to the boat. Willy (Walter Slezak) who has the natural leadership qualities butts heads with the snobby Porter who insists on documenting the adventure on her portable typewriter. Minor squabbles are pushed aside when the last survivor climbs aboard, a German naval officer (William Yetter)

Should the civilians toss the German overboard, or save his life like everyone else? This becomes the major point of conflict. The German is kept aboard, and he proves his worth by navigating the ship in the right direction toward land. Or is he? Beneath his congenial demeanor he appears to slyly subvert their cause for rescue. Who will survive the small scale battle of wills?

The film could have easily been just a ‘novelty’ film, but the studio took project seriously, hired famed author John Steinbeck to write the story, hire dthe hot talent of Hitchcock to direct and cast popular star Tallulah Bankhead. Getting Bankhead (perhaps the Paris Hilton of her day) to be in a film where she gets wet and thrown around a boat in the middle of an ocean was a major coup. The casting worked perfectly because Bankhead’s real life snooty personality shows through in her character. The unique and varied personalities of Bendix, Slezak, Cronyn and Yetters round out a perfect ensemble cast.

But the big challenge for Hitchcock was how to keep the audience interested without boring them by staying in the same dull claustrophobic location the entire film. Hitchcock sought to use a different camera angle for every shot in the film. Usually dialogue and conversation are cut together using overlapping camera angles. Of course, Hitchcock meticulously storyboarded the film and as a result accomplished a miracle of mise-en-scene. It truly is remarkable.

For ‘high concept” films, few films top can “Lifeboat” for successfully executing its self-imposed restraints. “Hitchcock would do it again a few years later with “Rope” – an 80 min film made to look like one continuous shot. Other attempts at doing this type of high concept have mixed results – Robert Zemeckis' “Castaway” failed because he took Hanks off the island in the third act, “Speed” was a success, but Jan De Bont took the audience off the bus in the third act as well. Alfred Hitchcock never leaves the boat. He created his rules, stuck to them and executed it to perfection. Enjoy.

Buy Lifeboat (Special Edition)

Psycho (1960) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Martin Balsam

****

"Psycho", Hitchcock’s most notorious film, was arguably cinema’s first modern horror film - a psychotic murderer brandishing a huge phallic knife slashing to death everyday visitors to his secluded motel. The general plotline befits virtually every slasher film ever made, and it's all due to Mr. Hitchcock.

The film has a peculiar structure to it, cleaved in two halves – the first, Marian Crane played by Janet Leigh, an attractive yet deceiving woman who’s having a torrid affair with a recently divorced man, Sam Loomis (John Gavin). The opening scene sets her character’s dilemma, they want to move away together but with Sam’s alimony payments they don’t have enough money to make a life for their own. Marian works for a bank and when she’s given $40,000 cash to make a deposit she makes a split-second decision to steal the cash for herself. This is the typical Hitchcock frailty – an innocent woman pulled into a crime by necessity. The first half continues as we experience Marian’s lengthy escape on the road through the desolate roads and small towns of Arizona.

Newcomers to the film will already know and be anticipating the famous shower scene and so these road scenes, if not for Bernard Herrman’s pulsating score, may seem dull and boring. But you have to view the film in the context of the 1960’s audience. These scenes were crucial in misdirecting the audience away from the shower scene and what the film will eventually become. Hitchcock sets up a scenario similar to his previous film “North By Northwest” – a road-adventure film of an ‘everyman’ on the run from his antagonists. And so, when Marian Crane steps into that shower and is slashed to death, the shock is amplified. I only wish I was able to see the film as audiences did in 1960. It must have been quite an experience.

And contrary to popular belief Janet Leigh’s character, Marian Crane actually survives through exactly half the film. Pundits frequently refer to Leigh’s death during the first act, first third or even first reel of the film, but I actually timed it and it comes at exactly the half way point of the film.

The second half of the film is Perkins’ film. After the shower scene we see Bates systematically go through the step-by-step details of disposing of the body. Perkins is so good as the demented mama’s boy, with the ability to express child-like innocence and then subtly switch to chilling maniac instantly. Hitchcock embellishes his scrawny birdlike mannerisms in keeping with the bird-theme he runs throughout the film. Perkins even waddles and bounces like a bird. And take special note of the conversation when Martin Balsam questions Perkins in the motel office, Hitchcock frames a shot of Perkins’s neck, as he leans over the camera to look at the guest registry. With Perkin’s eating a peanut, we see his neck and adam’s apple bob and quiver like a chicken. It’s really creepy and a remarkable performance.

Of course, the murder scenes are what make the film the masterpiece that it is. The shot of Bates opening the bathroom door in the foggy background as Marian showers can still induce shivers down my spine. And Bates’ sudden lunge at Martin Balsam at the top of the stairs always makes me jump. But be careful not to miss the most subtle and perhaps brilliant moment of the film - watch Bates’ teeth at the very end of the film. Before the picture dissolves to the car being pulled from the water, Hitchcock very briefly superimposes the skull of his mother over Bates’ face. It’s short and subtle but so devious.

Despite the success of the film, no other filmmaker attempted to recreate the experience of “Psycho” until the 70’s – notably “Black Christmas” and “Halloween”. Now the theatres are saturated with knife-wielding killers. But it’s the original that stands the test of time. Enjoy.

Buy it here: Psycho (Collector's Edition)