News

Netflix is making it the summer of Alfred Hitchcock in New York. The streaming giant will bring 36 Hitchcock films to its Paris Theater in New York, as well as a dozen more features connected to the director — from those he influenced (Robert Zemeckis’s What Lies Beneath) to those which influenced him (Fritz Lang’s M).

The series — Hitch! The Original Cinema Influencer — will run from May 16 to June 29 at the Paris Theater, which Netflix purchased in 2019. The films range from Hitchcock’s early works such as Blackmail to enduring hits such as Psycho and The Birds.

Thirty five of the films will play on 35 mm, including Birds, The Man Who Knew Too Much, North By Northwest, Rear Window and Vertigo. The New York Film Critics Circle is co-presenting the series.

The screening series coincides with Netflix bringing a collection Hitchcock titles to its service beginning June 1, including Vertigo, Rear Window,...

At a time when Hollywood's long-term survival is in question and directors like Joe Russo are welcoming the arrival of an AI-driven garbage future with open arms, it might seem as though Rotten Tomatoes rankings are the least of our concerns. Quite honestly, they are. Whether a film receives the coveted "Fresh" rating or the dreaded splat really isn't all that consequential in the grand scheme of things. But for whatever reason, the Tomatometer still holds sway over our collective movie tastes, and now that movies' Rt scores are baked into many of our favorite streaming services' interfaces, it's harder than ever to avoid the all-powerful review aggregator.

It's fair to say, then, that Rotten Tomatoes is doing alright for itself, which in turn means it's probably okay to point out some of its shortcomings. As such, let me point your attention towards Rotten Tomatoes' contention that there are only...

Glen Powell is having a moment. Propelled by the box office success of "Anyone But You," and its subsequent streaming domination, the most handsome man you've ever seen is slowly taking over Hollywood. His Richard Linklater-directed Netflix film "Hitman" quickly conquered the streamer's charts when it debuted in June, and Powell will soon guide us all into the eye of the suck zone with the upcoming blockbuster legacy sequel "Twisters." Soon after, Powell will face what might be his biggest test yet in Edgar Wright's upcoming adaptation of "The Running Man." But considering the man's resilience — his first film role was in the more-than 20-year-old "Spy Kids 3" — he should be up to the challenge.

It hasn't been an easy road from "Spy Kids" to leading man, however. Take "Misconduct" for instance. You've likely never heard of this 2016 legal thriller, which is probably for the best considering the...

What's Daniel Day Lewis' best film? "Gangs of New York," perhaps? What about his Oscar-winning performance as the 16th President of the United States in "Lincoln?" Surely his efforts there should put Steven Spielberg's historical drama in the running for Lewis' finest work. Well, it's neither of these. Daniel Day Lewis' best film is, in fact, 1985's "A Room With a View," — at least according to Rotten Tomatoes.

The website that determined there to be only two perfect horror movies can also be consulted for its rankings of individual actors' filmographies. This has resulted in the definitely correct revelation that Sean Connery's finest film is "Darby O'Gill and the Little People." Now, it's Gene Hackman's turn to have a lifetime of acting ability summed up by a series of cartoon splats and tomatoes. What could possibly be at the top of this list? Well, my money was...

When you think of the very best Alfred Hitchcock movies, you might think of, say, "Psycho" or "Vertigo." You might consider "The Birds" — controversial though it may be — as the director's finest moment, or "Rear Window" might spring to mind. But while these are all excellent examples of Hitch's undeniable directing talent, there's an impressive array of underrated Hitchcock movies worth watching.

Take "Strangers on a Train" for example. This 1951 thriller stars Farley Granger as Guy Haines and Robert Walker as Bruno Antony, who are, believe it or not, two strangers who meet on a train. The thing about Bruno, however, is that he's also a psychopath, and suggests to Guy that they "swap murders" so as to do away with Guy's estranged wife and Bruno's overbearing father. From Bruno's perspective, because both men will essentially be killing strangers, no one will suspect either of them. When Guy laughs off this nefarious plot,...

Special Bonus Episode – Author/filmmaker/Hitchcock Laurent Bouzereau expert discusses five Hitchcock movies he wishes got more love.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind (2020)

Rear Window (1954)

Psycho (1960)

Vertigo (1958)

The Birds (1963)

Matinee (1993)

Marnie (1964)

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

Rope (1948)

Dial M For Murder (1954)

Dr. No (1962)

Family Plot (1976)

Explorers (1985)

Body Double (1984)

Stage Fright (1950)

Scrooge (1951)

The Wrong Man (1956)

Citizen Kane (1941)

The Trouble With Harry (1955)

Suspicion (1941)

Torn Curtain (1966)

North By Northwest (1959)

Topaz (1969)

Foreign Correspondent (1940)

Young And Innocent (1937)

Waltzes from Vienna (1934)

Under Capricorn (1949)

Jamaica Inn (1939)

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Other Notable Items

Laurent’s book Alma Hitchcock: The Woman Behind The Man (2004)

The Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection Blu-ray collection (2020)

Thomas Narcejac

James Stewart

Laurent’s Five Came Back TV series (2014)

Kim Novak

Vera Miles

Grace Kelly

Tippi Hedren

Cary Grant

Alain Resnais

Ray Milland

Anthony Dawson

The Tower Theater in Philadelphia

Bruce Dern

Rod Taylor

Jessica Tandy

Craig Wasson

Suzanne Pleshette...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.

A Burning Hot Summer (Philippe Garrel)

What makes Philippe Garrel’s films so distinct is their blend of autobiographical pain and silent-film mise-en-scène–a failed relationship or revolution rendered not so much through the increasingly dialogue-heavy scripts of his films, but the placement of bodies, gestures, and, furthermore, the dreams that contain and emerge from them. Yet while A Burning Hot Summer may be the only film he’s made in the 21st century not shot in black-and-white, once the senior Maurice Garrel (in his final role) appears as an apparition in his grandson’s hospital bed-bound vision, the personal and the fantastical have formed their most natural relationship.

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

20th Century Women (Mike Mills)

That emotional profundity most directors try to build to across an entire film? Mike Mills achieves it in every scene of 20th Century Women. There’s such a debilitating warmness to both the vibrant aesthetic and construction of its dynamic characters as Mills quickly soothes one into his story that you’re all the more caught off-guard as the flurry of emotional wallops are presented.

Each month, the fine folks at FilmStruck and the Criterion Collection spend countless hours crafting their channels to highlight the many different types of films that they have in their streaming library. This July will feature an exciting assortment of films, as noted below.

To sign up for a free two-week trial here.

Saturday, July 1 Changing Faces

What does a face tell us even when it’s disguised or disfigured? And what does it conceal? Guest curator Imogen Sara Smith, a critic and author of the book In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City, assembles a series of films that revolve around enigmatic faces transformed by masks, scars, and surgery, including Georges Franju’s Eyes Without a Face (1960) and Hiroshi Teshigahara’s The Face of Another (1966).

Tuesday, July 4 Tuesday’s Short + Feature: Premature* and Ten*

Come hitch a ride with Norwegian director Gunhild Enger and the late Iranian master...

I was 12 years old in 1968. One of my favorite places was the library, in those days the closest library to us was the Tesson Ferry Branch in South St. Louis County. My most prized possession was my library card.

My Mother used to drop me off there on a Saturday or a summer weekday and I would spend the whole day reading. One of those days I pulled a book off the shelf called Hitchcock/Truffaut and sat down to read it. I knew who Alfred Hitchcock was from his television show, and from his monthly Mystery Magazine as well as anthologies that I was reading avidly, Tales That Frightened Even Me, More Tales for the Nervous and, my favorite, Stories to be Read After Dark.

I was aware that Alfred Hitchcock was most renowned for directing movies. I had seen a few on television, Saboteur was a mainstay on Kplr TV,...

Episode Links Past Wish List Episodes Episode 63.9 – Disc 3 – Top Criterion Blu-ray Upgrades for 2011 Episode 110 – Criterion Collection Blu-ray Upgrade Wish List for 2012 Episode 136 – Criterion Collection Blu-ray Upgrade Wish List for 2013 Episode 146 – Criterion Collection Blu-ray Upgrade Wish List for 2014 Episode 154 – Criterion Collection Blu-ray Upgrade Wish List for 2015 Episode 169 – Criterion Collection Blu-ray Upgrade Wish List for 2016 DVD to BluRay Wish Lists Aaron: The Shop on Main Street Pickup on South Street Arik: Cleo from 5 to 7 Berlin Alexanderplatz Mark: Taste of Cherry Sisters David: Do the Right Thing Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters Ld to Blu-Ray Wish Lists Aaron: Blue Velvet (Announced as Ld Spine #219 but never released) Early Hitchcock Box (Sabotage, The Secret Agent, Young and Innocent, The Lodger, The Man Who Knew Too Much) Arik: A Night at the Opera Singin’ in the Rain Mark: 2001: A Space Odyssey The Producers David: I Am Cuba Letter From an Unknown Woman...

Stage and screen actor who appeared in Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much and Young and Innocent

Among the many might-have-beens in film history was the starring of Nova Pilbeam opposite Laurence Olivier in Rebecca (1940), Alfred Hitchcock’s first Hollywood film. The producer, David O Selznick, desperately wanted Pilbeam, who has died aged 95, for the female lead of Mrs de Winter, and was willing to offer her a five-year contract.

Pilbeam, who while still a teenager had already had important roles in two of Hitchcock’s films, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) and Young and Innocent (1937), was also hoping she would land the prestigious part, particularly since she had recently lost out to Margaret Lockwood in his The Lady Vanishes (1938). However, Hitch, after auditioning hundreds of young women, opted instead for the 22-year-old Joan Fontaine, claiming that the 20-year-old Pilbeam was not mature enough.

Continue reading...

The Man Who Knew Too Much star Nova Pilbeam has died, aged 95.

Pilbeam recently passed away after living in seclusion in London for more than 50 years, according to The Independent.

The British actress rose to fame at a young age in The Man Who Knew Too Much and Young and Innocent, two of director Alfred Hitchcock's pre-Hollywood movies.

She was later considered for the lead role in Hitchcock's Hollywood blockbuster Rebecca, only for Joan Fontaine to win the part when Pilbeam bristled at a five-year contract.

Her first marriage to Hitchcock's assistant Pen Tennyson ended when he died in a 1941 plane crash. A second marriage to journalist Alexander Whyte lasted until his death in 1972.

Pilbeam made her last screen appearance in 1948's Devil's Plot, and retired from the stage in 1951.

This month on the Newsstand, Ryan is joined by David Blakeslee and Scott Nye to discuss the September 2015 Criterion Collection line-up, as well as the latest in Criterion rumors, news, packaging, and more.

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Contact us with any feedback.

Shownotes Topics The September Criterion Line-up (and the delayed announcement) Orson Welles Updates: Issa Clubb at the University Of Michigan, Chimes At Midnight, It’s All True, The Immortal Story, Othello New titles rumored: In Cold Blood (Richard Brooks), The Decalogue, The Graduate, Valley Of The Dolls / Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls, Janus Films: A Poem Is A Naked Person theatrical run, poster, trailer, etc. Last month’s E-mail newsletter drawing: empty coat (Young And Innocent?) The Apu Trilogy poster is now available from the Criterion store Episode Links The September Criterion Collection line-up … Blind Chance (1981) Gérard DuBois Breaker Morant (1980) Mister Johnson (1990) Sean Phillips.

Teresa Wright: Later years (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright: From Marlon Brando to Matt Damon.") Teresa Wright and Robert Anderson were divorced in 1978. They would remain friends in the ensuing years.[1] Wright spent most of the last decade of her life in Connecticut, making only sporadic public appearances. In 1998, she could be seen with her grandson, film producer Jonah Smith, at New York's Yankee Stadium, where she threw the ceremonial first pitch.[2] Wright also became involved in the Greater New York chapter of the Als Association. (The Pride of the Yankees subject, Lou Gehrig, died of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in 1941.) The week she turned 82 in October 2000, Wright attended the 20th anniversary celebration of Somewhere in Time, where she posed for pictures with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. In March 2003, she was a guest at the 75th Academy Awards, in the segment showcasing Oscar-winning actors of the past. Two years later,...

Any Hitchcock fan has no doubt looked carefully while watching one of his movies in order to spot his infamous cameos. Hitchcock’s earlier cameos are especially hard to catch, and so Youtube user Morgan T. Rhys put together this video compiling every cameo Alfred Hitchcock ever made.

Hitchcock made a total of 39 self-referential cameos in his films over a 50 year period. Four of his films featured two cameo appearances (The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog UK), Suspicion, Rope, and Under Capricorn). Two recurring themes featured Hitchcock carrying a musical instrument, and using public transportation.

The films are as follows:

The Lodger (1927), Easy Virtue (1928), Blackmail (1929),Murder! (1930), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The 39 Steps (1935),Sabotage (1936), Young and Innocent (1937), The Lady Vanishes (1938), Rebecca(1940), Foreign Correspondent (1940), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941), Suspicion (1941),Saboteur (1942), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Lifeboat (1944), Spellbound (1945),Notorious (1946), The Paradine Case (1947), Rope (1948), Under Capricorn (1949),Stage Fright (1950), Strangers on a Train...

A Chinese citizen living in New York -- who just got the book thrown at him for operating child porn websites -- has the worst (or most appropriate) name for someone in his line of criminal work -- Yong Wang.  Wang was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to more than 17 years in prison ... after pleading guilty to running 18 explicit, Chinese-language child porn sites out of his home. The U.S. Attorney says Wang raked in more than $700K,...

Welcome, beloved guests. The time has come to check-in to The Grand Budapest Hotel. Upon arrival, be sure to take in the beautiful world surrounding you, as created by director and co-writer Wes Anderson, as well as the wonderful hotel aesthetic, brought to you by production designer Adam Stockhausen. This week, Wamg and a few members of the press sat down (in a roundtable discussion) with Anderson and Stockhausen to talk about Anderson’s all new caper The Grand Budapest Hotel. Check it out below!

The Grand Budapest Hotel recounts the adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars; and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting; a raging battle for an enormous family fortune; a desperate chase on motorcycles, trains, sleds, and skis; and the sweetest...

The ancient ads of times past, the physical, getting-fuzzier evidence of films watched over and over, the simplicity my Dad can comprehend: we haven't mourned the VHS enough

As gazillions of video recordings reach the end of their useful life, it occurred to me that unlike the LP, and Polaroids, the demise of the big, bulky VHS tape hasn't been mourned half so much as it deserves. According to the Washington Post, in 2005 94.7m American households still owned VCRs. I doubt it would be quarter of that now. I can count the people I know under 60 with video players on my two index fingers.

Before home-recorded videos decline entirely from functional to shabby retro-decoration, I'm going to press pause and give them their clunky due. Here's why I love watching films on video.

They wear their loving proudly

Like teddy bears and your comfiest pair of jeans, you can tell...

Oscar winners Olivia de Havilland and Luise Rainer among movie stars of the 1930s still alive With the passing of Deanna Durbin this past April, only a handful of movie stars of the 1930s remain on Planet Earth. Below is a (I believe) full list of surviving Hollywood "movie stars of the 1930s," in addition to a handful of secondary players, chiefly those who achieved stardom in the ensuing decade. Note: There’s only one male performer on the list — and curiously, four of the five child actresses listed below were born in April. (Please scroll down to check out the list of Oscar winners at the 75th Academy Awards, held on March 23, 2003, as seen in the picture above. Click on the photo to enlarge it. © A.M.P.A.S.) Two-time Oscar winner and London resident Luise Rainer (The Great Ziegfeld, The Good Earth, The Great Waltz), 103 last January...

Everyone celebrates President's Day, Valentine's Day, and the sort, but it's the cool kids who know that tomorrow, March 12th, is National Alfred Hitchcock Day!

Need a reminder why Alfred Hitchcock is still the legendary master of suspense? Read on!

Hitchcock, the recent film starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, was based on Stephen Rebello’s bestselling book, Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho. We asked Stephen to write something special for Hitchcock Day, and he came up with “6 Great Reasons Why Hitchcock Is Still the Master of Suspense.”

6 Great Reasons Why Hitchcock Is Still the Master of Suspense

Psycho. Vertigo. North by Northwest. The Birds. If Alfred Hitchcock had directed nothing more than that astonishing quartet, he’d still be considered the maestro of creating nail-biting suspense, romantic intrigue, and unforgettable thrills. But that incredible run of movies, released in theaters from 1958 to 1963, represents only a drop in the bloody bucket of Hitchcock’s masterworks,...

Franchises old and new dominated the year, but there was space for Ang Lee's 3D Life of Pi, inspiring documentaries and a major Hitchcock retrospective

The year was dominated by franchises. They provided the multiplexes with a dangerously disproportionate part of box-office takings and were given disproportionate attention by the press. Two came to an end with The Dark Knight Rises and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2; two were revived by Prometheus, prequel to Alien, and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The biggest franchise, of course, is the Bond-wagon. Now 50 years old, it was given the royal seal of approval at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in preparation for Skyfall, 007's 23rd outing and the second-best Bond to date.

The year's best fiction films were extremely good: varied in subject matter and with a nice geographic spread. Two of my favourite 2012 movies didn't quite make the top 10 cut,...

Hitchcock's study of the guilt that taints the human condition is just one cinematic masterstroke after another

The master of suspense did not care whodunnit. For Hitch, the question was all but academic: to be alive is to stained. Culpability comes with conception.

It's hard to think of any adult in his films – the great ones, anyway – whose copybook has not a smudge, whose odd blots don't mushroom and bleed, soak their coats and cloud their judgement. And, for me, his primary preoccupation was never more brilliantly realised than in Strangers on a Train, the murder-swap thriller from 1951.

To refresh: straight-batting, social-climbing tennis star Guy (Farley Granger) has a chance encounter on a train with sardonic playboy Bruno (Robert Walker). Bruno knows Guy is romancing a senator's daughter (played by Ruth Roman) – and indeed is eager to move into politics – but can't get a divorce from his unfaithful wife, Miriam.

Everyone knows the classic Hitchcocks: Psycho, The Birds, The Lady Vanishes. But the summer-long retrospective also includes wonderful films you may not have heard much about; here's 10 often-overlooked Hitchcocks you won't want to miss

Born in Leytonstone, east London, but destined to be the toast of Hollywood, Alfred Hitchcock learned the business of film-making in London, not La. The business at that time was silent cinema, and the young Hitchcock had a full apprenticeship.

He spent years at Gainsborough Pictures in Islington, north London (or Famous Players-Lasky as it was when he arrived) crafting caption cards, editing scripts and designing sets before he was given the chance to direct his own films. His early features are far more accomplished, and more personal, than many a director's debut. And if you're familiar with his famous sound movies, you'll find much in them that prefigures his most celebrated suspense-filled sequences.

The British...

Reviewer: Philip Tatler IV

Ratings (out of five): ****

Every hero has a beginning. At least, that’s what we’re taught by the Hollywood/comic book nexus that sees fit to shove a reboot/origin story into theaters every year or two. And Criterion’s Blu-Ray release (also on DVD) of Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps (1935) lays bare the beginnings of an unequaled cinematic hero. The film is Hitchcock concentrate, a microcosm of the style and subjects that would mark the master’s five-decade career. Arguably, the period when he made his “thriller sextet” – which consists of Steps, the first version of The Man Who Knew Too Much, Sabotage, Secret Agent, Young and Innocent and The Lady Vanishes – is the epoch where Hitchcock-the-man became Hitchcock-the-adjective.

Since January 27, Geoff Manaugh of the widely acclaimed Bldgblog has been hosting Breaking Out and Breaking In: A Distributed Film Fest of Prison Breaks and Bank Heists, "an exploration of the use and misuse of space in prison escapes and bank heists, where architecture is the obstacle between you and what you're looking for." The idea is to have anyone and everyone watch the films, wherever we may be, and then discuss them at Bldgblog: "It's a 'distributed' film fest; there is no central venue, just a curated list of films and a list of days on which to watch them. There's no set time, no geographic exclusion, and no limit to the food breaks or repeated scenes you might require. And it all leads up to a public discussion at Studio-x NYC on Tuesday, April 24." Discussions opened so far: Renoir's Grand Illusion (1937), Bresson's A Man Escaped (1956), John Sturges...

More than any other filmmaker, Alfred Hitchcock is the quintessential 20th century movie director. He began his career in the days of silent pictures and continued all the way until 1976, with Family Plot.

During his long career, he directed over 40 features and once said that any movie director could surprise his audience by setting off a bomb, but to show the audience a time bomb, ticking away under a desk as two men calmly discuss baseball, is far more elegant and terrifying.

Instead of shocking his audience with splatter and gore, he terrified us with suspense. Audience have always been overwhelmed with the desire to warn the characters of the danger which they perceive, and which the characters are not aware of, especially in his films since, well murder was usually his calling card. Now thanks to UltraCulture, we can see 36 prime examples of Hitchcock’s method to transfer the...

I am a huge fan of Alfred Hitchcock, he is my favorite director in fact. Film Detail unearthed almost 12 hours of audio featuring François Truffaut interviewing Alfred Hitchcock in 1962. 12 full hours of Truffaut talking to Hitchcock about his entire life, both personal and professional.

The article states that the original raw audio is from a 1962 interview that ended up as the source material for Truffaut’s book Hitchcock: The Definitive Study of Alfred Hitchcock.

There are three ways to listen: download the individual files streaming on the Hitchcock Wiki or on Soundcloud, or as a single zip file here. There areindividual links on both sites.

Here is the breakdown of the audio files:

Part 1: Childhood through to his early years in the film industry

Part 2: Mountain Eagle through to the end of the silent era

Part 3: Blackmail through to a discussion about American audiences

Part 4: Rich and Strange...

If you're a film fan, chances are you're an Alfred Hitchcock fan. And if you're an Alfred Hitchcock fan, today just might be Christmas. Film Detail was poking around online when they stumbled upon almost 12 hours of audio featuring the father of the French New Wave, François Truffaut, interviewing the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock in 1962. Let's say that again. There are 12 hours of free audio of Truffaut talking to Hitchcock about his entire life, both personal and professional. For anyone who can't afford $120,000 for film school, we may have just found a free one. Read the details, track titles and get all the links after the break. A huge thanks to Film Details [1] (with a tip of the cap to Open Culture [2]) for alerting us to this amazing audio. According to the article, this is the original raw audio from a 1962 interview that ended up as the source material...

Dame May Whitty, Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave in The Lady Vanishes (top); Robert Donat in The 39 Steps (bottom) On Nov. 27-28, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art will present the last four films in its "Hitchcock: The British Thrillers" series. They are: The 39 Steps (1935), starring Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll; Number 17 (1932), featuring the now-forgotten John Stuart and Anne Grey; The Lady Vanishes (1938), starring Michael Redgrave, Margaret Lockwood, Dame May Whitty, and a cast of first-rate supporting players, including future Oscar winner Paul Lukas; Young and Innocent (1937), with Nova Pilbeam and Derrick De Marney. The 39 Steps is the film that turned Alfred Hitchcock into an internationally acclaimed filmmaker. The film goes from one situation [...]...