Notable cast/crew: Ray Milland as Tony Wendice. Grace Kelly as Margot Mary Wendice. This was the first of three consecutive films she would make with Hitchcock. Robert Cummings as Mark Halliday. He was previously in Saboteur. John Williams as Chief Inspector Hubbard. He would also be in To Catch a Thief with Grace Kelly.
Running time: 104 minutesDirector: Alfred Hitchcock
 |
| Call me Ishmael |
Tony has arranged for he and Mark to go to a party leaving Margot home alone. The plan goes off despite some minor snags except that Swann botches the murder and instead winds up dead when Margot's hand finds a pair of scissors and plunges them into his back.
Tony salvages the plan by subtly pointing the police to Margot even going so far as to plant the stolen letter on Swann's body. Margot is believed to have murdered Swann over the blackmail, and she's convicted of his murder.
Tony slips up by going around paying off accounts which arouses the police's suspicion. Chief Inspector Hubbard questions him, and Mark accuses Tony of being behind it. Hubbard is ahead of Mark and has a ruse set up to test Tony. Tony is to go to the police station to collect Margot's belongings. While he's gone, Hubbard has Margot try her key on the apartment door, but it doesn't fit the lock. The key is Swann's that Tony had taken from the body and planted in Margot's purse. Margot's key is still outside under the steps, and only the person in collusion with Swann would know that. Tony comes home, and, with Hubbard having swiped his key earlier, uses the key under the steps thus proving his guilt. Hubbard arrests him, and Margot is exonerated.
MacGuffin: The letter
Hitchcock cameo: In the class reunion photograph
Hitchcock themes:
- Murder
- Charming villain
- Blondes
Verdict: This is a taut suspense flick that is elaborately plotted. It's very entertaining and stylish. It's the first color film Hitchcock had made since Under Capricorn, and it's essentially set in one room. It was adapted from a stage play, and Hitchcock is faithful to the setting. It kicks off a run of about ten movies that are considered, collectively, the high point of his oeuvre. Where the movie falls short is none of the characters are likable with the exception of Hubbard. Swann is a murderous thug, Tony is a coolly detached mastermind, and Mark and Margot are brazenly having an affair under Tony's nose. They are stylish, urbane, witty, but not sympathetic. Hubbard, though, arrives late in the movie as the real hero of the film.
There is one overhead shot as Tony explains the plan to Swann that becomes almost a storyboard for the murder. It's the only shot in the movie like this, and it suggests that as the people in the story are pieces to be maneuvered so are the actors in the film pieces to be maneuvered into place by the director.
Warner Brothers insisted on shooting the movie in 3-D although the craze was fading, and Alfred Hitchcock was sure the movie would be released flat (2-D). The director wanted the first shot to be that of a close-up of a finger dialing the letter M on a rotary phone, but the 3-D camera would not be able to focus such a close-up correctly. Hitchcock ordered a giant finger made from wood with a proportionally large dial built in order to achieve the effect. The 3-D filming explains the prevalence of low-angle shots with lamps and other objects between the camera and the cast members. There was only a brief, original release in 3-D, followed by a conventional flat release. The 3-D version was reissued in 1980.
This was originally released in a "roadshow" format, with an intermission halfway through the film. This was necessitated by the fact most theaters only had two projectors which would normally alternate reels. So while one projector was being reloaded, the other would continue the film. 3-D required both projectors to be playing simultaneously, so an intermission was needed to reload both projectors with the next reel.
Alfred Hitchcock arranged to have Grace Kelly dressed in bright colors at the start of the film and made them progressively darker as time goes on. Her clothes express her various moods in the film ending in her drab grey at the end when she has been completely broken into resolution of her pending execution.
Out of five bananas, I give it:
There is one overhead shot as Tony explains the plan to Swann that becomes almost a storyboard for the murder. It's the only shot in the movie like this, and it suggests that as the people in the story are pieces to be maneuvered so are the actors in the film pieces to be maneuvered into place by the director.
Warner Brothers insisted on shooting the movie in 3-D although the craze was fading, and Alfred Hitchcock was sure the movie would be released flat (2-D). The director wanted the first shot to be that of a close-up of a finger dialing the letter M on a rotary phone, but the 3-D camera would not be able to focus such a close-up correctly. Hitchcock ordered a giant finger made from wood with a proportionally large dial built in order to achieve the effect. The 3-D filming explains the prevalence of low-angle shots with lamps and other objects between the camera and the cast members. There was only a brief, original release in 3-D, followed by a conventional flat release. The 3-D version was reissued in 1980.
This was originally released in a "roadshow" format, with an intermission halfway through the film. This was necessitated by the fact most theaters only had two projectors which would normally alternate reels. So while one projector was being reloaded, the other would continue the film. 3-D required both projectors to be playing simultaneously, so an intermission was needed to reload both projectors with the next reel.
Out of five bananas, I give it:
No comments:
Post a Comment