Hitchcock’s Most Superior and Nuanced Films - in mini 50 word free verse/reviews/critiques

Quick note: As Alfred Hitchcock has always been my favourite film director from a young age - I thought it would be fun to comment on a few of my favourites, but not give too much away - perhaps whetting one’s appetite to seek out the films again. I’ve always found his films captivating. I remember watching “The Man Who Knew Too Much” and “Rear Window” on T.V when I was about seven or eight and repeatedly loving these. The combination of mystery, suspense and biting wit, along with likable characters that you root for from the get go.

Much of his films also include Freudian concepts and theories. Similarly, there is much thematic subtext in most of Hitchcock’s films - what isn’t said outright is often more intriguing and thought-provoking than what is. Of course, stunning images are alway on display - everything was planned before filming & storyboarded/drawn by Hitch himself down to the last visual details and shot types. Frequently paired with the renowned composer Bernard Herrmann has helped consolidate his films to the strastophere. Imitated for decades, but perhaps aside from a few films other directors can never capture the magic of Hitchcock’s filmography.

These reviews/critiques are 5o words (although counting isn’t my speciality). They are also more so very brief summaries with a quick critique of film techniques, characters, or a brief and slightly sardonic commentary on the story contained in the film.

*

“Vertigo” (1958) ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

“One final thing I have to do... and then I'll be free of the past” - Scotty (James Stewart)

🌀

Perfect cinema with oodles of subtext -

High-spiralling sexual obsession,

leads to death,

which isn’t very good for Scotty’s acrophobia.

What really happens in the afterlife?

Has Madeleine returned?

Should we make people up in our desired image?

Sticky situations unfold,

Twist upon twist to

Hermann’s haunting & luscious violins.

🌀

The stunning opening titles of “Vertigo” 👆

“Shadow of a Doubt” (1943) ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

“You'd think Mama had never seen a phone. She makes no allowance for science. She thinks she has to cover the distance by sheer lung power”.—Ann (Edna May Wonacott)

*

Hitch’s favourite of his films,

Uncle Charlie comes to stay,

Boy, is his niece Charlie glad,

She looks up to him with admiring eyes,

If only he wasn’t the Merry Widow Murderer!

The world’s a mad place,

Explores the duality between good and evil,

How, sometimes, they tend to overlap..

Marnie (1964) ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

“You don't love me. I'm just something you've caught! You think I'm some sort of animal you've trapped!” - Marnie (Tippi Hedren)

*

An early exploration of OCD &

Sexual repression,

Dazzlingly represented through intrusive thoughts,

in the form of colours, sounds and objects.

Freud would have a field day,

With his interpretations of dreams.

Startling discoveries through the help of Sean Connery

might finally lead her to freedom.

Bernard Herrmann’s score certainly helps.

Psycho (1960) ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

“I think that we're all in our private traps, clamped in them, and none of us can ever get out. We scratch and we claw, but only at the air, only at each other, and for all of it, we never budge an inch.” - Norman (Anthony Perkins)

🦅

Mother has been very bad,

Poor Norman, just an innocent,

if only she wasn’t so overprotective,

if only Marion had gotten away with her crime,

BUT, we all have our cages &

those birds just

peck and peck - until we’re a whimpering mess -

if only a boy’s best-friend wasn’t his mother..

🦅

“North By NorthWest” (1959) ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

“Apparently the only performance that will satisfy you is when I play dead”. - Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant)

*

A flagship film that paved the way

for the 007 Bond movies,

Mistaken identity sees Cary Grant

flock across the US to clear his name,

with the help of Kendall.

Don’t drink and drive!

Presidents finally put to good use! 😉

One of my Top 3 Bernard Herrmann classic scores*.

*Not apart of the 50 words, but you can play the opening title score in the cover video above. 👆

Rear Window (1954) ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

We’ve become a race of peeping toms. What people ought to do is get outside their own house and look in for a change. -Stella (Thelma Ritter)

*

An apparent murder in an apartment complex

sends Scotty into voyeuristic overload!

Hitch’s stunning multi-layered soundscape is by turns

atmospheric, haunting and theatrical,

all paired with little snapshots

of people just leading their magnificent humdrum lives,

You cannot take your eyes from the screen,

We all like to to watch!

Let me know which ones you have seen and enjoyed.

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