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By
NICK ZEGARAC
Alfred Hitchcock is
undeniably the master of suspense. His films
titillate and thrill long after the cameras
stopped rolling on his last feature -- Family Plot
(1976). In between that film and all the rest
there have been other great thrillers -- but
undeniably each has paid homage to Hitchcock's
first rate example; a sort of 'how to…' in
retrospect. What has remained standard for
Hitchcock aficionados over the years is how
efficient and resilient the master's hand is at
mounting nail-biting tension, much in the way a
virtuoso violinist plucks his Stradivarius. So
let's begin our sonata of Hitch' with a brief plot
summary of Universal's "Alfred Hitchcock: The
Masterpiece Collection" a 15 disc celebration that
promises excitement and danger at every turn.
We begin our tour with Saboteur (1942) a wildly
thrilling espionage yarn about Nazi spies in the
U.S. (think poor cousin to Hitch's 'Notorious' --
not included in this box). Robert Cummings is
Barry Kane, a man wrongfully accused of being
complicit in his best friend's death when the
aircraft company they work for goes up in flames.
Pricilla Lane, as Pat Martin, at first doubts
Barry's innocence, but more and more begins to
suspect a frame up, right up to the film's
thrilling climax atop the Statue of Liberty. Lane
and Cummings are particularly good together, but
the plot suffers by comparison to both the
aforementioned 'Notorious' and 'Foreign
Correspondent' -- each far superior in tone pacing
and storytelling than this film.
Next up: Shadow of a Doubt (1943), a film Hitch'
made independently under his own production
company label. Reportedly, it is the director's
favorite; an odd tale that begins to unravel in
the mind of young Charlie (Teresa Wright) who more
and more begins to suspect that the uncle she's
been named after and adores, Charlie Sr. (Joseph
Cotten) is the Merry Widow Strangler. Of course,
she's right. But there's something diabolical and
unsettling about the way Hitchcock broods over
telling his audience that the congenial best man
-- Cotten -- is, in fact, a cold blooded killer.
Hitchcock loved the idea of bringing evil to an
unassuming small town -- a sort of corruption of
the innocent at the hands of the worldly -- a
theme first played out in reverse in his masterful
gothic romance -- Rebecca (1940, not included in
this box set.)
Rope (1948) represents Hitchcock at his most
technically proficient. Working from a true story,
this one act wonder is shot in long takes to give
the illusion of a continuous stage play. It stars
Farley Granger and John Dall as Philip Morgan and
Brandon Shaw -- a couple of homo-erotic mama's
boys who murder college colleague, David Kentley
(Dick Hogan) just for kicks. The dastardly duo
then proceeds to have a party in Kentley's honor,
serving food and beverages to his friends and
family off a credenza that houses David's corpse.
What ought to have been a deliciously macabre tale
of terror comes off slightly unbalanced with the
interjection of James Stewart into the proceedings
as Prof. Rupert Cadell. In the book on which the
film is based the implication is that Rupert has
somehow subconsciously inspired Philip and Brandon
to become killers -- and actually -- has had a
homosexual affair with one of them. Given the
censorship climate of the 40s, Hitch was forced to
improvise this back story, employing the subtlest
of innuendo to hint at as much. Unfortunately for
the film, Jimmy Stewart is more the all-American
scout leader than closet homosexual puppet master.
The plot, though intriguing, is equally hampered
by the fact that only ten minutes of film could be
shot at once, hence when Hitch needs to break to
reload the camera he awkwardly zooms in on
someone's back, a door, or some such nonsense
before splicing in the next reel. Thus you see
what Hitch' is trying desperately to hide: the
illusion of a continuous stage experience is
shattered. The set decoration too is one of the
most uninspired in any Hitchcock film.
Rear Window (1954) marks a sublime return to
Hitchcock's consummate storytelling prowess. James
Stewart is L.B. Jeffries, a crackerjack
photographer laid up in his one room apartment
with a broken leg when suddenly he begins to
suspect that one of his neighbors is a murderer.
Naturally, his girlfriend Lisa Freemont (Grace
Kelly) has her doubts. But when the pieces slowly
begin to fall into place, Lisa, L.B. and Jeffrie's
therapist, Stella (the irrepressible Thelma
Ritter) become amateur sleuths on a rendezvous
with danger. Like Rope, the action in Rear Window
takes place on one enormous set. Constructed on a
Paramount soundstage with the false floor removed
to add greater height, the construction is
impressive to say the least -- if just a wee bit
too theatrical to be believed. Raymond Burr is
miscast as Lars Thorwald, but thankfully doesn't
have too much to do except try and look menacing
at every turn.
The Trouble with Harry (1955) is that he's dead.
Hitchcock populates a small New England town with
a body and a bunch of crazies headed by Sam
Marlowe (John Forsythe) and Jennifer Rogers
(Shirley MacLaine) as a romantic couple who can't
seem to stop Harry from getting around the town
even though he's not in control of his own
destiny. Hitchcock is at his blackest level of
dark humor with this tongue-in-cheek
comedy/thriller that truthfully, ranks among his
weakest endeavors. Once you've figured out that
the Harry is dead it doesn't take you long to tire
of the fact that someone else is moving him up
hill and yonder dale like a rag doll.
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) is a remake of
Hitchcock's own British movie from the early 30s.
On this occasion Jo (Doris Day) and Ben McKenna
(James Stewart) are a doctor and his retired
London stage wife, on vacation in Cairo with their
son, Hank (Christopher Olsen). The McKennas are
introduced to the Draytons; Lucy (Brenda de
Banzie) and Eduard (Bernard Miles); a seemingly
harmless couple who turn out to be Jo and Ben's
worst nightmare. Considered by many to be an
improvement over Hitch's previous tackling of the
story, the plot gets mired by Doris Day's
completely out of place, though Oscar winning
rendition of Que Sera Sera which becomes a pivotal
plot device during the film's climax. There's much
to admire in this film, but it does have its
stumbling blocks -- some easily overcome, others,
glaring misfires that slow the pace of the story
and its mounting tension.
Vertigo (1958) effectively rounds out Hitch's 50s
tenure in this box set. In point of fact Hitch had
one more film up his sleeve before closing out the
decade; the quintessential wrong man thrill ride
-- North by Northwest (1959, and currently
available in another box set from Warner Bros.) In
Vertigo, Hitchcock once again relies on everyman,
James Stewart, this time as retired police
detective turned P.I. Scottie Ferguson. Suffering
from bouts of dizziness in high places (hence, the
title of the film), Ferguson is brought out of
retirement by college buddy, Gavin Elstor (Tom
Helmore). Seems Elstor's wife, the cool Madeleine
(Kim Novak) is suffering from blackouts and
schizophrenia. Actually, the whole premise is just
a rouse concocted by Elstor to make Stewart a
witness in his wife's suicide/murder. A fond
postcard to San Francisco, a city much beloved by
Hitchcock, the story is problematic on a number of
levels, but mostly because it just doesn't seem to
make much sense to go through all this trouble to
fake a suicide/commit a murder. Honestly, doesn't
anybody use guns and a shovel anymore?!?
Often sited as the film that matured American
cinema into its present state of sublime cynicism,
Psycho (1960) is the story of Marion Crane (Janet
Leigh); or is it? Poor Marion; hot and bothered by
her lover, Sam Loomis' (John Gavin) inability to
commit to a marriage because he has to pay his ex
wife's alimony, Marion decides to steal fifty
grand from her boss before getting whacked in a
shower at the Bate's Motel; an unassuming rest
stop along the old highway. This, not terribly
presupposing, establishment is run by the
all-American clean cut Norman Bates -- a congenial
mama's boy who very quickly develops into
something much more sinister than he initially
seems. Shot on a shoestring budget with the same
crew responsible for his weekly television series,
Hitchcock's departure from the glamorous flicks of
the 50s is a stark, spooky and unsettling
excursion that ultimately ends in a basement with
'mother.' Don't ask, don't tell. Just creep down
to the cellar and scream like hell!
The Birds (1963) is Hitchcock's last truly
inspired bit of freakish storytelling. Working
from a short story by his favorite author, Daphne
Du Maurier, the tale concerns the quaint out of
the way hamlet of Bodega Bay: weekend getaway for
Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor). While in Frisco, Mitch
tweaked the nose of Melanie Daniels (Tippi
Hedren), a spoiled rich girl and practical joker
with nothing to lose. The two quickly escalate
their mutual interest in one another from
tempestuous rivalry to smoldering romance. Ah, but
then there's the birds -- those fine feathery air
born foul who begin running amuck in the town,
pointlessly attacking school children, pecking a
neighbor's eyes out and blowing up the town's gas
station. As a child, this was a perennially
frightening excursion to undertake on a Saturday
afternoon's 'creature feature'. Today, it still
packs a wallop. Technically, The Birds is
Hitchcock's most meticulous production, brimming
with matte shots and trick photography that only
occasionally don't hold up under today's closer
scrutiny of special effects.
Apparently smitten with Hedren's performance in
The Birds (for it was rather good), Hitchcock
decided to make Hedren his new Grace Kelly, and
much to both their chagrin, cast her in the
Freudian psychological adventure yarn, Marnie
(1964). But in Marnie Edgar's case the shocker
wears a little thin. Mismatched with hottie du
jour, Sean Connery (as Mark Rutland, a publisher
who catches kleptomaniac, Marnie with her hand in
the cookie jar), Mark becomes fascinated with
curing a seemingly healthy young woman of her
childhood phobias. The film attempts to revisit
Hitchcock during his more glamorous 50s period.
However, after 'Psycho' and 'The Birds' audiences
expected more of the same or at least something
uniquely driven than this convivial tripe. In
truth then, Marnie is a story in search of a
climax -- something we never get unless you count
the haplessly tacked on ending where a teenage
rape and murder are quickly brought to the
forefront and then just as quickly dismissed.
Torn Curtain (1966) is probably Hitch's most
miscast thriller. It improbably stars clean faced
Julie Andrews as Dr. Sarah Louise Sherman, fiancée
to a brilliant lecturer, Professor Michael
Armstrong (Paul Newman). The two are in Copenhagen
for a conference where Sarah begins to suspect
that Mike is becoming a communist defector. Like
Hitchcock's Suspicion, made nearly two decades
before, the assumption turns out to be false and
misleading -- toying with the 'what if' scenario
and generally blowing it all out of proportion
with some really diabolically unique and
ironically timed bits of bad accidents. The
chemistry between Newman and Andrews is just not
there. Throughout, the film seems to be struggling
for something intelligent to say, but more often
coming up with preposterous bits of dialogue that
string the story along to an inevitably bad
conclusion.
Hitchcock departed making movies for nearly three
years to bring Topaz (1969) to the screen. He
could have easily taken four. The story is about a
highly ranked Russian official, Boris Kusenov
(Per-Axel Arosenius) who defects to America.
However, the defection may have been a rouse.
Enter Agent Nordstrom (John Forsythe) a clueless
sort who enlists the aid of French agent, Andre
Devereaux (Frederick Stafford) to do a bit of
homegrown spying. André accepts, but his wife
Nicole (Dany Robin) is worried for him; smart gal.
For, a short time late the plot thickens as
Michèle Picard (Claude Jade) uncovers a murder.
Clearly with the success of the James Bond film
franchise in the back of his mind, Hitchcock
delves into espionage of the most convoluted and
quirky sort, coming up with his own brand of cloak
and dagger that doesn't quite get off beyond the
drawing board. Hitch' seems uneasy with the more
laissez faire 60s streak of cinematic
storytelling, launching this film in earnest with
the discovery of a nude body on a highway but then
regressing into plot elements that by now were
becoming standardized or par for the course of a
Hitchcock thriller.
Frenzy (1972) represents Hitchcock at his most
uncharacteristic and undesirably gruesome. Barry
Foster plays Covent Garden fruit merchant/cum
serial killer, Bob Rusk who gets his kicks by
strangling women with neckties. One victim is
Brenda Blaney (Barbara Leigh-Hunt), the ex-wife of
his best friend, Richard (Joe Finch). Hitchcock
revises his 'wrong man' scenario once again so
that the police initially suspect Richard of the
crime. It doesn't help that Richard had a
girlfriend on the side. To further divert
suspicion from himself, Rusk murders Blaney's
girlfriend, Babs' (Anna Massey). Ah, but then
comes the twist…there's always one in a Hitchcock
thriller. Richard realizes Bob is the killer,
escapes his own jail sentence, and, goes
headhunting for revenge.
Family Plot (1976) brings down the curtain on
Hitchcock's film career with a preposterously
lumbering bit of inane nonsense. This one's about
a fake medium, Madam Blanche (Barbara Harris) and
her taxi driver boyfriend George (Bruce Dern) who
cleverly scam naïve rich people out of their
savings. The two cross paths with a pair of
spurious diamond merchants Arthur Adamson (William
Devine) and his attractive girlfriend Fran (Karen
Black) -- who actually are behind a series of VIP
kidnappings in the Bay area. When Blanche is hired
by an aging widow, Julia Rainbird (Cathleen
Nesbit), to channel her nephew, given away for
adoption many years earlier, the foursome concoct
a scheme in which they plan to lighten the dowager
of her considerable bank load. The plot is
inconsequential, tired and meandering. Everyone
seems to be going through the motions --
particularly Harris, who plays it more like Freak
Friday part two, than a Hitchcock thriller. Ah
well, so much for the plot of Family Plot. But
what about the DVD transfers this time around?
In 1995 Universal Studios, the custodians of all
of Hitchcock's Paramount product (save --
ironically, "To Catch A Thief") undertook a
complete remastering effort on two of his greatest
cinematic works; Rear Window, Vertigo and, one of
his lesser known nibbles; The Trouble With Harry.
In a state of physical disrepair, all of these
underwent considerable clean up -- especially
Vertigo, which was even given a limited national
re-release in theatres. Then, in 1997 came
Universal's first DVD offerings of Psycho, Vertigo
and The Birds. Shortly thereafter the rest of the
catalogue followed, in various incarnations as
partial box sets or single discs sold separately.
Unfortunately, the efforts from Universal then
were rather lackluster to say the least. Vertigo
and Psycho were NOT enhanced for 16:9 widescreen
displays, The Birds suffered from a muddy and
heavily tiled digitally harsh image, and all the
hard efforts in restoring the original negative of
Rear Window had fallen by the waste side in a DVD
that was excessively grainy with pasty colors.
More bad news followed with grainy images on
Marnie and Topaz and a decidedly heavily duped and
poorly contrasted B&W picture element on Saboteur.
Clearly, Universal's eye was on quick gains and
modest quality.
But now Universal seems to have made recompense
for their previously uninspired offering with
'Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Edition' -- a
lavish 15 disc compendium of everything previously
available but not in the way it was previously
offered… well, almost. The most significant
improvement to this box set is the newly minted
Saboteur (1942) -- presumably completed remastered
from the ground up. The B&W image marks a stunning
improvement over the previously issued disc.
Contrast levels are superb. Grain and age-related
artifacts have practically been eliminated. The
grayscale is bright and balanced. Vertigo and
Psycho have at last received the anamorphic
transfers they deserve. The color scheme on
Vertigo is slightly less intense than the
previously issued disc. While flesh tones appear
to have been corrected significantly -- less pasty
or garish than on the original transfer -- a huge
error has been made during the opening credits in
which the image of a woman's face (which is
supposed to be black and white) is now a hazy
orange under the main title sequence. Go figure.
The Trouble with Harry also exhibits considerable
color and contrast improvement, albeit, with
sharper image quality as well. Topaz and Frenzy
too have been slightly cleaned up, with naturally
balanced colors more pleasing on the eyes.
The disappointments are as follows; Psycho -- no
clean up on the transfer whatsoever: grain, grit
and dirt still prevalent throughout. The Birds
looks almost identical to the previously issued
disc -- slightly sharper and with colors only a
shade brighter than before -- but with the same
tiling of background information and dirt and
scratches present in the original transfer. The
Man Who Knew Too Much contains a strange bit of
shimmering in fine details during the restaurant
scene that was NOT present in the original
transfer. Colors have not been corrected so flesh
tones are still an unsightly orange. Rear Window
has a slightly duller palette than previously made
available. This newly minted transfer continues to
suffer from grit and grain. Shadow of a Doubt and
Rope appear to be the identical transfers as
before.
The much touted bonus disc in this collection is
actually NOT a bonus for anyone who already owns
Psycho and The Birds. The extensive documentaries
on the making of both those films has been
transferred to this separate disc (presumably to
save disc space for the enhanced transfers of the
films themselves) and is herein linked to a 15
min. poorly contrasted snippet from the AFI's
salute to Alfred Hitchcock. Why Universal did not
include the entire 2 hr. tribute to Hitch' instead
of this junket is beyond me. A 36-page full color
booklet is also included. It features some
interesting production stills and poster art on
all of the films in this collection, but precious
little in the way of history or commentary from
critics or film historians. The good news is that
the 'Masterpiece' collection is being offered at
under a hundred dollars -- a steal by any measure
and one which collectors should take full
advantage of. Is it the classic purchase of the
pending Christmas season? I reserve that judgment
until such time as I am able to review Warner's
upcoming "Wizard of Oz" deluxe edition. In the
meantime, lovers of Hitchcock and suspense films
in general will relish the opportunity to
celebrate the master once again. |
