Viewers in India with access to Sony’s movie channel PIX, look out for the Hitchcock movie marathon starting December 15. Surprisingly, it’s the first Hitch fest I can recall on a film channel here in at least the last decade. The films being shown are six of his last seven features, and though three of these – Topaz, Torn Curtain and Marnie – are considered lesser works by most critics, I’m firmly in the camp of Peter Conrad, who said in this superb book that “anyone who is genuinely fascinated by Hitchcock will find all his work indispensable”. (To which I add, "so there!".) Besides, Marnie is a personal favourite.Schedule here. (A mistake: the Topaz synopsis is a repeat of the Torn Curtain one.)
[Some earlier posts involving Hitchcock: Charters and Caldicott in Bollywood, the North by Northwest road scene, Peeping Tom and Psycho, Strangers on a Train, It's Only a Movie, Notorious and misogyny]
Marnie is a personal favourite? Marnie?!!
ReplyDeleteWow! you really are a masochist.
you really are a masochist
ReplyDeleteHuh. When was that ever in doubt? I would've blocked you from commenting a long time ago otherwise...
This is a repeat. One month back they showed the same movies.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, who'd not want to watch them again?
A couple of interesting articles on Slate -
ReplyDeleteA review of the Lady Vanishes -
http://www.slate.com/id/2178812/fr/flyout
Does Hitchcock get too much credit? - a piece on Hitchcock's legacy.
http://www.slate.com/id/2178913/fr/flyout
PIX is good.. as good as HBO was when it was first launched in India. Probably better. Just hope that it doesn't follow suit.
ReplyDeletePIX is pretty nice .. they show a lot of movies that most channels wouldn't..
ReplyDeleteLike I was so happy when they showed Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas last Saturday.. And there was Annie Hall also recently..
I want to see Woody Allen and Stanley Kubrick marathons
actually, i also like marnie. use it often in FA classes.
ReplyDeletein fact, i remember rather liking under capricorn as well, though even i draw the line at torn curtain.
After seeing all those Hitch flicks, it was a delight a few years ago to go see Terry Johnson's Hitchcock Blonde in London, a rather clever play set in three time periods, that starred the lovely Rosamund Pike (drool, drool) and a remarkable Hitchcock lookalike William Hootkins. The plot moved back and forth in time, was deliciously witty and showed up Hitchcock's several neuroses, notably his attraction and simultaneous repulsion to blondes (in one of the time periods - 1919 - there's a portrayal of a 'lost' Hitchcock movie that aims to explore his fascination for the persecuted blonde). The only way he appears to achieve intimacy with a woman is from behind a camera. I guess that in an era where figures are deified, there's always a contrarian desire to bring them down to earth and show them as flawed (and sad) humans. Don't know if it travelled out of the West End at all, but I'd recommend it if you guys ever want to catch a rerun.
ReplyDeleteSegueing cunningly - Michael Billington, the Guardian's theatre critic, has written a well-received book State of the Nation about British drama over the past fifty years and his own experiences with it.
Since we are discussing the great Hitchcock, it wouldn't be out of place to share this interesting piece I came across.
ReplyDeleteMartin Scorcese attempting an unfinished script the Hitchcock way.
Full marks to JWT Spain for the originality of the idea n to freixenet for putting money into it.
http://www.scorsesefilmfreixenet.com/video_eng.htm
PS: Jai would love to hear your comments on it.