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Hitchcock's "lesser works"

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MarkDClark	Hitchcock's "lesser works"	Lead	[-]
Posts: 4501 Feb 21 02 1:08 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Tags : None After watching UNDER CAPRICORN this week (see the Hitch on DVD thread), I think a thread about Hitch's lesser works -- lesser in terms of financial success and name recognition -- is in order. Over the course of the new few weeks, I have several of these films slated for viewing. For the first time, I will watch NUMBER 17, EASY VIRTUE and THE RING. And I'm going to revisit THE WRONG MAN and probably TOPAZ. Does anybody count any of those films among their favorite Hitchcocks? Are you a fan of any of the other lesser known Hitch pictures? For instance, I think THE SECRET AGENT is extremely underrated. I'm also keen on MURDER! and SABOTEUR.
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John of Troy	Re: Hitchcock's "lesser works"	#1	[-]
Posts: 1593 Feb 22 02 4:14 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	SABOTEUR is in my top ten faves amongst Hitch's works. I find it to be a complete entertainment, reminiscent of the opinion many people hold regarding NORTH BY NORTHWEST. Sometimes, it feels to me like a missing link between THE 39 STEPS and NORTH BY NORTHWEST.
Richard Valley	Re: Hitchcock's "lesser works"	#2	[-]
Posts: 54081 Feb 22 02 4:19 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I'm quite fond of SABOTEUR; always have been, since I was a kid. And I go further against pop opinion by thinking Robert Cummings is perfectly fine in it. Ditto Priscilla Lane, who was a real dish. Among Hitchcock's British films, SECRET AGENT is usually considered something of a failure. I watched it for the first time a year or so ago and thought it was splendid, with the sort of moral ambiguity that makes the director's fifties and sixties films so memorable . . .
77Jerry	Re: Hitchcock's "lesser works"	#3	[-]
Posts: 4481 Feb 22 02 4:32 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I haven't seen it yet, but despite it's mediocre critical reputation a number of people have recommended Dial M For Murder as a personal fave of theirs. They usually single out Ray Milland's performance.
Morgan the Poisoner	Re: Hitchcock's "lesser works"	#4	[-]
Posts: 1113 Feb 23 02 9:04 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Now I'm confused. I know the novel The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad very well, but I don't think I've seen Hitchcock's film version. However, I do remember seeing a Hitchcock film some years ago that I now realise had a lot in common with Conrad's story, but I'm pretty susre the film was Saboteur! Isn't it the one about a shopkeeper who is something of an anarchist and who sends a boy out with a parces containing a bomb, which detonates on a bus in central London, killing the lad? (The scene, is memory serves me, worried H in later life. It was a moment of suspense that went wrong. "I shouldn't have let that bomb go off", he thought.)
Morgan the Poisoner	Re: Hitchcock's "lesser works"	#5	[-]
Posts: 1113 Feb 23 02 9:06 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Oh, and by the way, I'm very fond of DIAL M FOR MURDER, mostly for the intricacy of the plot but also for the splendid acting.
Richard Valley	Re: Hitchcock's "lesser works"	#6	[-]
Posts: 54081 Feb 23 02 4:08 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	No wonder you're confused! Hitchcock's film SABOTAGE is based on Conrad's "The Secret Agent," and Hitchcock's THE SECRET AGENT is based on the Ashenden stories by W. Somerset Maugham . . .
Morgan the Poisoner	Re: Hitchcock's "lesser works"	#7	[-]
Posts: 1113 Feb 23 02 4:15 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I've had a look at the IMDb and I think I've untangled the mystery for me, but please correct me if I'm wrong. In 1936 Hitchcock made a movie called THE SECRET AGENT, which had nothing to do with the novel by Joseph Conrad. Later (?) in the same year he DID make a movie based on Conrad's story but called it SABOTAGE. Then, 1942, he made a movie called SABOTEUR, which had nothing to do with Conrad or any of Hitchcock's previous movies. Right?
Richard Valley	Re: Hitchcock's "lesser works"	#8	[-]
Posts: 54081 Feb 23 02 10:31 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	See above . . .
Morgan the Poisoner	Re: Hitchcock's "lesser works"	#9	[-]
Posts: 1113 Feb 24 02 9:33 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I must have been typing my message while you posted yours, Richard. Thanks all the same.
Richard Valley	Re: Hitchcock's "lesser works"	#10	[-]
Posts: 54081 Feb 24 02 1:29 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	We were two ships passing in the night . . . like the Stockholm and the Andrea Doria.* *Pop quiz: What star of what Hitchcock film was a passenger on the Andrea Doria?
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freddybastion	Re: Hitchcock's "lesser works"	#11	[-]
Posts: 2774 Feb 24 02 3:22 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	It was Ruth Roman from STRANGERS ON A TRAIN. Here's another: What Hitchcock actor disappeared at sea?
MarkDClark	SABOTEUR	#12	[-]
Posts: 4501 Feb 25 02 11:30 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	>>Sometimes, it feels to me like a missing link between THE 39 STEPS and NORTH BY NORTHWEST.<< I think SABOTEUR definitely IS the not-so missing link between those 2 movies, and argued that in an essay originally intended for publication in the Midnight Marquee Directors Series: Alfred Hitchcock book that appears to be on permanent hiatus. I am planning to contact Gary & Sue and ask to rework and update that piece for publication either in Midnight Marquee or ... someplace! Hopefully, it will emerge sometime this year, in one publication or another. BTW... 2 more lesser Hitchcock films arrived in the mail this weekend, the double-feature DVD of JAMAICA INN and RICH AND STRANGE. I'm hoping to get through a couple of these films this week, before Vanessa and I leave for New Orleans.
MarkDClark	THE TROUBLE WITH... JAMAICA INN	#13	[-]
Posts: 4501 Mar 19 02 3:07 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Watched 2 more "lesser" Hitches, JAMAICA INN and THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY. JAMAICA INN certainly qualifies as a lesser work. Hitch doesn't seem particularly engaged here. Coming between THE LADY VANISHES and REBECCA, it represents a major dip. This is a fairly standard period melodrama, not at all Sir Alfred's usual cup of tea. However, this is a beautiful-looking film. Its moody high-contrast b&w cinematography looks ahead to Lean's classic Dickens adaptations. JAIMAICA INN is packed with interesting compositions. And Margaret O'Hara is wonderful in it. THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY, although slow-paced and static, I enjoyed immensely. The cinematography -- particuarly the use of color in the exterior scenes -- is spectacular. The dialogue is fresh and snappy, the performances are excellent all around (especially from Shirley MacLaine). What impressed me most, however, was how damned pleasant the whole thing was. For a movie about a dead body, this one affable picture. I smiled throghout, and occasionally laughed out loud. I love the dry, dark humor of the piece although I can certainly see how it failed to click with American audiences in its initial release.
Resurrection Joe II	Re: THE TROUBLE WITH... JAMAICA INN	#14	[-]
Posts: 1916 Mar 19 02 6:19 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	JAMAICA INN was indeed a good film to look at, and I always had a weakness for Laughton's hamming, no matter what the film. Like Chaplin's dark comedy MONSIEUR VERDOUX (another box office flop), Hitchcock's THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY was a bit ahead of its time I think. A fresh blend of the dark and leisurely comedic and with a playful Bernard Herrman score, it was re-released to theaters in the mid-80's with some bigger 50's Hitchcock films, all of which I was fortunate enough to catch.
MarkDClark	Re: THE TROUBLE WITH... JAMAICA INN	#15	[-]
Posts: 4501 Mar 19 02 6:27 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Glad you mentioned the Herrman score, it's one of his very best, I think. Can't believe I forgot to mention it! I like your comparison with MONSIEUR VERDOUX, another underrated dark comedy.
Richard Valley	Re: THE TROUBLE WITH... JAMAICA INN	#16	[-]
Posts: 54081 Mar 19 02 8:38 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY is among my favorite Hitchcock films, and I'm particularly fond of the relationship between the characters played by Edmund Gwenn (he was in THEM!; where's the DVD of THEM!?) and Mildred Natwick . . .
Unregistered(d)	lost at sea?	#17	[-]
Posts: 0 Mar 20 02 3:23 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	So which actor was it who was lost at sea? And wasn't Cary Grant's wife Betsy Drake onboard the Andrea Doria?
Richard Valley	Re: lost at sea?	#18	[-]
Posts: 54081 Mar 20 02 5:55 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Don't know about Betsy Drake, but Ruth Roman was definitely a passenger . . .
MarkDClark	RICH AND STRANGE	#19	[-]
Posts: 4501 Mar 26 02 1:01 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Continuing my tour of Hitchcock's "lesser works." This is a fascinating film, if not truly a successful one. In his book "Hitchcock Becomes HITCHCOCK," author Paul Jensen argues that this was a pivotal film for Hitch. Until this point, he had been a generalist, working in several genres. After the commercial and critical failure of this deeply personal work, Hitch began specializing almost exclusively in suspense films. And he began pushing the social and moral concerns of films like this one into the background, even the subtexts of his films, making his statements at obtuse angles to the story itself. Indeed, RICH AND STRANGE expresses sentiments about romance and marriage and about class divisions that echo throughout dozens of later Hitchcock pictures. The story -- about a young husband and wife whose marriage slips into crisis when they inherit a large sum of money and take off on a long sea voyage -- is simple melodrama. The performances are strong, however. The film's silent five-minute opening sequence is one of the strongest beginnings of Hitchcock's career. Tonight, I'm planning to watch another lesser Hitch, THE PARADINE CASE.
Richard Valley	Re: RICH AND STRANGE	#20	[-]
Posts: 54081 Mar 26 02 6:16 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	If I believed in guilty pleasures, THE PARADINE CASE would be a guilty pleasure. As it is, I find it a flawed though fascinating film . . .
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