07/20/2005 10:52 AM
Posted by VeggieSteph

Alfred Hitchcock 3-Fer

I borrowed a bunch of old Alfred Hitchcock movies from one of my husband’s work pals. I have seen a few of the his movies before, the standards like The Birds and Psycho, but some of his works I am just now getting around to seeing. Over the last week, I watched Rear Window, Vertigo, and Rebecca. They were all great movies, and they let you know exactly why Alfred Hitchcock is synonymous with Mystery Thriller cinema.


Rear Window starring Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly 1954


I got about 15 minutes into Rear Window and started thinking, haven’t I seen this before? I hadn’t, but I had read the short story in a collection of the best American mystery stories of the last century. The story is excellent, and while Hitchcock doesn’t follow the story exactly, he does keep the spirit of it. Jimmy Stewart plays a photographer who is wheelchair-bound due to a broken leg. He has been housebound for weeks, and only manages to keep his sanity by observing the lives of his neighbors through their windows. His very classy girlfriend, played by Grace Kelly, humors him, until he starts talking about witnessing a murder. The rest of the story is Jimmy Stewart trying to solve the mystery, convince his police friend that there even was a murder, and escape the danger that menaces his girlfriend and himself.

An interesting tidbit: Hitchcock felt that the story should feel like the apartments were a whole world unto themselves. He succeeded by keeping the focus of the film almost solely from within Stewart’s apartment looking out, and by creating all of the sound in the film as diegetic, (i.e., all the music, speech, and other sounds all come from within the world of the film).

The movie is true genius, with tension until the final frame. Grace Kelley is a wonder and a beauty. She has great chemistry with Jimmy Stewart. They both deliver the Hitchcock humor with great ease. Rear Window is an excellent movie for any mystery buff.

Vertigo starring Jimmy Stewart, Kim Novak 1958


Most people call Vertigo Hitchcock’s masterpiece. I didn’t enjoy it as much as some others I have seen.

Jimmy Stewart plays a retired detective with a mean fear of heights, who is hired by an old friend to look into his wife’s comings and goings. The friend feels like his wife, played by Kim Novak, may be possessed, or at least obsessed, with her newly discovered ancestor who killed herself in a fit of despair. Stewart follows her and of course, falls in love with her. He witnesses her suicide, which he can’t prevent because of his vertigo, and falls into deep depression. Later, he sees a girl on the street that looks like Madeleine (the wife). He becomes obsessed, trying to reform the girl into Madeleine. It becomes a tale of obsession, despair, and murder, with a twist truly worthy of Hitchcock.

There were many Hitchcock trademarks, including reflections of the main characters, lights brightening when significant events occur, and use of color to create a sense of unease.

I liked the story, but I think I didn’t like the movie as much as I would have liked because of Kim Novak. She just didn’t light up the screen like Grace Kelly or Tippi Hedren. Jimmy Stewart was great as the detective who cares too much, the man who becomes obsessed with a ghost, and the man who discovers he was wronged most terribly. If you are a Hitchcock fan, you should definitely see this one. It is one of his greatest movies. I just wish he’d have gotten someone else as his leading lady.


Rebecca starring Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine 1940


Rebecca was the first film Alfred Hitchcock made for Hollywood, it was the first time he ever really had to answer to his producers, and it was his only Best Picture Oscar. You can tell the restraint placed on him by Selznick, but the restraint didn’t hurt the film any, it just limited the Hitchcock you see on film.

Rebecca is based on the book by Daphne Du Maurier, about a girl who meets an older, rich widower in Monte Carlo. She marries him and returns to his home of Manderly, only to discover that Rebecca, the ghost of his dead wife, is still alive and well. She is too shy and afraid to take her true place as the head of the house, so Rebecca’s ghost remains to nearly drive the poor girl insane, with the help of the ever-creepy Mrs. Danvers, Rebecca’s maid and housekeeper. Tragedy strikes, as all good gothic romances go, and the mettle of the girl who is never named is tested.

Joan Fontaine played the innocent Mrs. DeWinter just as she should be: shy, child-like, afraid, and in the end, stronger than you’d imagine she could be. This could be because Hitchcock told her that no one working on the film liked her, or it could be because she was a great casting choice. Laurence Olivier played his part much like he was still on stage, but he did make a dashing Max DeWinter. Judith Anderson was a very ominous Mrs. Danvers, and the scenes where she is showing off Rebecca’s room and where she is talking the girl into jumping right out of the window are truly terrifying.

If you like gothic romance, like the book Rebecca, or are a Hitchcock completist, you should check this one out. If you are a Hitchcock fan, you will have to look for them, but you can find bits of trademark Hitchcock here and there. Don’t go in expecting The Birds, and you won’t be disappointed. It was an excellent film.