Hitchcock pairs with writer Frederick Knott to bring his stage play, Dial M for Murder to the big screen in this captivating and thrilling adaptation. The film features a top-tier cast, the luminous Grace Kelly, Ray Milland, Robert Cummings and John Williams. Everyone has secrets in this engaging film. Kelly is Margot Wendice, a wealthy…
Tag: alfred hitchcock
Suspicion (1941) – Alfred Hitchcock
Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine star in Hitchcock’s Suspicion. Nominated for Best Picture, Fontaine walked away with a Best Actress Oscar, and she is nothing short of fantastic. Grant is Johnnie Aysgarth, a charming rogue with a penchant for detective novels, a penniless playboy who seems to be conning and gaslighting everyone from his friend,…
TIFF ’22: The Lost King
Director Stephen Frears guides Sally Hawkins’ quest for the burial place of Richard III. She takes on the real-life role of Philippa Langley, an amateur historian, who turned away from the established historical ‘facts’ of Richard III as a usurper and began a hunt for his final resting place. Based on Langley’s own book, which…
Family Plot (1976) – Alfred Hitchcock
Bruce Dern, Karen Black, William Devane, Ed Lauter and Barbara Harris star in Alfred Hitchcock’s Family Plot. And while not one of the director’s best, there are some fun moments and ideas in the film. The story follows two separate couples, both who work in shades of grey. Bruce Dern is George a taxi driver…
Frenzy (1972) – Alfred Hitchcock
I slipped into another Alfred Hitchcock film I hadn’t seen today. Frenzy, from 1972. I knew next to nothing about it but was delighted to see both Jean Marsh and Bernard Cribbins in supporting roles. Set in England, this is a bit of a thriller with some dark humour thrown in for good measure. Based…
Topaz (1969) – Alfred Hitchcock
Hitchcock takes on Leon Uris’ novel Topaz in this film adaptation of the same name. It’s not quite on the level of a Tom Clancy techno-thriller, but the subject material, centring around the Cuban Missile Crisis and a Russian spy ring within the French intelligence community is pretty engaging stuff. Unfortunately, for me, it ended…
Torn Curtain (1966) – Alfred Hitchcock
Paul Newman and Julie Andrews star in this thriller from director Alfred Hitchcock. And while the Master of Suspense is still a fantastic director, this one isn’t quite as thrill-packed as the poster would suggest. Which is not to say it isn’t enjoyable, the leads are wonderful, and it’s a very enjoyable story, it’s just…
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) – Alfred Hitchcock
James Stewart and Doris Day find themselves caught up in international intrigue and a political assassination in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much, a remake of his own film from 1934. While on a working holiday that takes the family to Paris, Casablanca and Marrakesh, Dr. Benjamin McKenna (Stewart), his wife, Jo (Day)…
The Trouble With Harry (1955) – Alfred Hitchcock
Hitchcock brings me a little New England humour in today’s entry, The Trouble With Harry. Based on the novel by Jack Trevor Story, adapted for the screen by John Micheal Hayes, Hitchcock delivers a delightful film that virtually pops with colour and crackles with sharp dialogue. Using the back drop of the turning of the…
Rope (1948) – Alfred Hitchcock
I dig into another classic Hitchcock today, and despite the fact that James Stewart gets top billing, he is almost a supporting role, not really taking centre stage until the final act of the film that was adapted from a stage play by Patrick Hamilton, partially adapted by Hume Cronyn. Brandon (John Dall) and Phillip…
The Mind Reels 