Summer of Hitchcock: North by Northwest

Spoilers...

North by Northwest was the first film up for viewing as part of My Friend Amy's Summer of Hitchcock. I have no idea what I was thinking in yesterday's post on Dial M for Murder, when I stated that film was in my top five Hitchcock favorites - top ten, certainly, but not top five. That honor belongs to the likes of North by Northwest. It's one of those films that feels very nearly perfect to me - perfect cast, perfect direction, perfect script. Hitchcock caught lightning in a bottle back in 1959 with this jewel of a film that's held up remarkably well in the ensuing decades.

A bit about the story...

Cary Grant plays successful advertising executive Roger Thornhill in this his fourth and final Hitchcock film (following Suspicion, Notorious, and To Catch a Thief). He's plunged into the world of international espionage when foreign agents mistake him for government agent George Kaplan. Soon he's being kidnapped, framed for murder, chased, crop-dusted, and forced on the run, taking on a job he never sought out trying to outwit and outlast the bad guys.

Cary Grant is at his most debonair as the embattled Roger Thornhill. Grant just oozes class, even when his life is on the line. I love it when he first meets Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint), the undercover spy "forced" to seduce him when they meet on the train to Chicago. Their exchange about his "nice face" - like Grant's looks are anything but extraordinary, LOL - makes me smile every time I watch the scene. And yes, the seduction/kissing scene is unbelievably long - but you've got to give Hitchcock credit for the rather inventive ways he implies passion in his films rather than showing a lot of skin (which he couldn't have done due to the production code, anyway). A while back I read somewhere that Grace Kelly was one of Hitchcock's favorite leading ladies, and if she hadn't married Prince Rainer of Monaco in 1956 I have no doubt she would've been a strong contender, if not the 1st choice, to play the Eve Kendall role.

James Mason and Martin Landau both turn in excellent performances as the villains of the piece - Mason as the coldly calculating mastermind Philip Vandamm (sounds like a James Bond villian IMO) and Landau as his stooge in Leonard. I've never had a problem buying Mason as a creepy bad guy, but Landau's performance is always a bit jarring for me to view. I tend to view him as a kindly grandfather-type, like his turn in The Majestic. I also love Jessie Royce Landis's performance as Cary Grant's mother - though in real life she was too young to play Grant's mother, the two play off each other so well their scenes never fail to crack me up. And though he's only in one scene, I love the fact that Edward Platt as a small role as Grant's lawyer. There's a Get Smart episode, if memory serves, that echoes how Roger Thornhill gets sucked into the world of espionage. It's a tenuous connection, I know, but hey that's how my mind works - randomly! ;-)

For me North by Northwest is the perfect balance of suspense, action, humor, and romance. There's something incredibly scary about the idea of being lost in a life-threatening plot where your whole identity means absolutely nothing because everyone else is convinced you're someone you're not. Roger Thornhill's journey is an interesting one. As an advertising exec he's the king of fakes and sleight-of-hand, and he is sent on this journey quite unwillingly where he must shed self-absorption and put his life on the line for others. A far cry from the posh executive's life he's been used to leading!

Three other points - one, this movie sort of makes me wish train travel was still the norm, and two, I wish the Mt. Rushmore set piece didn't look so horribly fake. Oh well, can't have everything, can we? *sigh* Which leads me to point three - I think the crop-duster scene totally makes up for the cheesiness of Mt. Rushmore being all styro-foamy. ;-)

Currently North by Northwest is only available as part of the Alfred Hitchcock Signature Collection. However, if you can track down a DVD copy it's so worth adding to your collection IMO! One of the special features is a featurette hosted by Eva Marie Saint entitled "The Making of North by Northwest" which is a nice, informative look at the making of the film.

Summer of Hitchcock: Dial M for Murder

Spoilers...

I’m two weeks late to joining My Friend Amy’s Summer of Hitchcock blogging extravaganza, but I am finally getting the chance to catch up. I’ve needed a good excuse to re-watch some of my favorite Hitchcock films. Last week’s move was Dial M for Murder, starring Grace Kelly, Ray Milland, and Robert Cummings. Dial M has always been one of my favorite Hitchcock films – off hand I’d say it’s solidly in my personal top five. It’s been several years since I’ve watched this movie, so while I remembered the basic storyline the presentation and details all felt very “fresh” to me.

First off, a bit about the story…

Margot (Grace Kelly) is married to washed-up former tennis player Tony Wendice (Ray Milland), and has been having an on-again, off-again affair with crime novelist Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings). She’s burned all of Mark’s letters but one, and that one was stolen several months back. There were blackmail threats, but the promised threat of revealing her indiscretion to her husband never materialized. Little does she realize that Tony is the blackmailer, and he’s been plotting the perfect murder to get his hands on her money. Let the game of cat-and-mouse begin…

This movie is based on a play by a Frederick Knott, and it shows – but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Yes, the movie feels staged, but the performances are terrific across the board and action is so tightly plotted that the “stagey” aspect of the movie works really well. There’s an absorbing amount of drama going on at the Wendice apartment. I would love to see this story on stage! I also have to comment on how I love the use of color in this movie. Between the richness of the color and the smartly paced action, the movie feels reminiscent of the drawing room style mysteries Agatha Christie plotted so well.

I’d forgotten that this movie was originally filmed in 3-D. Generally speaking I’m not a fan of watching movies in 3-D, watching programs in 3-D always seem to give me a headache. However, since I was reminded of the 3-D technology used when filming the movie, I was very conscious of how each frame of film was presented. Hitchcock was very deliberate about filming in “layers,” so to speak. There are certain moments – especially when Tony’s stooge, Swann (Anthony Dawson) is trying to kill Margot and her hand just reaches out in desperation from the screen to grab something, anything in an attempt to defend herself – and finds a handy pair of scissors. (Death by scissors is surprisingly neat…just sayin’…) Thankfully this movie is filmed so well that you aren’t distracted by the 3-D formatting, or lack thereof when watching it in “flatscreen.”

Since there are really only three players in this drama (four if you count Inspector Hubbard played by John Williams), the movie wouldn’t work nearly as well as it does if any one of their performances faltered. In my opinion Grace Kelly did some of her best work in the three Hitchcock films she appeared in, Dial M being the first (followed by Rear Window and To Catch a Thief). Her opening scene sets the stage – wearing white she’s a dutiful, affectionate wife greeting her husband at breakfast, and moments later she’s a passionate cheater looking drop-dead gorgeous in a flaming red gown. She’s a great balance of fire and surprising innocence in this movie - an arresting screen presence that would only grow more powerful in her next two pictures with Hitchcock. On to the husband – it always gives me a start seeing Ray Milland playing this despicable, smarmy role. My first image of Milland was formed by watching his performance in The Major and the Minor, and because that movie is such an old favorite, and he plays such a sweetheart in it, seeing him play a coldly calculating blackmailer feels like a sort of betrayal. LOL! When it comes down to it, I think my strong reaction to this performance is a mark of the quality of Milland’s acting in this film. Of the three leads I have the hardest time taking Robert Cummings seriously – he’s so boyish when compared to Milland that I don’t quite buy him as the third party in an extramarital affair. However, he gains some good guy points when he starts to figure out Tony’s plot. And since Tony was obviously going to kill Margot anyway for her money, Mark proves to be a much better, more sensitive and supportive romantic interest for Margot who goes from being an adulteress to a wrong wife (nice done to satisfy the cultural mores of 1954 BTW). I also have to comment on how much I love John Williams’ performance as the Inspector. He was such a classy actor, and here he manages to imbue the Inspector with just the right balance of smarts, saavy intuition, and humor.

I’m so glad I got a chance to revisit this classic. You can purchase the DVD of Dial M for Murder here. It comes with two short, but interesting featurettes: “Hitchcock and Dial M” and “3D: A Brief History.”

Primeval 3.7

Spoilers...

Tonight's episode of Primeval was, quite honestly, a bit of a let down for me after last week's episode with it's scene after scene of sheer, hilarious, awesomeness. This episode was a bizarre mash-up of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Beowulf, and the movie Timeline. That's not to say the episode was a total wash. I forgot to mention Rex last week, when Abby's (Hannah Spearritt) stupid little brother loses him in a poker game. Connor (Andrew Lee Potts) got several nice moments to show his "sensitive" side, when he discovers what's happened to Rex but decides to try and fix the problem himself instead of telling Abby what her brother has done. And then when he rushes to Abby's side to help her save the dragonlike creature he was positively oozing sweetness & concern. Classy Connor, very classy. He's *gasp* maturing!! :)

I really liked the whole idea of someone from the past stumbling through an anomaly - it's a natural extension of the idea that anomalies have been messing with peoples heads for years by making all sorts of weirdness happen throughout history. Danny (Jason Flemyng) and Connor shared several nice comic moments when they were chasing the knight through London (I thought it was hilarious when Danny wanted to separate and widen the search and Connor was all "haven't you ever seen horror films?!"). Danny's big knock-down, drag-out fight with the knight was also fun, especially because Flemyng looked like he was relishing every moment of it.

Sarah (Laila Rouass) finally got to do something that seriously impacted the operation, when she went all rogue and decided to go through the anomaly to research the knight. So, so much potential with this scenario, but somewhere along the way the ball was dropped on the storytelling and it left me a little flat. The extended scene where she keeps trying on different medieval costumes felt extra stupid, especially in the middle of this huge crisis where (supposedly) time is of the essence. And then when she goes through the anomaly, we only get a brief scene where she succumbs to the old cliche of bribing kids with chocolate?! I realize that you can't possibly fit everything you'd ideally want into a show that's less than an hour long when you take out the commercials, but still... (I'll TRY to stop whining...LOL!)

Considering Abby never finds out what her brother did with Rex, she seemed so out of sorts this episode. It was annoying. I REALLY got ticked when she was threatening to shoot Becker (Ben Mansfield) with the tranquilizer gun just because was freaked that he was going to shoot the dragon while TRYING TO PROTECT HER, YEESH! However, that whole exchange did lead to one of the highlights of the episode - after diving through a crate of strawberries, Becker doesn't even bother to get up before he starts to snacking after the dragon collapses. His deadpan delivery was hilarious!

The best moment of the episode, though, was Connor's. When he goes to retrieve Rex, the whole scene turns into some sort of western style standoff. In another movie guns would be a blazin', LOL! Plus, it's a nice change when someone throws the line "you and whose army" at a character, and the cliche receivee can step aside and actually reveal their own personal army. It's especially nice when said back-up is led by the likes of the yummy Becker. LOL!

With only three episodes left, Primeval will be back in two weeks. Hopefully Lester will see more screentime. ;)

Doctor Who alert!

Just a reminder to any obsessed Doctor Who fans out there like myself, tonight BBC America is airing the 1st of David Tennant's last specials as the tenth Doctor (*SOB*). This special, The Next Doctor, aired in the UK last Christmas. I actually watched it on YouTube, but I'm really looking forward to FINALLY seeing it properly on a real television. ;) As I recall I enjoyed it...we'll see if memory proves me correct!

Primeval 3.6

Spoilers...

I finally got around to watching episode 6 of Primeval today. Allow me to just take a moment to say I'm incredibly grateful for vacation days, and I'm also wildly hopeful that maybe, just maybe, the craziness of the last few weeks is winding down.

I absolutely loved this episode. The "terror birds" bore more than a passing resemblance to giant, over-grown ostriches. Despite their ridiculousness, they were surprisingly a bit scary. I mean who'd of thought giant ostriches could be such killing machines? LOL! There were so many moments that I absolutely loved in this episode...here's the rundown:

Danny (Jason Flemyng) giving a mean James Bond impression while working with Becker (Ben Mansfield) to test the facility's security. The humorous rapport that had going on was fun to watch. I LOVED the brief moment when Danny shot Becker's confidence that security was perfect by making an off-hand reference to a camera in an air duct. He's fast proving to be an adept team leader.

Lester (Ben Miller) giving Connor (Andrew Lee Potts) a ride to work but determined to hide the fact that they are now "flat mates" (see episode 5 for Lester's uncharacteristic moment of compassion, ha!). The whole "I'm senior managment and you're...whatever you are" comment cracked me up!

After Christine (Belinda Stuart Wilson) takes over the ARC, Danny, Connor, Abby (Hannah Spearritt, and Sarah (Laila Rouass) flee to the woods (random I know) and come across some sort of an abandoned lab station. I really, really liked how the setting was "frozen" in time. When Sarah begins to read some of the abandoned journals and finds mysterious references to "something" coming, you of course know that the "something" has to refer to a creature from an anomaly. The set up sort of reminded me of Danny's introduction to the team in episode 2 - as I said in my review of that episode, if anomalies have been appearing throughout time, other people had to have encountered them. Now whether or not they knew what to make of them is another story entirely. And in the "oh my gosh that's so sweet" category, I absolutely LOVED when everyone dressed up in 1930s clothes and Connor and Abby pulled a Fred and Ginger and started dancing. (Danny doesn't look half bad in a tux either, just sayin'...)

Despite the sheer ridiculousness of the ostrich-like creatures, I thought this episode gave a good view of how well the new team was coalescing. Danny has a lot of potential as the new team leader - he seems more devil-may-care, more energetic, dare I say it - more fun? - than what has previously been seen on the show. And hallelujah thank you for finally letting Sarah see some serious action instead of just sitting in the ARC cleaning off artificats. LOL!

And now to the best part...in my post on episode 4 I mentioned being a little worried about Becker's loyalties - is he truly loyal to the ARC team, or is he a soldier 1st and foremost, potentially at risk of being corrupted by Christine? In another hallelujah moment, I was oh so happy to see that Becker kicks butt in more ways than one - the fact that he's not above a little espionage in order to sabotage Christine's hostile takeover of the ARC was, in a word, awesome. The way he played Christine and she never even saw it coming - well there's just not words for how fantastic that moment was. If that had been the only great moment in the show that would've been enough, I was so freaking happy about it. LOL!

Which brings me to an even better moment, the crown jewel moment of all the hilariously wonderful bits in this episode, the moment where Lester gets his very own SLOW CLAP!! That was bloody brilliant to quote Ron Weasley. Absolutely fantastically bloody brilliant. The look on Lester's face was priceless. It just reinforced my love for his character a hundred times over.

And just because I can, and because he was so fantastic in this episode, here's a completely gratuitous shot of Becker. :)

Easy Virtue

Spoilers...

I just got back from seeing Easy Virtue with Lori. During the credits I was trying to think of a brief way to sum up the movie and the phrase delightfully subersive came to mind. We've been wating for a month now for it to come to a theater in our area (it opened in limited release on May 22nd - I will not bore you with my rant about how much I hate limited release dates). It's a fun little film and I thought it was SO worth the wait! The movie is based on a play by Noel Coward, which I must own to not being familiar with in the least. If the summary of the play on Wikipedia is accurate, the screenplay closely follows the original story in many respects, while tweaking Larita's backstory a bit and making the Colonel much more interesting IMO.

So a bit about the story...

Young and extremely immature John Whittaker (Ben Barnes, a.k.a. Prince Caspian) falls hard for Larita (Jessica Biel), a glamorous, free-thinking American woman - who just happens to be a racecar driver - and after a whirlwind affair they marry. When they descend on John's family, worlds collide when the straight-laced Whittaker family meets John's rather, *ahem*, unconventional bride. Larita tries her best to win over the family, but Mrs. Whittaker (Kristin Scott Thomas) isn't going to have any of that, and she's determined to save John from his folly and see him take up his responsibilities as heir of the estate. John's sisters, Hilda (Kimberley Nixon, also played Sophy Hutton in Cranford) and Marion (Katherine Parkinson), waffle between being intrigued by Larita and aiding and abetting their mother in her attempts to drive a wedge between the newlyweds. (You couldn't ask for a better wicked stepmother and stepsisters on film IMO!) When John's affections start to waver, Larita determines to fight back, and soon she must decide whether to sacrifice her individuality or make a break for freedom.

Easy Virtue, for the most part, is a light, fluffy, drawing-room comedy but it touches on some serious issues like the aftermath of war on survivors and lots and lots of marital discord. I was really reminded of the film A Good Woman, which I haven't watched in FAR too long. I thought the pacing was excellent (never a dull moment in this flick!) and the settings and costumes were gorgeous - absolutely top-notch! There was almost too much to absorb in just one viewing.

Jessica Biel really impressed me here - her turn as Larita probably ranks equal with my other favorite role of hers as Sophie in The Illusionist. She's gradually convincing me that she can take on period roles and do them credit. Here she wears the elegant 1920s-era costumes and the time period fits her like a glove. I was also quite impressed with the depth Biel gives Larita's character as the film progresses. When you're first introduced to her you really have no idea of the baggage she has in her past - she conceals it well, so it's all the more heart-breaking as it's revealed. And I had no idea this girl can SING! You can listen to a clip of her singing "Mad About the Boy" on Amazon.

Speaking of surprising singers, Ben Barnes's voice completely blew me away. (I'm also blown away by the fact that this is apparently the 1st time I've looked at his IMDB page, since I never connected the dots and realized he played the young Dunstan in Stardust.) His singing initially made me really like the character of John (his voice and presence fits the arrangments and setting of the film well) - however, eventually you realize the voice is the best thing about John as he's an annoyingly wishy-washy fellow. Seriously the guy needs grow some and take charge of his life, yeesh. Barnes is 28 this year, but he's got a bit of a ways to go before he can sell me on the idea that he's capable of playing a mature role. Between John Whittaker and Caspian, he's perpetually stuck in my head as a 20-year-old or thereabouts.

Oh, before I forget I must note Charlotte Riley's turn as Sarah Hurst, John's childhood friend and one-time hopeful sweetheart. I first saw Riley as Cathy in the latest version of Wuthering Heights - and the difference in the roles of Cathy and Sarah have both left me quite impressed with her skill. You really can't help but admire and like Sarah - John throws her over with very little thought, yet she manages to rise above the hurt and become Larita's friend and occasional advocate. Given how John's mother so obviously longs for Sarah as a daughter-in-law, it's pretty unbelievable - but nice - that Sarah takes the Larita turn of events so maturely. And speaking of Mrs. Whittaker, WHAT is the appeal of Kristin Scott Thomas as an actress? I have such a hard time watching her for some reason - but that actually worked in my favor because my natural annoyance fit with the character.

Colin Firth's turn as Mr. Whittaker, John's father and a survivor of the Great War, is really interesting to me. Firth is sort of playing against type - well known as the heroic, romantic leading type thanks to, primarily, his breakout role as Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, it's a bit weird to see him play someone who's so burned out with his life that he just doesn't care at all. In fact it just hit me, but Mr. Whittaker is a bit like Mr. Bennet in P&P - both are long-suffering, henpecked husbands, but Whittaker's character is more of a loose cannon. Whittaker's a bit of a rake and a scruffy one to boot, but he carries so much guilt about being the only man of his generation to survive the war that he's put up with being completely controlled by the manipulations of his wife. He and Larita are kindred spirits and each completely understands the other's baggage - neither can fit into the prescribed roles society demands of them, so in the end it's basically a choice of curling up and dying or making a break for it.

The turning point scene where Whittaker and Larita tango is TO DIE FOR PEOPLE, SERIOUSLY. Yowzers!! :)

I'm going to have to track down a copy of Easy Virtue online or at the library to read it through - if the film is an accurate indication, Coward's got some very interesting and pointed things to say about hypocrisy, and as far as Larita's efforts go, a rather refreshing and respectful view of marriage (i.e., it takes work and no matter what the end outcome it's worth fighting for). Larita works her tail off to keep her husband, but he doesn't even meet her halfway by the end of the movie (can we say stupid & mind-bogglingly immature?!).

This movie was just the breath of fresh air I needed in my day. It delivered some great escapism and some unexpected moments of emotional depth. I'll definitely be adding it to my collection - it'll make a great double-feature with A Good Woman - and enjoying the soundtrack on repeat. Composer Marius de Vries's work on this film was just genius. His arrangements perfectly capture the effervescent feel of the time period, and the way he manages to incorporate contemporary songs like "Sexbomb" and "When the Going Gets Tough" and makes them work CONVINCINGLY in the score blows the mind. Looking forward to seeing this film "confection" again when it comes out on DVD (which will hopefully be soon!).

Masterpiece Mystery returns!

After a brief hiatus earlier this month, Masterpiece Mystery returns tonight with the first of two new (new to the U.S., at any rate) mysteries starring David Suchet as Agatha Christie's incomparable detective, Hercule Poirot.

From the Masterpiece website:

With his signature walking stick and gloves, Belgian super sleuth Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) is back exercising his "little grey cells" in two new cases.

Episodes of Hercule Poirot: Series IX

June 21, 2009
Cat Among the Pigeons
Something is amiss at Meadowbank School for Girls, where hidden rubies, kidnapping, and murder disrupt the term.

June 28, 2009
Mrs. McGinty's Dead
A man is about to hang for a brutal murder. But did he do it? After learning about 30-year-old homicides, Poirot concludes a ghost from the past has returned.

I hate you ITV...

So in case you haven't heard, ITV has decided to break my heart and cancel Primeval. Apparently this news broke yesterday and I just discovered it this afternoon (and am rather depressed about it, lemme tell you!). The way things stand now, once the final five episodes of series 3 finish their run on BBC America, that'll be it. Supposedly there's some talk that the SciFi Channel could ride to the rescue, but personally I'm not holding out much hope. If the feature film (sure to be Americanized) actually ends up being made, and ESPECIALLY if the networks over here decide to do their own version of the show, I'm afraid that this version of the show is dead. :-( What really makes this tragic IMO is that the show is far from hitting its creative peak - I've been really pleased with a lot of the writing this season, and the cast members that are sticking around are more comfortable in their "skin" by the episode.

I need to try and remember that I've always said I'd rather a show bow out early than stick around too long and get really bad, but dang it the way things stand now Primeval isn't going to get an even halfway decent series finale. Grr!!! Yet another great television tragedy to add to my log of inexplicable things networks do to hack me off. *sigh*