Been filling the gaps in my Hitchcock library

[jpgray]

Who knew Strangers on a Train was so awesome? The carnival scene at the end is fantastic. However, the actor playing the tennis pro was beyond horrible--Bruno the dandy makes the movie.

[sir_captain]

1. It's a really classic film

Have you seen Vertigo, Rear Window, Lady Vanishes, Notorious, Rebecca, etc?

[jpgray]

2. Yeah, all the biggies I've mostly seen

Vertigo is probably my favorite--I love some of the matte shots Hitch can pull off, and his use of overhead angles in unexpected places.

[Doctor_J]

14. Don't forget the ones from the 60's

Frenzy, the Birds, Psycho - really scary shit. Frenzy is one of the scariest ever.

[OllieLotte]

3. Hitchcock was the best.

[tigereye]

4. Hitchcock films are worth watching over and over

my husband says he has Strangers on A Train, haven't seen that one, but would like to.

We really enjoyed watching To Catch A Thief not that long ago. The shots/compositions are wonderful to see.

[gizmonic]

5. Here's some of my favorites, in no particular order:

Frenzy
Psycho
North by Northwest
Rope
Strangers on a Train

I'm sure I've left out a few!

[valerief]

13. North by Northwest. Oy vey, everything about that film is perfect. nt

[terrya]

6. "Strangers" is a classic Hitchcock film.

The carnival scene IS fantastic.

BTW: another fact about "Strangers". One of the actresses in the film is Marion Lorne...who a few years later came to wide popularity as "Aunt Clara" on "Bewitched". :-)

[CBGLuthier]

9. And another Bewitched connection, the actress playing the murder victim

Kasey Rogers went on to pay Louise Tate, wife of the immortal Larry Tate.

[calico1]

18. I did not know that!

I am going to rent the movie again. His movies are good to watch over again!

[calico1]

7. That's a great movie!

Another good one that is also old (from the 40's) is "Shadow of a Doubt."

[sir_captain]

8. Ah, yes, an excellent film

Joseph Cotten gives a really great performance

[CBGLuthier]

10. I am saving Notorious and Foreign Correspondent

Sure I know, I could drop dead any day but I am saving those because once I have seen them i will have seen practically all of the Hitchcock films and I don't want to reach that sad dead end. :-)

[Archae]

11. Trivia question!

How did Hitch himself do his famous cameo in "Lifeboat?"

[Doctor_J]

15. Too easy

he's in the weight loss ad iin the newspaper

[Archae]

16. Dingdingding!

We have a winnah! :-)

[valerief]

12. One of my favorites is "The Trouble With Harry." Dark comedy

with a great tone.

[asthmaticeog]

17. Strangers on a Train is awesome, yes.

Though I actually loved Hitchock's canny use of such a toxically self-conscious actor (Farley Granger, who's horrible in almost everything he's ever done) to play the inept and anxiety-wracked tennis pro. He's a natural at it, just as he is in sweating his way through Rope. (In addition to Granger, Rope also shared with SoaT a dissertation-worthy homosexual subtext.)

And Hitch gets in some sharp digs at the idle rich, too. Superb flick.

[fudge stripe cookays]

19. Don't forget to check out "Spellbound"

If only for the Salvador Dali animation sequence.

[lavenderdiva]

20. I love 'Strangers On A Train'...

Its such a great character study- I found this background on the film at Turner Classic Movies:

http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article.jsp?cid=26798&mainArticleId=26707

Behind the Camera on STRANGERS ON A TRAIN

While the script was still being worked on, Hitchcock went to the Forest Hills tennis club in New York to film the Davis Cup matches between Australia and the U.S. for long shots of Guy competing.

Location scenes were shot in October 1950 at Penn Station in New York, a railroad stop in Danbury, Conn. (standing in for the town of Metcalf), and at various places around the nation's capital.

An amusement park was created according to Hitchcock's exact specifications at the ranch of director Rowland V. Lee in the Los Angeles suburb of Chatsworth. However, the tunnel-of-love scenes were shot at a fairground in Canoga Park.

Farley Granger said that Hitchcock, who worked all his shots out in great detail on paper before shooting, often looked unhappy on the set. When the actor asked him if something was wrong, Hitchcock complained, "Oh, I'm so bored!"

Hitchcock supervised the minutest detail of the filming. He personally selected an orange peel, a chewing gum wrapper, wet leaves, and a bit of crumpled paper that were used as debris in the sewer where Bruno strains to recover Guy's dropped cigarette lighter.

Hitchcock personally designed Bruno's necktie with its threatening lobster claw image.

Cinematographer Robert Burks began an association with Hitchcock on this picture that would last another 13 years and a dozen films. "You never have any trouble with him as long as you know your job and do it," Burks said. "Hitchcock insists on perfection. He has no patience with mediocrity on the set or at a dinner table. There can be no compromise in his work, his food, or his wines."

Tennis pro Jack Cunningham coached Farley Granger for the scenes that depicted Guy Haines engaged in a tennis match. Cunningham also played his opponent in those scenes.

Hitchcock and Robert Walker worked out an elaborate series of gestures and physical appearance to suggest the homosexuality and seductiveness of Bruno's character while bypassing censor objections.

Granger said Hitchcock, who did not like Ruth Roman in the role, treated her very harshly and criticized her often in front of everyone. "He had to have one person in each film he could harass," Granger noted.

Hitchcock refused to treat his daughter preferentially, which won them both the respect of the other players. "We never discuss Strangers on a Train at home," she told an interviewer at the time. "On the set, he gives me direction as well as criticism. I might as well be Jane Jones instead of Patricia Hitchcock."

Hitchcock's treatment of his daughter went beyond professional in one instance. Pat had begged for a ride on the Ferris wheel constructed on the fairgrounds set. When she reached the top, Hitchcock ordered the ride stopped and all lights turned out. Leaving the area in total darkness, he took cast and crew to another location in the far corner of the park to direct a different scene. His daughter remained in terror at the top of the Ferris wheel for an hour before he sent someone back to lower it and let her out.

The scene of the climactic fight on the carousel and the ride's subsequent explosion was very complicated to shoot with a combination of live action and rear screen projection. It usually took about a half day to set up each shot so the actors and the projected image matched.

The carousel explosion was filmed in miniature then enlarged on a huge rear-projection screen behind the live performers.

The shot of the carousel operator crawling under the ride to shut it off when it spins out of control did not employ special effects other than speeding up the film slightly. The man actually crawled under the spinning carousel. Hitchcock swore he would never do anything like that again.

To achieve the shot of Bruno murdering Miriam reflected in her glasses, an enormous distorting lens was constructed. The two actors were then reflected in it at a 90-degree angle.

On Strangers on a Train, as was his usual practice, Hitchcock shot each scene so that there was only one way to edit it which always conformed to his initial visual concept and pre-production storyboards.

Strangers on a Train was completed just before Christmas 1950.

by Rob Nixon

[swag]

21. "Criss-Cross!"

Loved that one.

[Hissyspit]

22. You can get pretty much all of Hitchcock's pre-Hollywood stuff on two

DVD Sets, really cheap:

"Alfred Hitchcock - The Master of Suspense - 10 Movies" BRENTWOOD HOME VIDEO
www.bcieclipse.com
Includes: 'Young & Innocent,' 'Blackmail,' 'Juno & The Paycock,' 'Rich & Strange,' 'The Ring,' 'The Lodger,' 'Secret Agent,' 'The Lady Vanishes' (A CLASSIC!), 'The Man Who Knew Too Much' (original version), 'Sabotage'

"The Essential Alfred Hitchcock Collection - 9 Movies" BRENTWOOD HOME VIDEO
www.bcieclipse.com
Includes: 'The 39 Steps,' 'Champagne,' 'Murder!' 'Number Seventeen,' 'The Skin Game,' 'Jamaica Inn,' 'Easy Virtue,' 'The Manxman,' 'The Farmer's Wife'

They have extras, too. Hitchock docu, radio show, filmography, Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode. Quality is decent.