Features
Friday, August 12 2011
The 100 Essential Directors Part 4: Samuel Fuller - John Huston
On our fourth day, this journey through the 100 Essential Film Directors continues to twist and turn in unexpected ways. From bold, opinionated Hollywood voices to those who essentially created the language of cinema, today will shed light on kings of genre like Samuel Fuller, through lions like the legendary John Huston.
Friday, June 25 2010
Hitchcock's Final Steps on the Path to Destruction
The path through destruction that they have walked, guided along by Hitchcock much like Virgil guided Dante in the circles of Hell, is what people remember most after watching Rear Window, Psycho, and Vertigo.
Friday, June 25 2010
Hitchcock 101: Day Eleven, 1969 - 1976
In his final three films, Hitchcock may have showed his age, but there are undeniable treasures to be found even in these lesser works.
Thursday, June 24 2010
Sinister Footfalls on a Darkened Stair: Hitchcock and His Continuing Sphere of Influence
More than any other studio system director, Alfred Hitchcock has influenced an amazing international collection of postmodern movie makers.
Thursday, June 24 2010
Hitchcock 101: Day Ten, 1963 - 1966
Today we’ll examine the last Hitchcock masterpiece, and begin our discussion of his slow denouement.
Reviews
Friday, January 13 2012
In 'The Lady Vanishes', Hitchcock Mines Plenty of Tension from the Fairly Simple Premise
Alfred Hitchcock presents a sharp contrast between the early comic scenes at the hotel and the violent finalé. The stakes rise slowly and deliberately, which increases the ultimate effect by the end.
Tuesday, November 10 2009
North by Northwest
This is thrilling, sexy, funny, fresh, inventive, exhilarating, and ultimately, a first-class illustration of the "they don't make them like they used to" adage.
Friday, November 6 2009
The 39 Steps
In Hitchcock's world, we don't write the play; we just have to know when to act.
Tuesday, March 24 2009
To Catch a Thief: The Centennial Collection
This is not really about how to nab a cat burglar, but rather about beautiful people in beautiful places.
Friday, November 21 2008
Rebecca
If I had to pinpoint one reason for Rebecca’s prestige it is precisely this: the film’s interest in the natural over the supernatural and the emotional over the sensational.
Blogs
Thursday, October 20 2011
'North by Northwest': The Un-Oedipal Narrative
For the film’s social platitudes and acceptability, it is still unclear which narrative is more horrifying: Oedipus’ or the Thornhills’?
Wednesday, July 13 2011
ReFramed No. 5: Alfred Hitchcock's 'Frenzy' and 'Family Plot'
This week the Reframed crew casts its critical gaze on the late career of thriller auteur Alfred Hitchcock, finding unexpected greatness in largely uncelebrated works.
Wednesday, March 30 2011
Images of Faces and Hands in 'North By Northwest'
While hand imagery in North By Northwest has a practical aim, being to show the main character’s emotional state at a given moment, the film’s face imagery has more to do with expressing an idea, the loss of identity.
Tuesday, January 18 2011
Insufferable Human Drama as Catalyst in 'The Birds'
Setting off even the most explosive powderkeg of human emotion would not make a flock of birds go insane and start attacking, much less this smoldering controlled burn. But such is the only line of causation the film allows its viewer.
