It's the start of Halloween month and as I don't watch much, actually, practically no horror films, I might not be able to do many of the picks this month, but Hitchcock I know and love. Rear Window and Lifeboat are two of my favourites but I wanted to talk/write about three I don't gush about. In fact, the first film is in my top 5. I'm sure all three will appear in other lists though. I was going to pick Marnie, but that is one oddball film, thats including the stranger trailer for it.
1. Shadow of a Doubt
If you've seen Stoker, which was loosely based and inspired by Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt, you can get a idea about this film. This story is about what is implied and unlike the uncle-niece revelations in Stoker, the neice has better morals. Uncle Charlie is a suspect in a serial killer case - this is not a spolier - and he's very fond of and close to neice Charlotte, she was named after him. He comes to visit and his lies start to unravel but only Charlotte can see whats happening. Queue lots of suspense and intrigue. I think it is one of Hitchcocks better films and also less seen.
2. Rebecca
I'm forever saying; 'I shall never go back to Manderley again' around the house. Don't know why
. I just love this film and I like saying it. One of Hitchcock's best (this is in my top 5 Hitchcock films) films. The source material from Daphne Du Maurier is just perfect for Hitchcock's style. This was also an Oscar winner and rightly so. Mysteries surrounding the death of the first Mrs de Winter, which looms over the happiness for the second Mrs and Mr de Winter, as well as the creepy house and even more disturbing housekeeper, Mrs Danvers who was and is obsessed with the first wife. I really do relish films or stories that feature or are named after a character that the audience or reader never meets and Rebecca is a staple for that, as Rebecca was the first Mrs de Winter.
3. Suspicion
I read about this Hitchcock film first and it was the description of the infamous scene of Cary Grant's Johnnie walking up the stairs with the very while glass of milk for his wife, Lina (Joan Fontaine) who is sick in bed. It is at this point where both Lina and the audience decide whether or not he is evil and is about to poison her. Throughout the film, flukes and coincidences happen far too often, especially as they are usually tragic. The film keeps you on the edge of your seat and the quick cut end will annoy me, as it did at the end of North by Northwest. I rather hoped the film would end with the scene on the stairs, far creepier and it leaves you to decide what happened.
Don't forget to check out what
Wandering Through the Shelves picked, the blog that started Thursday Movie Picks.
