Hitchcock, SpoilSport, Party Pooper
Jon Ford
austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net
Sat Jun 5 08:50:03 2004
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<P>"North by Northwest" was about people meeting on a train? I saw "Strangers on a Train"-- you mean he did two movies with the same premise? On the other hand, back in the day a lot of people probably did meet on trains. The Eurail pass still offers this as an inducement "Slow down the pace-- get to know people!" Sounds more fun than computer dating!</P>
<P>Jon</P>
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<DIV></DIV>>From: "Byron Black" <blacky@cbn.net.id>
<DIV></DIV>>Reply-To: austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net
<DIV></DIV>>To: <austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net>
<DIV></DIV>>Subject: Hitchcock, SpoilSport, Party Pooper
<DIV></DIV>>Date: Sat, 5 Jun 2004 05:01:03 +0700
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<DIV></DIV>>Uh, er, should I keep my trap shut?
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<DIV></DIV>>Oh well.
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<DIV></DIV>>A couple of years ago I went and plunked down hard-earned cash for a VHS of North by Northwest. What a colossal disappointment.
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<DIV></DIV>>The acting looked like one of those gigantic Swiss cuckoo clocks where the figures trundle out, pirouette and then wobble back inside again. Remember Hitch's comment about them being, what, 'dolls' or 'robots'?
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<DIV></DIV>>The pace was excruciatingly slow and the story barely believable. All that business about the two of them 'accidently' meeting on the train.
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<DIV></DIV>>All in all a large annoyance, but kind of confirming the feeling I had of the contempt H. held life in: audiences, casts, the industry.
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<DIV></DIV>>The only nice thing was seeing an astonishingly young Martin Landau as the baddy.
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<DIV></DIV>>Oh well. Am I wrong? It's 5.00 in the morning.
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<DIV></DIV>>BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
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<DIV></DIV>> Trying to recover from the latest, uh, problems, we checked out North x Northwest and Vertigo from the local shop and watched both last night. Then we watched the world's best, and possibly only, pooka movie, again with Jimmy Stewart.
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<DIV></DIV>> This is probably an old, old thread but I do believe that, for all kinds of reasons, Vertigo was Hitchcock's best. Shooting in SF, Marin and San Juan Batista, of course, contributed a lot. Recognize soooo many places. (Oh, boo hoo, the homesickness done got me again, sniff, dribble). Originally Vera Miles was to play the Kim Novak role, happily she became pregnant before it was to be shot and the part went to Novak. Whew! Close call. Miles was, perhaps, prettier in a Kathrine Hepburn sort of way, but Novak was much the better fit for the part.
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<DIV></DIV>> And again, Barnard Hermann's wonderful and melancholy music, superbly re-inforced the mood and the slow change in Stewart's personality shift. A truly classic film.
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<DIV></DIV>> That's all for now from the old Film Meister in the Old Dominetrix.
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<DIV></DIV>> wj
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