Thriller & Mystery > H Thriller & Mystery > Hitchcock, Alfred > Parental Guidance

Before Bourne, before Bond, there was.. Thornhill??

Advantages: The first of the great Hollywood Thrillers..with all the frills..
Disadvantages: Tame for modern audiences

...wanted to see more. North by Northwest (1959) Directed by Alfred Hitchcock 131 minutes Starring: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Martin Landau The plot has holes so gaping you could fly a crop duster through: The Plot (if you can suspend your belief): Grant stars as Roger Thornhill, a Maddison Avenue advertising exec. Through a case of mistaken identity, he is believed to be a secret agent for the government, who just happens to ...
...movie polls that are released. North By Northwest however is THE first extravagant, technicolour thriller which would’ve shaken viewers by their lapels on the big screen. From the suave hero who is phased by nothing, the sinister villain, the beautiful girl, thunderous music, the humour and exotic location: this film has it all. In fact, Albert Broccoli based his James Bond screen adaptation on this film and picked Sean Connery for the role due to ...

runningman77 25.02.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of North By Northwest (DVD)

  Beware of "Strangers on a Train"

Advantages: Fabulous story, fabulous atmosphere and fabulous acting
Disadvantages: A very few irksome things but neglible

Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train - excellent movie! I could leave it that but of course I won’t. I’d had this 2 disk special edition in my DVD collection for a while before I got around to watching it. I really should have watched it as soon as I bought it. Not that I need an excuse to watch it all over again. There is no law that says you have to wait any given period of time before you can watch a film that you enjoyed all over again! WHAT’S ...
...BACKGROUND Strangers on a Train was adapted from “Strangers on a Train” written by Patricia Highsmith (who also penned The Talented Mr Ripley) was used as the inspiration for the 80s film Throw Momma from the Train starring Billy Crystal and Danny DeVito. Not surprisingly (for me anyway) there has been a Bollywood remake of the film called Strangers. If you’ve seen Throw Momma from the Train you will know that the inspiration for the murders ...

anonymili 23.09.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: exceptional
Review of Strangers On A Train (Special Edition) (DVD)

How strange...

Advantages: Brilliant story and cinematography and creepy acting
Disadvantages: Hardly any

...make you very wary of strangers from now on! The tension is fantastic right the way through, with some quite unsettling scenes, and lots of examples of Hitchcock's revolutionary visual style. I would definitely recommend it! Strangers on a Train is available online from www.dvd.co.uk for £5.99 for the single disc edition, or £7.99 from www.play.com for the special 2 disc edition. These are both good ...

l-m-n-o-p 29.10.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Strangers On A Train (DVD)

Hitchcock suspense

Advantages: Great cinematography
Disadvantages: Somewhat old-fashioned

...lack of news that his foreign correspondents in Europe are provided. He randomly picks a journalist, Johnny Jones, from his office to cover Europe from London. Jones becomes known as Huntley Haverstock and is told to track down Mr Van Meer, the leader of the Universal Peace Party at a lunch held in his honour. He meets Mr Van Meer outside the lunch venue, but somewhere in between there and the lunch, Mr Van Meer is 'called away on urgent business'. ...
...meeting in Holland and witnesses his murder. He chases his killer, accompanied by Carol, the daughter of one of the leading lights of the Peace Party and a journalist, Scott ffoliot. They don't manage to catch the murderer, but Haverstock finds out a lot more than he expected, something that could threaten the roots of society. Actors/characters Joel McCrea and Larraine Day as Haverstock and Carol Fisher do an adequate job, but are not outstanding. ...

sunmeilan 14.12.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Foreign Correspondent (DVD)

Another gem from Hitchcock

Advantages: Good, creepy suspense film
Disadvantages: The usual naivety of the female lead in films of this period

Introduction There's definitely something about Hitchcock films made in the early 1940s that appeals to me. Although not as glossy and eye-catching as some of his later films and despite the old-fashioned style of the acting (particularly the female characters), there's something about this period of his films that I find more psychologically disturbing. This film, made in 1942, was apparently one of Hitchcock's favourites, although it is less well-known ...
...The director Alfred Hitchcock was born in the East End of London and began his film-making career in London in 1919. His first well-known film 'The Lodger', was made in 1926, and starred Ivor Novello. 'The Man Who Knew Too Much', made in 1934, established the pattern of psychological thrillers that were to make him famous, often focussing on close relationships and the impact that certain people or happenings had on them. The plot Charlie is delighted ...

sunmeilan 19.12.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Shadow Of A Doubt (DVD)