Apparently Hitchcock was quite smitten and extremely obsessed with her, and she said it was very uncomfortable to work with him! Eventually her contract had to be sold to another studio it became such a problem. I never knew that and found it realy fascinating. Thought you might too if you were a fan.
I actually read that on the IMDb about a month ago, and was quite shocked, but indeed fascinated. Apparently he'd ask her personal questions, tell her that she put on weight, and even tell her what to eat and watched her eating it. He'd ask her who she was dating and such. I don't know about his taste in women, but it's Grace Kelly I'd have hunted down!
Years ago I read Donald Spoto's biography of Hitchcock, The Dark Side of Genius, and it revealed Hitch was obsessed with the "cool blonde" type, embodied in his films by such actresses as Kim Novak and Grace Kelly. Hitch tried to personally mold Tippi Hedren into the ideal cool blonde, but she chafed under his attentions to her and she was grossed out by his propositioning her. Hitchcock apparently took his revenge on her in a particularly brutal way--in the scene in The Birds where Tippi is trapped and being attacked by birds, Hitchcock ordered the stagehands to throw live birds at her, and to keep it up, take after take, hour after hour. The birds really did peck and harrass her, so the pain and fear you see in Tippi's face in the movie is 100% real.
And back on topic. . .the last movie I saw was The Machinist, which really is unnerving. In a lot of ways, the story is kind of conventional, but the eerie settings and Bale's skeletal appearance all creeped me out.
And back on topic. . .the last movie I saw was The Machinist, which really is unnerving. In a lot of ways, the story is kind of conventional, but the eerie settings and Bale's skeletal appearance all creeped me out.
Interesting that Bale turned living dead boy for this role, and hardly good reviews. Yet Adrian Brody loses thirty pounds for The Pianist and everyone raved about it.
Monique, have you ever seen the Darryl Hammond satire of Hitch from SNL? Hilarious, especially when he states he couldn't get Kelly to remove her top.
Saw Layer Cake last night and really enjoyed it.Craig was very good and another good turn by Micheal Gambon ( who would make an excellent M).It was much better than some of the Brit flicks I have seen.
And HB, The Machinist is very weird.I only saw it because I was on a plane and there wasn't anything else.Glad I stuck with it though as it was a bit different.
I've been watching a lot of movies lately, the most recent being Lost In Translation. I could tell that the daughter of the director of The Godfather movies did this movie. It was entertaining, and had some great laught out loud moments. I loved the James Bond references.
It's a 1953 British film about the Battle of Britain. Far better than 1969's Battle Of Britain movie in many ways. This is based at RAF Neethley in Kent, and follows a new recruit who gets off on the wrong foot with his squadron (he prangs a plane on his way in, but its not his fault) but nonetheless gets a warm welcome from the station commander Jack Hawkins.
Quite a few recognsiable names, such as Geoffrey Keen and Michael Denison (The Importance Of Being Earnest) and a fine script make this work very well as a microcosm of the war in June 1940. However, it fizzles out a bit at the end and in no way attempts to convey the whole of the battle with its eventual victory over the Luftwaffe in September that year. Still, it's an excellent snapshot of an RAF base at that time.
Father Of The Bride part 2 (1995)
I watched the first one the other week, which I liked so I ended up buying the second. I thought this sequal was even better than the first, plus anything with Steve Martin in you gotta enjoy!
Clue: As an unabashed Murder by Death Fan I simply had to see this mystery-comedy. It's definitely an entertaining movie to see with a group of friends, and I must say that the intentional bits of overacting were quite effective. Big bonus points for Tim Curry being creepy and hilarious at the same time as the butler with questionable motives!
There are also two frequent Mel Brooks film alumni: the wacky Madeleine Kahn (she still can sing!) and composer John Morris.
Flattery will get you nowhere, but don't stop trying.
Continuing my Alfred Hitchcock marathon with three films I hadn't previously seen;
"Suspicion" (1941)
Having no idea what do expect, I just put the DVD in and watched. I won't go into too much detail, but overall the film kept me interested. It's not one of Hitchcock's strongest in my opinion, and I prefer a thriller or something with more pace but it was a good effort. Cary Grant was wonderful in it though - made me laugh a few times.
"The Birds" (1963)
I knew what this film was about, and had high expectations but was let down. I think of all the Hitchcocks I've seen so far, this is his weakest. It takes forever to get going, and the build up drags on for far too long, trying to establish characters that I really ended up not giving a damn about. Then once the birds went into full attack, the action was spread out much too thinly. The film ended very suddenly, without explaining why the birds attacked or what was going to be done to stop them.
"North By Northwest" (1959)
Yes I should be ashamed that I had never before seen this film, but it was one I looked forward to. It was a very good film for the most part, and I liked the way it all panned out. There was a fantastic climax on Mount Rushmore, with some great villains. The music was brilliant from Bernard Herrmann, and it added more tension and excitement to the film. Only problem I had was the rather corny way Hitchcock handled the scene where Mr Townsend is stabbed in the back, and Cary Grant is blamed - it was frustrating and far too typical.
Well, to rank the Hitchcocks that I've seen so far;
1. Rear Window.
2. Dial M For Murder.
3. North By Northwest.
4. Psycho.
5. Vertigo.
6. Suspicion.
7. The Birds.
To Catch a Thief (1955)
I liked this one, and it kept you guessing until the end. I admit that my guess was incorrect as to who was the robber, but it still wasn't a great surprise to me when the robber's true identity was revealed. Very good performances, as ever, from Cary Grant, Grace Kelly and John Williams in a film that keeps you interested throughout.
Stage Fright (1950)
Well, Hitchcock's work may be legendary, and he may be called the 'master of suspense', but he couldn't succeed with all of his films. I couldn't really say much about Stage Fright, because it bored me stupid and I had to turn it off.
Saboteur (1942)
I had good expectations of this film and I wasn't let down. It was a very good film indeed, with a very strong cast, funny moments and a memorable climax atop the Statue of Liberty. Robert Cummings played a good lead, with Otto Kruger as a scary and magnificent villain.
Finally saw Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. I'm not a big Jim Carrey fan, but I have to say I really loved this movie. I had been intending to read the books a few years ago and never got around to it, but now I think I will have to make it a point to do so.
One of Wayne's best films that I had never seen. Immortalized in memory from an episode of "Married With Children" all those years ago, yet this was my first chance.
To quote Al, "Your lives are meaningless compared to Hondo."
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,924Chief of Staff
Stealth - bobbins ! Cliched and obvious throughout the whole film.
Its a 1942 wartime morale-booster about a middle-class family headed by titular heroine Greer Garson. Starts off a bit twee, but gradually builds to pack an emotional, stirring punch.
And Meet Me In St Louis - though despite Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, I've never really been able to get into this one. Judy's sweet though.
Pretty good martial arts cartoon film, not really as wacky or funny as I'd been led to believe - a fair bit of sadism and sentimentality as you tend to get with these films. Muted colour palette, gets better as it goes on and you get the hand of the cartoony elements.
Marnie: Not bad by any means, but Hitchcock seems to start sliding into a decline. "Sex mystery" is rather an apt category in which this film belongs; I gave up on counting all of the phallic symbols/references after a while. The psychological melodrama explaining Marnie's behavior didn't really cut it for me; the psychoanalysis worked much better with the earlier Spellbound. I had great difficulty in sympathizing with the eponymous character; Sean Connery's Mark Rutland seemed much more complex and compelling. The rape scene was really unnerving for me despite the pretty lighting and Connery's character being almost apologetic about what he was going to do. I won't even get into the many sexist elements. What is with Hitchcock having beautiful blonde women attempting to commit suicide wearing dark dresses drowning themselves? I've also noticed that Hitchcock blondes tend to wear the same grey skirt suit and only start becoming more uninhibited once they let their tight hair styles down. Then we've got the virgin/***** dicotemy and so on and so forth...
Visually and aurally Hitchcock shines; his sound dubbing, as usual, is outstanding. Composer Bernard Herrman's final collaboration with the director is wonderfully lush and romantic but becomes a bit tedious on soundtrack with the repetitious fragments. Still, the scoring of the hunt sequence is absolutely amazing.
And for some reason I now picture Vesper Lynd looking exactly like Diane Baker here.
Flattery will get you nowhere, but don't stop trying.
Mr MartiniThat nice house in the sky.Posts: 2,709MI6 Agent
Marnie: Not bad by any means, but Hitchcock seems to start sliding into a decline.
Yes, Hitch got increasingly sexist as he got older it seems. The writer had issues with the rape scene but it was Hitch's fave in the movie, so that meant curtains for the writer concerned, according to his version of events.
Some have suggeested that Hitch's creative powers waned with his libido.
He also had a thing against brunettes – the family friend Miss Bingley type who has designs on Mark Rutland is a ringer for the current First Lady.
Marnie: Not bad by any means, but Hitchcock seems to start sliding into a decline.
Yes, Hitch got increasingly sexist as he got older it seems. The writer had issues with the rape scene but it was Hitch's fave in the movie, so that meant curtains for the writer concerned, according to his version of events.
Some have suggeested that Hitch's creative powers waned with his libido.
He also had a thing against brunettes – the family friend Miss Bingley type who has designs on Mark Rutland is a ringer for the current First Lady.
Not to mention the unfortunate Midge of Vertigo-her exit from the movie is rather a graceless one.
What surprised me most was how Hitchcock's well-known obsession with Tippi Hendren wasn't mentioned at all in the making-of documentary; the actress herself doesn't even mention any of the on-set tension and does nothing but praise Hitchcock's directorial capabilities. From what I can tell, Hitchcock became increasingly fixated with molding his female actresses into his image of the icy tightly wound blonde; some have suggested that Scottie of Vertigo represents the director himself shaping Kim Novak. You get less of a sense of the molding aspect with his earlier films; for example, Ingrid Bergman in Spellbound doesn't have to deal as much with the prude/**** dicotemy of the later Hitchcock blondes.
Flattery will get you nowhere, but don't stop trying.
Marnie: Not bad by any means, but Hitchcock seems to start sliding into a decline.
Some have suggeested that Hitch's creative powers waned with his libido.
In my opinion, Hitchcock only produced a handful of extremely impressive films. Watching through the Hitchcock collection, his efforts ranged from fantastic to dismal; no director can claim that all of his films have been masterpieces. As previously mentioned, Stage Fright, for instance, I couldn't sit through. Many of Hitchcock's talkier films were tedious from the get-go.
You know, I've never seen a pic of Cary Grant as an old man before. I found a pic from 1979; a 75 year-old Cary Grant with an 80 year-old Alfred Hitchcock. Grant wore these big thick-framed black glasses - he still looked bloody good for his age, too.
EDIT: Speaking of which, today is Alfred Hitchcock's Birthday. He'd have been 106. Cheers, old pal.
Comments
I actually read that on the IMDb about a month ago, and was quite shocked, but indeed fascinated. Apparently he'd ask her personal questions, tell her that she put on weight, and even tell her what to eat and watched her eating it. He'd ask her who she was dating and such. I don't know about his taste in women, but it's Grace Kelly I'd have hunted down!
In the restraining order kind of way Alex???
And Gen. O., I agree, Grace Kelly was gorgeous, maybe she was too promiscuous for him!!!
And back on topic. . .the last movie I saw was The Machinist, which really is unnerving. In a lot of ways, the story is kind of conventional, but the eerie settings and Bale's skeletal appearance all creeped me out.
Monique, have you ever seen the Darryl Hammond satire of Hitch from SNL? Hilarious, especially when he states he couldn't get Kelly to remove her top.
And HB, The Machinist is very weird.I only saw it because I was on a plane and there wasn't anything else.Glad I stuck with it though as it was a bit different.
It's a 1953 British film about the Battle of Britain. Far better than 1969's Battle Of Britain movie in many ways. This is based at RAF Neethley in Kent, and follows a new recruit who gets off on the wrong foot with his squadron (he prangs a plane on his way in, but its not his fault) but nonetheless gets a warm welcome from the station commander Jack Hawkins.
Quite a few recognsiable names, such as Geoffrey Keen and Michael Denison (The Importance Of Being Earnest) and a fine script make this work very well as a microcosm of the war in June 1940. However, it fizzles out a bit at the end and in no way attempts to convey the whole of the battle with its eventual victory over the Luftwaffe in September that year. Still, it's an excellent snapshot of an RAF base at that time.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I watched the first one the other week, which I liked so I ended up buying the second. I thought this sequal was even better than the first, plus anything with Steve Martin in you gotta enjoy!
There are also two frequent Mel Brooks film alumni: the wacky Madeleine Kahn (she still can sing!) and composer John Morris.
"Suspicion" (1941)
Having no idea what do expect, I just put the DVD in and watched. I won't go into too much detail, but overall the film kept me interested. It's not one of Hitchcock's strongest in my opinion, and I prefer a thriller or something with more pace but it was a good effort. Cary Grant was wonderful in it though - made me laugh a few times.
"The Birds" (1963)
I knew what this film was about, and had high expectations but was let down. I think of all the Hitchcocks I've seen so far, this is his weakest. It takes forever to get going, and the build up drags on for far too long, trying to establish characters that I really ended up not giving a damn about. Then once the birds went into full attack, the action was spread out much too thinly. The film ended very suddenly, without explaining why the birds attacked or what was going to be done to stop them.
"North By Northwest" (1959)
Yes I should be ashamed that I had never before seen this film, but it was one I looked forward to. It was a very good film for the most part, and I liked the way it all panned out. There was a fantastic climax on Mount Rushmore, with some great villains. The music was brilliant from Bernard Herrmann, and it added more tension and excitement to the film. Only problem I had was the rather corny way Hitchcock handled the scene where Mr Townsend is stabbed in the back, and Cary Grant is blamed - it was frustrating and far too typical.
Well, to rank the Hitchcocks that I've seen so far;
1. Rear Window.
2. Dial M For Murder.
3. North By Northwest.
4. Psycho.
5. Vertigo.
6. Suspicion.
7. The Birds.
And why am I not surprised to see that the films starring Grace Kelly just happen to rank most highly on your list?
;% Uh, I don't understand what you mean, Tracy. I just watched "To Catch a Thief", and I'd have to put that one in my top three.
At the movies
Fantastic Four
Batman Begins
Dukes of Hazzard
Wedding Crashers
War of the Worlds
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
at home
Day of the Dead
Dawn of the Dead (original and remake)
Shaun of the Dead
Resident Evil
Resident Evil Apocalypse
Men in Black
Terminator 3
Awesome movie
Brody and Howard were great!
To Catch a Thief (1955)
I liked this one, and it kept you guessing until the end. I admit that my guess was incorrect as to who was the robber, but it still wasn't a great surprise to me when the robber's true identity was revealed. Very good performances, as ever, from Cary Grant, Grace Kelly and John Williams in a film that keeps you interested throughout.
Stage Fright (1950)
Well, Hitchcock's work may be legendary, and he may be called the 'master of suspense', but he couldn't succeed with all of his films. I couldn't really say much about Stage Fright, because it bored me stupid and I had to turn it off.
Saboteur (1942)
I had good expectations of this film and I wasn't let down. It was a very good film indeed, with a very strong cast, funny moments and a memorable climax atop the Statue of Liberty. Robert Cummings played a good lead, with Otto Kruger as a scary and magnificent villain.
One of Wayne's best films that I had never seen. Immortalized in memory from an episode of "Married With Children" all those years ago, yet this was my first chance.
To quote Al, "Your lives are meaningless compared to Hondo."
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Elephant
The Color Purple
Empire of the Sun
Fahrenheit 9/11
Garden State
House of Flying Daggers
...and they were all great.
Its a 1942 wartime morale-booster about a middle-class family headed by titular heroine Greer Garson. Starts off a bit twee, but gradually builds to pack an emotional, stirring punch.
And Meet Me In St Louis - though despite Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, I've never really been able to get into this one. Judy's sweet though.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Again I only bought this cos paul reiser is in it, but neverless its extremely hillairious!
Pretty good martial arts cartoon film, not really as wacky or funny as I'd been led to believe - a fair bit of sadism and sentimentality as you tend to get with these films. Muted colour palette, gets better as it goes on and you get the hand of the cartoony elements.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Visually and aurally Hitchcock shines; his sound dubbing, as usual, is outstanding. Composer Bernard Herrman's final collaboration with the director is wonderfully lush and romantic but becomes a bit tedious on soundtrack with the repetitious fragments. Still, the scoring of the hunt sequence is absolutely amazing.
And for some reason I now picture Vesper Lynd looking exactly like Diane Baker here.
Just curious, who's in the one you own?
Yes, Hitch got increasingly sexist as he got older it seems. The writer had issues with the rape scene but it was Hitch's fave in the movie, so that meant curtains for the writer concerned, according to his version of events.
Some have suggeested that Hitch's creative powers waned with his libido.
He also had a thing against brunettes – the family friend Miss Bingley type who has designs on Mark Rutland is a ringer for the current First Lady.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Not to mention the unfortunate Midge of Vertigo-her exit from the movie is rather a graceless one.
What surprised me most was how Hitchcock's well-known obsession with Tippi Hendren wasn't mentioned at all in the making-of documentary; the actress herself doesn't even mention any of the on-set tension and does nothing but praise Hitchcock's directorial capabilities. From what I can tell, Hitchcock became increasingly fixated with molding his female actresses into his image of the icy tightly wound blonde; some have suggested that Scottie of Vertigo represents the director himself shaping Kim Novak. You get less of a sense of the molding aspect with his earlier films; for example, Ingrid Bergman in Spellbound doesn't have to deal as much with the prude/**** dicotemy of the later Hitchcock blondes.
In my opinion, Hitchcock only produced a handful of extremely impressive films. Watching through the Hitchcock collection, his efforts ranged from fantastic to dismal; no director can claim that all of his films have been masterpieces. As previously mentioned, Stage Fright, for instance, I couldn't sit through. Many of Hitchcock's talkier films were tedious from the get-go.
You know, I've never seen a pic of Cary Grant as an old man before. I found a pic from 1979; a 75 year-old Cary Grant with an 80 year-old Alfred Hitchcock. Grant wore these big thick-framed black glasses - he still looked bloody good for his age, too.
EDIT: Speaking of which, today is Alfred Hitchcock's Birthday. He'd have been 106. Cheers, old pal.