Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hitchcock haunts the Selznick studios, April 21, 2004
For VHS nostalgists, and those intimidated by the pricey Criterion boxed set that has replaced this (adding "The Lady Vanishes" and "The Thirty-Nine Steps" and subtracting "The Paradine Case"), this set is a prize to be sought out. Anchor Bay put out a good number of clamshell-cased classics in the suspense and horror genres (including letterboxed Argento titles and "Halloween") and they also did right by these Forties Hitchcock thrillers. Of course, these are the films Hitchcock made under the prying eyes of Selznick, and the relationship was sufficiently difficult that Hitch occasionally drifted away from the post-production, allowing Selznick to lave on extra dollops of music and occasionally even reshoot a smidgeon here and there. "Notorious" is the only one here free of Selznick's taint, but that is in large part because it is the only one of these projects to so completely fire Hithcock's imagination that he considered it absolutely vital to maintain his full vision. Regarded as a highwater mark by everyone from Truffaut to Ebert (and Hitchcock himself), its greatness is so pure and consuming as to reduce even these other terrific films almost to the status of filler. But let us not write them off. Though they are not the same Minerva-born products of Hitchcock's genius as "Notorious" and the Fifties-era masterworks, Selznick was not without his visionary qualities and the Gothic richness of their confections (Hitchcock's ingredients certainly preponderant) make for superb, intoxicating entertainment. Truffaut rightly hailed the 'very modern' qualities of "Rebecca" (the intercutting feels completely contemporary, the forward momentum of the camera through the enormous interiors clearly influenced Kubrick's "The Shining", and the opening sequence is as luminously fluid as any feverish dream of Cuaron). Joan Fontaine is far sexier here than in "Suspicion" (the original "New York Times" review memorably noted "Miss Fontaine has the most expressive spine--and shoulders!--we've bothered to notice this season"), and George Barnes' camerawork is similarly sinuous and expressive. The film's obsessional perversities, like those in "The Paradine Case", come through quite nicely. Alida Valli is the subject of some prime iconic shots in "The Paradine Case" (though the screenplay from Selznick's own hand is a bit disjointed, the camera-choreography clearly kept Hitchcock awake). "Spellbound", the one Hitchcock considered least successful of this bunch, was an enormous hit, and though Miklos Rozsa's sensational score may have been too much for what Hitch regarded as the requirements of the piece, it remains a landmark movie score and will certainly seduce the viewer. Bergman's Dr. Constance Peterson is one-dimensional compared to Alicia in "Notorious" but beguiling nonetheless, and watching the somewhat wan Gregory Peck fume at her mothering attentions provides comic counterpoint to its delirious bouts of pop-Freudian obsession and nightmare. This boxed set comprises a glorious waking dream in luminous black & white, a gorgeous riot of eroticism, fixation, ambiguity, terror, menace and romance rich and seductive enough to keep your nights filled through a long holiday week, and as soon as I have enough nights free I'll be "renting" my brother's set off him and subjecting my girlfriend to the whole lot. Grab it up if you can.
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0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Old Classics, October 10, 2000
By A Customer
When I saw these programs, I felt like I was watching "The Twilight Zone". They were brillent. Many directors helped make these and the episodes on this tape are some of the best ever aired. They are genius. They are incredible. Some are even downright chilling. If you like creepy, you'll love this.
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DVD ~ Laurence Olivier
DVD ~ Ingrid Bergman
DVD ~ Cary Grant
