An odd but charming film
if anyone wants to discuss this early Hitchcock film, I'd love to hear from you.
shareI liked this movie quite a bit even though it was quite odd. I was not expecting a film from Hitchcock to be so comical (having not been exposed to Hitchcock comedy in the past) but was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed the bits with the annoying woman with the glasses and found the sinking ship sequence quite suspensful because I did not think the film was going to go in that direction. I've only watched it once so far (having just got it in a set for christmas) but I plan on watching it again very soon.
share
Yes, whenever that woman was about to arrive on the scene, a kind of circus music plays. This film (and many of the '30s ones) show off his wicked sense of humour beautifully. We may have the same set.
Mine has :
Sabotage
Secret Agent
Blackmail
Jamaica Inn
The Man Who Knew Too Much (Leslie Banks version)
Murder!
The 39 Steps
Rich And Strange
Number Seventeen
and Sorcerer's Apprentice (an episode of Hitccock Presents...)
on four discs.
That wash the shound of a tool chesht falling down the shtairs.
Mine has :
Sabotage
Secret Agent
Blackmail
Jamaica Inn
The Man Who Knew Too Much (Leslie Banks version)
Murder!
The 39 Steps
Rich And Strange
Number Seventeen
and Sorcerer's Apprentice (an episode of Hitccock Presents...)
on four discs.
Delete 39 Steps, Sorcerer's Apprentice, and Blackmail. Add The Lady Vanishes.
Love is never having to say you're sober. share
Speaking of sets, I'll show YOU what I got for $8 or so on 5 DVDs in China recently: DVD1 - (In the order they appear on the DVD = random) - 1) The Torn Curtain; 2) Dial 'M' For Murder; 3) Strangers On A Train; 4) Secret Agent; 5) Lifeboat; 6) The Skin Game; 7) Murder!; 8) The Paradine Case; 9) The Man Who Knew Too Much (original). DVD2 - 1) Marnie; 2) Foreign Correspondent; 3) Notorious; 4) Young & Innocent; 5) Rich & Strange; 6) The Birds; 7) The 39 Steps; 8) Suspicion; 9) Sabotagé. DVD3 - 1) Under Capricorn; 2) Rebecca; 3) To Catch A Thief; 4) Stage Fright; 5) Frenzy; 6) Family Plot; the next 8 are shows from the 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents...' television series: 7) Revenge; 8) Breakdown; 9) Wet Saturday; 10) Mr. Blanchard's Secret; 11) Poison; 12) The Perfect Crime; 13) Dip In The Pool; 14) One More Mile To Go; and 15) Mr. & Mrs. Smith. DVD4 - 1) The Lady Vanishes; 2) Rear Window; 3-10) the same AHP episodes as on DVD3; 11) The Lodger; 12) The Trouble With Harry; 13) Shadow Of A Doubt; 14) The Man Who Knew Too Much; 15) Jamaica Inn. And lastly, DVD5 - 1) I Confess; 2) Spellbound; 3) North By Northwest; 4) Topaz; 5) Rope; 6) Saboteur; 7) Psycho; 8) The Wrong Man; 9) Vertigo. So, that's 41 films and 8 television shows (2x) for about $8! And yes, the quality is amazing! Perhaps not Blu-Ray, but certainly well worth the expense. lol Why can't they make DVDs like that in the West? Because, 'Capitalism' dictates otherwise. 'Sad, But True!' FuturePrimitive666.
"*bleep* it all and *bleep*ing no regrets!"
beem3 having only seen Psycho and The Birds up until earlier this year when I rented most of the hitchcock movies on DVD I can only say that you never know what to expect from his movies. If you'd like to see another good hitchcock comedy checkout Mr & Mrs Smith with Carol Lombard. It's a classic screwball comedy.
Cheers
Does anyone like Young and Innocent? I always find it a very sweet film.
shareI love Young and Innocent. It's quite often overshadowed by the better-known British thrillers like 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes, but I really like the humour and characterisation of the film and its general playfulness (the same goes for Rich and Strange which I'd read very bad reviews for but found really enjoyable).
One of the other overshadowed early films, although much darker, is Sabotage. In some respects, Hitch really never again goes as dark as he does there.
I know what you mean about Sabotage, the suspense is hardly bearable and I kept thinking that everything would be OK in the end but it isn't and you can't quite believe it...
shareI agree about Sabotage, the suspense is absolutely gripping. My favourite scene is where the Oskar Homolka realises hid wife "knows" and she has the knife at the dining table, typical Hitchcock theme on the question of domestic murder.
Of course Sabotage is also famous because Hitch said he once made a mistake in one of his films by allowing a bomb on a bus to explode and that he should never have allowed that to happen because it broke the suspense.
Anyways, just seen Rich and Strange and found it in many ways to be a very modern comedy romp. Obviously pace and dialog are of it's time, but the theme and general adventurous charm of the film would still work today.
Hitch was intensely drawn to black comedy; unfortunately few people had a taste for it or even recognized it as such back in those days. No wonder it did such poor box office.
shareI just finished watching it. It was the first time I ever picked up one of those cheap dvds from the pharmacy/conviniant store kinds things.
I thought it was quite good. Some parts were more boring but the end carried it out.
I laughed forever at the cat part. Priceless.
This (Rich & Strange) was alright, but as far as the "early" films of Hitch goes, I liked The Lady Vanishes, Sabotage, 39 Steps, Man Who Knew Too Much.
The other films contain some small glimpse into the genus that would become Hitchcock, and because of that they are noteworthy, but after sitting thru 13 of these films over a weekend's time, I'm not too sure when I'll watch em again! Lol!
But these movies are GREAT on a dark rainy afternoon... :o)
Trust me,
Swan
You LAUGHED at the cat part? Did we see the same film?
This clunky old thing is fascinating. OK, it has many faults, which I won't list here. But damn, there are also many, um, strange bits, hahaha. Every now and then, 3 seconds of something is thrown in that makes one scratch their heads. ie The lifeboat during a conversation between wife and lover. The 3-somes walking and nodding. A view of a beach during a conversation between husband and wife. WTF? Why do they all stare as that guy drowns? (I get the symbolism, I think.) Anyway, this film fascinates. In an odd way. It's almost Lynchian.
Yes, I agree with the person who said Young And Innocent is great. It's the most overlooked/underrated Hitchcock film imho. But then, Rich And Strange may be too. :)
Darren Skuja
OK, it has many faults, which I won't list here
Among them, the worst, most incompetent score of any Hitchcock film.