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Hitchcock

Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)

Dec

11

Psycho (1960)

Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) in front of the family motel. DP: John L. Russell.

“The mattress is soft and there're hangers in the closet and stationary with “Bates' Motel” printed on it in case you want to make your friends back home envious.”

– Norman Bates

#FilmDuJour #December #AlfredHitchcock #Hitchcock #BatesMotel #AnthonyPerkins #JanetLeigh #BatesMotel #BernardHerrmann #JohnLRussell #BookAdaptation #RobertBloch #crime #horror #thriller #USA #1960s

The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, 1963)

Sep

10

chicken

The Birds (1963)

Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren in a promotional photo by Philippe Halsman. Hedren, as her character Melanie Daniels, is attacked by a large crow while Hitchcock calmly enjoys a fried chicken and a glass of wine. DP: Robert Burks.

Feeling rather peckish.

“Are the birds gonna eat us, Mommy?”

#FilmDinner #chicken #AlfredHitchcock #Hitchcock #DaphneDuMaurier #TippiHedren #RodTaylor #SuzannePleshette #RemiGassmann #OskarSala #RobertBurks #BookAdaptation #drama #horror #thriller #animals #birds #USA #1960s ★★★★☆

To Catch a Thief (Alfred Hitchcock, 1955)

Sep

8

leg or breast

To Catch a Thief (1955)

Francie (Grace Kelly) and John Robie (Cary Grant) taking a (lunch) break on the Grand Corniche coast road. DP: Robert Burks.

– You want a leg or a breast?

– You make the choice.

#FilmDinner #chicken #AlfredHitchcock #Hitchcock #DavidDodge #CaryGrant #GraceKelly #LynMurray #RobertBurks #BookAdaptation #crime #chicken #meat #mystery #USA #1950s ★★★☆☆

Glen or Glenda (1953)

In an intimate moment, Barbara (Dolores Fuller) hands Glen (Ed Wood) her angora sweater. DP: William C. Thompson.

Glen or Glenda (1953)

August 25: someone wears another person's clothes on #NationalSecondhandWardrobeDay

Glen or Glenda [aka Male or Female aka Glen or Glenda, Which Is It? aka I Led 2 Lives] (Edward D. Wood Jr., 1953)

“Give this man satin undies, a dress, a sweater and a skirt, or even the lounging outfit he has on, and he's the happiest individual in the world. He can work better, think better, he can play better, and he can be more of a credit to his community and his government because he is happy.” —Dr. Alton, narrator

In 1953, Christine Jorgensen – who had widely reported sex reassignment surgery the year before – was approached by schlocky Z movie producer George G. Weiss to be in an exploitation movie about her voyage. She kindly thanked for the offer. Who did bite was the producer's pick to be the director, novice movie maker and transvestite Edward D. Wood Jr.. Wood reworked the script.

The resulting effort – Glen or Glenda – is not only an utterly unique autobiographic docudrama; it's a lovingly composed pamphlet in support of (heterosexual) transvestism – both fetish and lifestyle, not to be confused with drag – and transsexualism to boot. Rarely sex-related outsider lifestyles were discussed this frankly; Kinsey's Sexual Behavior in the Human Male came out only five years prior and the volume about the human female in the year of this movie.

It's also pretty unique when it comes to the art of filmmaking. However contagiously enthusiastic, Wood didn't have the skill, weight, or budget to make movies. He'd pad story lines and plot holes with stock footage and long-winded dream sequences of the sexploitation kind. Like John Waters after him, Ed would cast friends and family – Dolores Fuller was his real-world girlfriend – and cinematic idols such as Bela Lugosi, who by 1953 was addicted to alcohol and prescription drugs.

Wood's life was wild and colourful. He once said that while serving in the US Marine Corps, he feared injury more than death, worried that the combat medic would discover the pink bra and panties under his uniform. It makes me wonder if the full colour promotional material for Psycho (1960) was #Hitchcock sending out a little wink to Ed.

Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) wearing pink undergarments on a lobby card for Psycho (1960). The movie itself is in black and white and the reveal of Marion wearing pink underwear came as a shock in early-60s prissy America. DP: John L. Russell.

Psycho (1960)

#Bales2023FilmChallenge #EdwardDWoodJr #BelaLugosi #LyleTalbot #DoloresFuller #ConradBrooks #WilliamCThompson #fashion #angora #crossdressing #LGBT #fetishism #drag #docudrama #biography #USA #1950s

#todo

Peppermint Frappé (Carlos Saura, 1967)

Jun

30

Drive Your Corvette To Work Day

Peppermint Frappé (1967)

Producer Elías Querejeta (far left) and others pushing Geraldine Chaplin character Elena's Chevrolet Corvette C1. Behind the wheel actor José Luis López Vázquez (Julián). DP: Luis Cuadrado.

A chance encounter with a blonde drummer during the Holy Week in the village of Calanda leaves a deep impression on Julián (José Luis López Vázquez). When years later he reunites with his childhood friend Pablo, he finds that Pablo is married to bubbly cosmopolitan Elena (Geraldine Chaplin), the spitting image of the elusive drummer. Infatuated he tries to court her, but Elena sees nothing in the drab radiologist. Julián then turns his attention to his shy assistant Ana (also Chaplin) and grooms her into becoming the two unattainable women.

“Things last as long as they last.”

– Pablo

Saura's Peppermint Frappé takes #Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958) – indeed the peppermint green of the drink is an homage – with a twist of #Buñuel and serves it over an anti-#Franco​ist tale of self-doubting machismo obsessing over The Other. Even Elena's car, American instead of a much more obvious European model, dismisses fascist Spain's perceived superiority. Indeed the Generalisimo drove a Cadillac.

#Bales2023FilmChallenge #DriveYourCorvetteToWorkDay #CarlosSaura #GeraldineChaplin #JoséLuisLópezVázquez #AlfredoMayo #LuisDePablo #LuisCuadrado #thriller #cars #Spain #1960s ★★★½

Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)

May

27

Golden Gate Bridge

Vertigo (1958)

A pensive Novak in black in front of a sunlit Golden Gate Bridge. DP: Robert Burks.

A bridge to celebrate the 1937 Golden Gate Bridge opening.

“Here I was born, and there I died. It was only a moment for you; you took no notice.”

#Bales2023FilmChallenge #GoldenGateBridge #AlfredHitchcock #Hitchcock #PierreBoileau #ThomasNarcejac #JamesStewart #KimNovak #SanFrancisco #BernardHerrmann #RobertBurks #mystery #drama #crime #thriller #romance #SanFrancisco #BookAdaptation #USA #1950s ★★★½