Alfred Hitchcock: The Iconic Film Collection
SYNOPSIS:
Six of Alfred Hitchcock’s greatest movies (yes, film fans can argue all day about his six best movies; I’m sure this one required various deals since three film studios are represented) are collected here in a limited edition set that features unique oversized-book-style packaging and codes for digital copies. Each movie gets a 4K Ultra HD disc that I assume is the same one previously released, complete with plenty of bonus features.
I suppose I should kick off this review by talking about the unusual packaging for this set of six classic movies from director Alfred Hitchcock. This collection is presented as an oversized book with 38 pages of information about those six films, as well as short essays about important actors and creative folks who collaborated with the director.
The last page of the book has a bio of Tristan Eaton, who designed the book and did a wonderful job in the process. Admittedly, it’s a bit unwieldy and won’t be easy to place on a shelf, but it’s really well done and Hitchcock is certainly worthy of this kind of presentation.
Following the contents of the book are two more “pages,” so to speak, that contain the discs, along with a sheet that has codes for digital copies. I’m pretty sure all of these movies have been available on 4K Ultra HD before, and these are the same discs you could previously buy. At the very least, North by Northwest is, and I know that since I reviewed it recently, so I’ll just write about the other five movies in this set, in chronological order.
Rear Window, 1954.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Starring James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter, Raymond Burr.
Either this or The Birds was my introduction to Hitchcock when I was a kid. My memories are a bit fuzzy, but I’ll just imagine I watched the movie on a rainy Saturday afternoon.
Regardless of when I watched Rear Window, however, I remember being drawn into the story of photographer L.B. “Jeff” Jeffries (James Stewart), who is confined to a wheelchair after an accident and begins a new hobby as a voyeur in his apartment complex, where many of the units face each other.
A heat wave forces many of the residents to leave their windows open, and soon Jeff begins watching them with the help of his telephoto lens. Various neighbors become characters to him, but the situation takes a dark turn when he comes to believe that one of them killed his wife.
The bonus features are pretty solid for this one. Here’s what you’ll find:
• Audio commentary: As you might imagine, many of Hitchcock’s films invite the “film class on a disc” style of extras, and that’s what you’ll find in this commentary track by writer John Farwell. He wrote a book about Rear Window, so he came well-prepared to give an exhaustive discussion of the film.
• Rear Window Ethics: Remembering and Restoring a Hitchcock Classic (55 minutes): This is a solid making-of that traces the movie from its origin as a pulp story published in 1942 to its restoration decades after its original release.
• Masters of Cinema (34 minutes): If he had lived to see the home video age, I imagine Hitchcock probably would have done commentary tracks and otherwise been an enthusiastic participant in disc-based editions of his films. This interview with him is testament to that.
• A Conversation with Screenwriter John Michael Hayes (13 minutes): This fellow writer appreciates the movie’s screenwriter getting his turn in the spotlight.
• Pure Cinema: Through the Eyes of the Master (25 minutes): We get a nice overview of Hitchcock’s career here.
• Breaking Barriers: The Sound of Hitchcock (24 minutes): I’ll confess that sound is something I don’t pay as much attention to as other elements when watching a movie, but it’s obviously a crucial part of the medium, and Hitchcock’s mastery of audio is discussed here.
• Hitchcock-Truffaut Interview Excerpts (16 minutes): Francois Truffaut was an acclaimed filmmaker in his own right, and this serves up excerpts from interviews he conducted with Hitchcock in 1962 for a book he was writing.
Production photos and the theatrical and re-release trailers round out the platter.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★★★★ / Movie: ★★★★
To Catch a Thief, 1955.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Starring Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis, John Williams.
I’ll confess I hadn’t seen To Catch a Thief until I received this set, but I’m glad I sat down to spend some time with it. It may not rank up there with Hitchcock’s top-tier films, but it’s still an enjoyable ride.
Cary Grant stars as a retired jewel thief, John “The Cat” Robie, who, unsurprisingly, becomes the target of a police investigation when various rich folks on the French Riviera are robbed. Grace Kelly plays Frances Stevens, the daughter of a nouveau riche socialite who is attracted to John and becomes excited by the possibility of joining him in his escapades.
Of course, John just wants to clear his name, and he soon pulls Frances and her mother into his plans. As with many Hitchcock films, there’s plenty of subterfuge and deception as the story builds to a satisfying climax.
The bonus features found here include:
• Audio commentary: Hitchcock film historian Drew Casper delivers another “film class on a disc” breakdown of the movie. If you love that kind of thing, and I do, then you’ll enjoy this one.
• Filmmaker Focus: Leonard Maltin on To Catch a Thief (7 minutes): The well-known film critic talks about the movie.
• A Night with the Hitchcocks (23 minutes): Drew Caspar shows up again to moderate a Q&A with Hitchcock’s daughter Pat and his granddaughter Mary Stone.
• Unacceptable Under the Code: Censorship in Hollywood (12 minutes): Hitchcock pushed against the old production code whenever he could, and this is a look at the way he did so in To Catch a Thief. Wait, those weren’t just fireworks?
• Writing and Casting To Catch a Thief (17 minutes): Not as in-depth as a couple of the documentaries in this collection, but still worth a watch.
• The Making of To Catch a Thief (17 minutes): See the previous extra.
• Behind the Gates: Cary Grant and Grace Kelly (6 minutes): An examination of the film’s two main stars and their onscreen chemistry.
• Alfred Hitchcock and To Catch a Thief: An Appreciation (7.5 minutes): Pretty much what the title says.
• Edith Head: The Paramount Years (13.75 minutes): The famous costume designer gets her turn in the spotlight.
The theatrical trailer and a batch of photo galleries round out the platter.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★★★ / Movie: ★★★★
Vertigo, 1958.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Starring James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore, Henry Jones.
I will probably lose some credibility points, but, hey, I have to be honest here and confess that I hadn’t seen Vertigo either until I received this collection. I knew of it, of course, and it didn’t disappoint when I had the chance to watch it in glorious 4K Ultra HD. I’m sure Hitchcock would have been thrilled to know that his movies eventually received home video presentations that approximate their original theatrical experiences.
James Stewart returns to the fold in this one as retired San Francisco police detective John “Scottie” Ferguson, who had to step away after developing acrophobia, and an accompanying sense of vertigo, after a rooftop mishap that cost the life of a fellow officer.
He can’t resist putting his skills to use again, however, when his old college buddy Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore) asks him to follow his wife, Madeleine (Kim Novak), and report on where she goes. Gavin doesn’t think she’s cheating — he actually thinks she’s possessed by her great-grandmother and is forced to do odd things like sit in front of a painting for a long time.
After Scottie saves Madeleine when she jumps into the San Francisco Bay, they become close, and Scottie finds himself being pulled into a web of deceit more treacherous than he originally realized. I’ll end the plot recitation here so I don’t spoil anything for fellow novice viewers.
Here are the extras you’ll find on the disc:
• Audio commentary: Acclaimed director William Friedkin delivers this track, which is a fun ride through the film with someone who obviously knows what he’s talking about. It’s different from those aforementioned “film class on a disc” tracks, and I wish one of those was included here too, but it’s still worth a listen.
• Obsessed with Vertigo: New Life for Hitchcock’s Masterpiece (29 minutes): Hailing from the standard-def DVD days, this featurette is introduced by Robert A. Harris, a well-known film restorer who worked on Vertigo, and restoration producer James C. Katz. Cast members Kim Novak and Barbara Bel Geddes can be found among the participants.
• Partners in Crime: Hitchcock’s Collaborations (55 minutes): This piece puts the focus on four well-known Hitchcock collaborators: Saul Bass, who created many iconic opening credits sequences; costume designer Edith Head (she was the inspiration for the superhero costume designer Edna Mode in The Incredibles); composer Bernard Herrmann; and Hitchcock’s wife, Alma.
• Hitchcock and Truffaut Interview Excerpts (14 minutes): Another batch of Q&A from Truffaut’s aforementioned 1962 interview with Hitchcock.
• 100 Years of Universal: The Lew Wasserman Era (9 minutes): A brief look at the guy who went from agent to studio owner, bringing Hitchcock to TV in the process.
• Foreign Censorship Ending (2 minutes): Theatrical screening authorities in Europe insisted that Hitchcock tack on a superfluous ending that clarifies the fate of the movie’s villain. At least, that’s the commonly told story about this footage; there’s also a version that says it was insisted upon by the then-active Production Code Administration.
A pair of trailers round out the platter.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★★★★ / Movie: ★★★★
Psycho, 1960.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Starring Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Martin Balsam, John McIntire, Janet Leigh.
This one really messed me up as a kid, but not in a “And then I required many years of therapy” kind of way (my mother was a big reason for my latter-day therapy sessions). Well, okay, yeah, it just occurred to me that Norman Bates’ relationship with his mother probably did a doozy on me, given what I went through as a kid.
But that shower scene. Holy crap. I guess it seems timid by today’s standards, but even in the 70s or 80s, it was still pretty fucking intense. It also threw me for a loop that a seemingly main character in the movie could meet their demise so quickly. Yeah, I’m trying to be vague here in case you haven’t seen it. If you haven’t, you need to, right now.
So how about the extras? There’s a big batch of them found here, starting with an uncut version of Psycho that restores the movie to the way it was originally seen in theaters. This is my first time with this movie in any home video format, but my understanding is that this new version is something that only saw the light of day four years ago. As far as the rest of the bonus features go:
• Audio commentary: Author Stephen Rebello, who wrote a book about the movie, delivers the kind of in-depth commentary track you’d expect from him.
• The Making of Psycho (73 minutes): I wish all the movies in this set had this kind of documentary, but I realize Psycho is a film that’s often the first one people think of when they hear Hitchcock’s name. Hence the need for this kind of in-depth making-of.
• Psycho Sound (10 minutes): This one actually doesn’t focus on the original sound work done for the movie — it takes a look at the work that went into turning the original mono soundtrack into a 5.1 one.
• In the Master’s Shadow: Hitchcock’s Legacy (26 minutes): Directors Martin Scorsese and John Carpenter are among those who discuss how Hitchcock influenced them.
• Hitchcock and Truffaut Interview Excerpt (15 minutes): Another bit from Truffaut’s 1962 interview, this time, of course, focused on Psycho.
• Newsreel Footage: The Release of Psycho (8 minutes): The title of this one may be confusing: it’s actually the kind of video that used to be made for theater owners to tell them why they’d want to book a film. Of course, this one is noteworthy because it emphasizes the “no admittance after the film starts” policy that was part of the marketing of the movie.
• The Shower Scene: With and Without Music (2.5 minutes): Unsurprisingly, this scene plays much better wither Bernard Herrmann’s excellent score.
• The Shower Scene: Storyboards by Saul Bass (4 minutes): A look at the way the film was storyboarded.
Behind-the-scenes and production photos, as well as a pair of trailers, round out the platter.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★★★★ / Movie: ★★★★
The Birds, 1963.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Starring Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette, Tippi Hedren.
This is another one I saw as a kid. While Psycho was terrifying in an “I am never taking a shower again!” kind of way, The Birds was terrifying in a different way, especially that ominous final scene. It freaked me out the way Jaws did, except this movie introduced creatures that I couldn’t avoid by just not going in the ocean. Maybe that’s why I still don’t like birds in general, especially as pets.
Anyway, this is the final film in this set, and it’s a worthy send-off for this quick tour of just some of Alfred Hitchcock’s many, many wonderful movies. May all our artistic endeavors be as fruitful as his were.
As far as extras go, here’s what you’ll find:
• The Birds: Hitchcock’s Monster Movie (14 minutes): A quick overview of the film.
• All About The Birds (80 minutes): Where the previous bonus feature skimmed the surface of the movie, this one goes deep, the way a great documentary should.
• Tippi Hedren’s Screen Test (10 minutes): This was her first feature film, so it’s interesting to see her work through the role while Hitchcock directs her from offscreen.
• Deleted Scene and the Original Ending (8 minutes): We only get script pages and production photos for the lone deleted scene and script pages and sketches for the original ending.
• Hitchcock and Truffaut Interview Excerpt (14 minutes): Truffaut’s 1962 interview is back, this time with a focus, of course, on The Birds.
• The Birds Is Coming (Universal International Newsreel) (1 minute): An amusing bit with Hitchcock and Hedren covering some pigeon races.
• Suspense Story: National Press Club Hears Hitchcock (Universal International Newsreel) (2 minutes): Another amusing promotional bit.
• 100 Years of Universal: Restoring the Classics (9 minutes): This covers the effort to restore many Universal classics about a decade ago.
• 100 Years of Universal: The Lot (9 minutes): The famous Universal backlot gets its turn in the spotlight.
The theatrical trailer rounds out the platter. And, we’re done. Whew.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★★★★ / Movie: ★★★★
Brad Cook
