Hey There Dear Listener: We Don’t Know What’s Worse - the Itching or the Scratching!
Films Reviewed This Week: The Love Guru, Tootsie, Groundhog Day
* The Film Talk - Part 32 - The Love Guru is No Tootsie or Groundhog Day! (Click to Play, Right-Click to Download)
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I saw ‘North by Northwest’ for the umpteenth time last night - one of those ‘comfort films’ that makes me feel more at home in myself; nostalgia sometimes gets a raw deal these days, but if a work of art helps you integrate yourself at the end of a busy day, there’s no shame in that. At any rate, what you remember when you watch ‘N x NW’ is the texture and colour on screen - Cary Grant’s suit, Eva Marie Saint’s red dress, the cement lines on the neck braces of the Mount Rushmore Presidential faces. I wrote the notes below on my last viewing, five or six years ago:
I have a problem with Alfred Hitchcock. His films have so comprehensively entered the popular consciousness that it is impossible to come to them fresh, perhaps even if we have never seen one before. Something about ‘North by Northwest’ prevents it from being a tense experience for me; similar to the fact that our folk knowledge of what happens in ‘Psycho’ prevents us from feeling excited or scared; even if we have never seen it, we know who did it, and why (s)he did. Thankfully, this doesn’t at all inhibit our delighted wonder at these works of genius. NXNW is perhaps Hitch’s most perfectly realized marriage of thrills and laughs, as a flamboyant anti-hero and cad Cary Grant is mistaken for a spy and spends the rest of the film running from (and into) James Mason’s heavies. His character’s name is “Roger O. Thornhill” – he says the “O” stands for nothing, and this is one hollow guy. I think this is a none-too-subtle way of representing the ROT of the upper middle class that Hitchcock, the working class miner’s son despised. He has a perfect tan and handmade shoes, like Grant himself, he’s a “little more polished than the others.”
The story is at once simple and convoluted – Thornhill is mistaken for a spy and kidnapped by some nefarious bad guys led by James Mason and his “special friend” Martin Landau. There are two chases – by car and plane (the buildup to which is a masterpiece of editing and mise-en-scene) – a couple of fights, and some spectacular set-pieces, a femme fatale (or is she?), a government conspiracy, and our hero gets the girl. What more could we want? But I think it is a mistake to see NXNW as a simple action comedy – it’s riddled with metaphorical bullets and aesthetic pleasures. For one thing, the dialogue is some of the most sparkling Hitch ever worked with. We discover that there is “no such thing as a lie, merely the expedient exaggeration.” Mason has a marvellous moment of villainy when he says, “The least I can do is afford you the opportunity of surviving the evening.” I was reminded of how funny it is on a recent viewing, when for example Grant says, “Not that I mind the odd case of abduction once in a while but I’ve got tickets for the theater tonight” or responds to “I’m a big girl” with “Yes, and in all the right places.” The story is beautifully structured, building mystery and tension (in spite of Grant’s inability to play drunk in a key scene; he’s clearly having a lot of fun, and so are we.) But there is much more than humour and action here – I think Hitchcock is using Grant’s character as a commentary on modern superficiality and relationships.
Thornhill is an advertising executive, and I guess some people might think you can’t get much more superficial than that; he runs away from his mother while being chased by people who want to kill him, so we get some of Hitch’s trademark misogyny and distrust of parents; the romance between Grant and the divine Eva Marie Saint is totally unconvincing – Cary can’t kiss for toffee; he’s so cold and unpassionate that if I thought Hitch were more cynical I would say he’s trying to make a (not very mature) point; this same point is alluded to in the relationship between Landau and Mason – there’s all kinds of interesting sexual stuff here, from Mason accusing Landau’s character of jealousy and saying he’s flattered to the downright crass – but hilarious – use of a train speeding through a tunnel as a saucy metaphor.
So, all in all, NXNW isn’t a particularly profound film, but it does present an archetype of anti-hero as cad. Thornhill is morally without much foundation other than enjoying his own life for the sake of it, he’s selfish and a user of women, but he’s enormous fun to be around (in small doses). The icy blonde is portrayed as far stronger and more intelligent, and Grant is obviously older than the actor playing his mother, so it’s pretty clear that Hitchcock doesn’t particularly like his protagonist. He’s the kind of guy you’d invite to a cocktail party but never go on holiday with – like Hannibal Lecter without the blood. NXNW is a story based on coincidence upon accident upon downright naïve construct switching back through predictable denouement, but still thoroughly entertaining. The use of soundstages is pretty awful – the trees even shake in one scene, and if this had been directed by somebody else, I’m almost certain it would not have the reputation. But, for what it is, the breeze that blows through ‘North by Northwest’ is a refreshing one, and a pretty magnificent lesson in how to make a film.
Hey there folks - am directing a pilot for a new web series on Wednesday, August 27 at Fido at 6:00 am. Want to take part? Click on the link below for all the details!
Click Here if Ya Wanna Be in the Show!
I can not emphasize this enough: see The Testament of Doctor Mabuse.
The film has haunted me for the last two days - while watching it I thought, “oh yeah, nice, early Fritz Lang picture, some good shots, nice editing ideas, oh there’s something I haven’t seen before, oh look at that - that’s impressive, oh clever, hey that’s pretty creepy, holy crap, god in heaven, oh, oh, oh, that’s the scariest image I’ve seen in cinema, hey what’s that, is there someone else in the house?, what’s that noise?, I wish I wasn’t watching this at 1am in the morning, there’s someone here I know it, hello, hello, hello, oh god, oh.”
Some good insight into the visual and sound stragegies of the film can be found here.
See the Testament of Doctor Mabuse. You won’t forget it. Ever.
Saw the famous low-rent film-noir ‘Detour’ last night. Was astonished by the performance of ‘Ann Savage’ as the hitchhiker with what we would probably call borderline personality disorder these days, who terrorizes the protagonist of the picture. Take a look at the clip of ‘Ann’ below and tell me if if she doesn’t give one of the most amazing performances in cinema:
Anyhew, imagine my delight in finding out she plays Guy Madden’s mom in his new film ‘My Winnipeg’ coming to the Belcourst this month! Whoo-hoo!
(P.S. I’ve decided to become a champion of the low-budget Dear Listener after my experience with the 175 million dollar fiasco that is the Mummy).
Hey There Dear Listener: We All Make Mistakes, Like Going to See the Mummy!
Films Reviewed This Week: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, The Visitor
* The Film Talk - Part 31 - The Mummy vs. The X-Files! (Click to Play, Right-Click to Download)
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# #Yes, we’ll be reviewing the ‘X-Files, I Want to Believe’ and ‘The Mummy: Curse of the Dragon Emperor’ for Part 31, (released Thursday, August 7th Friday August 8th).
The good Professor Doctor won’t see the Mummy till Thursday morning; I’m recording it ‘on the fly’, editing and uploading it tomorrow night.
I just wanted to say to the Professor, (without giving anything away), re my request that you see the Mummy: I’m very, very sorry. I had no idea.
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