Alfred Hitchcock: Director Hall of Fame **VOTE HERE** (1 Viewer)

[Andy Dufresne]

I've watched Vertigo three times. I doubt there will be a fourth. I don't get the love at all.

Maybe if it'd featured Grace Kelley...

 

[trader jake]

Tough choices and I won't argue with Rear Window or Psycho.

However, I will go with North By Northwest, which was the template for the James Bond series and other action adventure films of that nature to follow. And the "crop dusting" scene with Cary Grant is brilliant and unsurpassed IMO. 

My favorite NxNW  moment is at the Mount Rushmore cafeteria.  A young boy covers his ears just before (spoiler?...um, a "load noise" occurs).  Because he had gone through a handful of previous takes and knew the noise was about to occur.

The Hitchcock cameos were great too.  Read somewhere he put his cameos in earlier as he went on, so viewers wouldn't be distracted looking for him.

Voted Rear Window because it's my favorite Hitchcock film, but the correct choice is probably Psycho.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

It's funny that nobody ever mentions Foreign Correspondent. 

 

[AAABatteries]

I've watched Vertigo three times. I doubt there will be a fourth. I don't get the love at all.

Maybe if it'd featured Grace Kelley...

Midge or whatever her name was that fawned over Stewart was a fairly annoying character and I agree that Novak didn't bring a whole lot to it.  I never felt that they two of them had good chemistry.

 

[squistion]

Midge or whatever her name was that fawned over Stewart was a fairly annoying character and I agree that Novak didn't bring a whole lot to it.  I never felt that they two of them had good chemistry.

Vera Miles had been the original choice to play Madeleine and although not close to being as beautiful as Novak, was a much better actress and may have had better chemistry with Stewart. Details on the casting change decision. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertigo_(film)#Casting

Casting[edit]

Vera Miles, who was under personal contract to Hitchcock and had appeared on both his television show and in his film The Wrong Man, was originally scheduled to play Madeleine. She modeled for an early version of the painting featured in the film.[18] Following delays, including Hitchcock becoming ill with gallbladder problems, Miles became pregnant and so had to withdraw from the role.[18] The director declined to postpone shooting and cast Kim Novak as the female lead. By the time Novak had tied up prior film commitments and a vacation promised by Columbia Pictures, the studio that held her contract, Miles had given birth and was available for the film. Hitchcock proceeded with Novak, nevertheless. Columbia head Harry Cohn agreed to lend Novak to Vertigo if Stewart would agree to co-star with Novak in Bell, Book and Candle, a Columbia production released in December 1958.

 

[Ilov80s]

I don’t think chemistry between Stewart and Novak is important. They aren’t actually in love with each other. It’s about obsession and guilt and control.

 

[squistion]

I don’t think chemistry between Stewart and Novak is important. They aren’t actually in love with each other. It’s about obsession and guilt and control.

I think the character that Novak played did fall in love with Stewart, that is why she allowed him to alter her image to match his obsession. 

 

[wikkidpissah]

I think the character that Novak played did fall in love with Stewart, that is why she allowed him to alter her image to match his obsession. 

and dont undervalue the ego boost of having rendered another person helpless in thrall. my great personal beauty makes that a commonplace thing for me, but i still find it intoxicating...

 

[El Floppo]

Went NxNW, for the epic quality/scope of the story and story telling.

Psycho and Rear Window are pretty fantastic though, maybe tighter due to more focused stories and scope. I like almost all of the others, and wouldn't begrudge somebody for picking any of them tbh.

 

[El Floppo]

and dont undervalue the ego boost of having rendered another person helpless in thrall. my great personal beauty makes that a commonplace thing for me, but i still find it intoxicating...

 

[Ilov80s]

I think the character that Novak played did fall in love with Stewart, that is why she allowed him to alter her image to match his obsession. 

I think it’s more of a guilt she felt for being part of a plot to cover up the murder of a woman and cause Stewart to lose his mind. Plus enjoying the day attention and devotion. I don’t think it was any kind of healthy clear minded relationship. 

 

[squistion]

It's funny that nobody ever mentions Foreign Correspondent. 

It is an OK film and I have seen it on some Hitchcock Top 10 lists, although it has never been a favorite of mine or one that I will go out of my way to watch. The plot seems to drag for me, although the film does have its moments, particularly near the end when the plane crashes into the ocean and the cockpit windows break and the compartment is flooded. 

 

[AAABatteries]

I don’t think chemistry between Stewart and Novak is important. They aren’t actually in love with each other. It’s about obsession and guilt and control.

Chemistry doesn't have to be love. 

 

[Keith R]

If Psycho holds out, it will be interesting that all 3 directors so far go into the Hall for “horror” movies when none of them are considered horror directors. 

If you want to break that trend, do Francis Ford Coppola next.

And yes, he has directed multiple horror films

 

[Don Quixote]

If you want to break that trend, do Francis Ford Coppola next.

And yes, he has directed multiple horror films

The horror... the horror

 

[Ilov80s]

Chemistry doesn't have to be love. 

Fair, I bought into Stewart’s attraction and obsession. I bought why any man would be obsessed with Novak there. 

 

[wikkidpissah]

Fair, I bought into Stewart’s attraction and obsession. I bought why any man would be obsessed with Novak there. 

i studied Novak a LOT for a workpiece (musical version of Bell, Book & Candle) and found that she's got no match out there. that level of placid fervency is unprecedented and made it a pure ##### to contrive a reason she might burst into song, which kinda killed an idea i liked quite well.

 

[squistion]

Fair, I bought into Stewart’s attraction and obsession. I bought why any man would be obsessed with Novak there. 

Particularly if the only competition was Barbars Bel Geddes' Midge. Bel Geddes was an attractive woman in her own right, but in a wholesome, midwestern sense, but she suffered in comparison to the blond and seemingly exotic Novak (as I think would have most women at that time). 

 

[Eephus]

Particularly if the only competition was Barbars Bel Geddes' Midge. Bel Geddes was an attractive woman in her own right, but in a wholesome, midwestern sense, but she suffered in comparison to the blond and seemingly exotic Novak (as I think would have most women at that time). 

One interesting thing about old movies is to watch how standards of beauty have changed over the decades.  Novak's zaftig figure would be out of place in a film from the 70s or 80s.  Bel Geddes' character just had to wear glasses to tell the audience that she wasn't the main love interest.