TS: English Hitchcock vs US Hitchcock

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This has been a dead question since like the Fifties. But times change. Just saw 'The Lady Vanishes' (1938, all filmed in Islington). It's very good if you like films where men in cravats say things like 'what the blazes?!' as I do.

If the English Hitchcock looks a bit tinny next to his later stuff, it is, on the whole, generally funnier.

Or to put it another way: what if Cary Grant had never left Bristol?

― Enrique (Enrique), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 13:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Robyn Hitchcock.

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 13:30 (twenty-two years ago)

There's really no contest, is there? He was a great director obv., and his UK films were terrific, but from Selznick forward Hitchcock's US films were enormous. Maybe it's just maturing artistry, or maybe it's having access to much bigger budgets and Hollywood stars. It's all good, but US for sure.

― Sean (Sean), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 17:24 (twenty-two years ago)

what Sean said, except I do think the original Man Who Knew Too Much is better than the remake.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 18:50 (twenty-two years ago)

I actually rather enjoyed his last British film before he moved onto to Hollywood and "Rebecca", another Du Maurier: "Jamaica Inn".
It doesn't really capture what was great about the book, though at times there is a lot of tension. It is practically The Charles Laughton Show as he absolutely dominates affairs, his Sir Humphrey Penhaligon proving a fair more bumptious, open figure than the book's albino vicar villain, Francis Davey. Laughton is entirely brilliant, making one laugh so often, as well as keeping you on the edge of your seat. He's acting on such a different level to most - if not all, - of the actors...
A real oddity of a film and more Laughton than Hitchcock... I really liked the 1934 "Man Who Knew Too Much" and especially the sublime comedic thriller "The Lady Vanishes". Margaret Laughton... swoon. Such contained sex appeal, two of the best comedy old English buffers I've ever seen, such a dynamic and clever narrative... and a restless, probing Michael Redgrave, make it all a classic.

U.S. Hitch... like a lot of it, though there are weaker vessels, c.f. "Rope" and others. "Spellbound" I found surprisingly weak; despite great Dali sequences, the whole is unmemorable and it just resolves into tedious psychoanalyses, as if it was trying to introduce Freud to a schoolboy.
The aforementioned "Rebecca" is splendid... sort of transitional. "Vertigo" obviously, likewise "Strangers on a Train" and "Rear Window" (possibly my very favourite film of his, vying with "The Lady Vanishes"). "Psycho", again an obvious choice, but it can't be omitted. "The Wrong Man" is quite a curiously different sort of film of his that I love... a downbeat, at times Kafkaesque nightmare, that captures the situation and human feelings around it very well.

TS? Well, by default the American Hitchcock, as I've seen far more of those, and he has a high success-rate there... though the English model has loads to recommend it.

― Tom May (Tom May), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 19:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Robert Newton was the actor I mean, who manages to play on the same level as Laughton in "Jamaica Inn"... Leslie Banks was really disappointing; far too underwhelming and unthreatening a portrayal of Joss Merlyn, a swaggering, billious bull of a man in the Du Maurier novel. Maureen O'Hara had a little spirit, but only just keeps up with the array of tricks, glances and gestures of Laughton's grandstanding performance.

― Tom May (Tom May), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 19:16 (twenty-two years ago)

As great as US Hitchcock may be, the Lodger is still one of my favourite films.

― Fatal Beret (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 19:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Don't forget the late Hitchcock, like Frenzy. I like that film, especially the bit in the back of the potato lorry. Also, I like that very early one: Blackmail.

But my favourite of all is Marnie.

― R the V (Jake Proudlock), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 03:55 (twenty-two years ago)

under capricorn - c/d

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 08:17 (twenty-two years ago)

under capricorn is great. for some reason imdb has it as an english film, but from what i understand it was financed by an american studio.

i like the lady vanishes and the 39 steps an awful lot, not to mention the silent version of the lodger which is phenomenal. and there are tons of interesting and exciting things in every hitchcock film i've seen.

but his most impressive films are the universal ones i think, rear window, vertigo, trouble with harry, MARNIE, the birds, etc.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 16:35 (twenty-two years ago)

frenzy hmmm i dunno. i like family plot pretty much. topaz i've never seen--is it as bad as everyone says it is?

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 16:36 (twenty-two years ago)

marnie is clearly where he jumps the shark but it's also an incredible film...sort of the "bunny lake is missing" of the hitchcock ouevre

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 16:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Okay, I have a question.....in "Suspicion," why does the second police officer keep staring at the framed print on the wall when questioning Lina about the nature of Johnny's relationship to Beaky? They cut to a shot of him staring at it twce.....what does it mean?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 15 January 2004 03:53 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

If I see Suspicion, I will answer Alex's question 2 years later.

http://www.filmforum.org/films/hitchcock.html

I've seen many of those many times, but never The Ring or Downhill.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 20:20 (twenty years ago)

As far as directors skipping the pond, I think the most heated TS would be Fritz Lang.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 21:44 (twenty years ago)

Lang's a toughie but my unquestioning devotion to M would make me side with his German work.

I think with Hitchcock it would be fairer to say that his UK films have different virtues: concision and darker humour, maybe.

― Amity Wong (noodle vague), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 21:47 (twenty years ago)

Those bizarre German Langs -- the Mabuses, Spies -- tip the balance I think.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 21:56 (twenty years ago)

Lang in Germany. No question.

― k/l (Ken L), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 21:58 (twenty years ago)

I know some people who I swear would take Clash By Night over Metropolis. Or maybe I'm just projecting.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 22:00 (twenty years ago)

I don't think that's that tough a TS. The German Lang stuff is amazing while the American stuff is mostly just very good.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 22:01 (twenty years ago)

How about silent Dreyer v. talkies Dreyer?

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 22:10 (twenty years ago)

close Dreyer

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 22:12 (twenty years ago)

I think of Vampyr as silent but apparently it's not. I can't remember any sound from that film.

― Amity Wong (noodle vague), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 22:14 (twenty years ago)

i been reading charles barr's 'english hitchock' (i clicked on this w.out knowing i started it). it's a great book.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Thursday, 8 December 2005 10:57 (twenty years ago)

i like technical polish, in films.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Thursday, 8 December 2005 10:58 (twenty years ago)

seven years pass...

http://acertaincinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/young-hitch.jpg

― Nilmar Honorato da Silva, Thursday, 13 December 2012 00:04 (thirteen years ago)

four months pass...

Silent Hitchcock restorations in NYC (then tour, I guess)

http://www.bam.org/film/2013/the-hitchcock-9

― Pope Rusty I (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 5 May 2013 14:51 (thirteen years ago)

nrq on The Pleasure Garden!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2012/jun/29/bfi-hitchcock-the-pleasure-garden

and US tour details:

http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/announcements/nine-surviving-hitchcock-silents-tour-us

― Pope Rusty I (Dr Morbius), Monday, 6 May 2013 13:47 (thirteen years ago)

rewatched Sabotage, forgot the great scene in the London aquarium.

also the kid brother has a Brit accent tho Sylvia Sidney gets dialogue explaining why she's a Yank. The kid also shoves a broken dish in a drawer, a preview of Joan Fontaine and the china Cupid.

― ballin' from Maine to Mexico (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 16 May 2013 02:18 (thirteen years ago)

four weeks pass...

more notes on the 9 silents:

http://www.fandor.com/blog/daily-the-hitchcock-9-plus

― ballin' from Maine to Mexico (Dr Morbius), Friday, 14 June 2013 19:50 (twelve years ago)

two weeks pass...

I saw The Ring yesterday, it's a good one. Flat champagne and all.

http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2013/06/hitchcocks-bubbles.html

― playwright Greg Marlowe, secretly in love with Mary (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 30 June 2013 15:51 (twelve years ago)

three months pass...

ebook of McGilliigan bio going for $2.99 right now.

― Sodade Stereo (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 26 October 2013 20:44 (twelve years ago)

thx

― zanana rebozo (abanana), Saturday, 26 October 2013 21:10 (twelve years ago)

^^^!

― Victor Immature (WilliamC), Saturday, 26 October 2013 21:23 (twelve years ago)

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