Awesome Alfred Hitchcock Movies

Hi Guys,

In this post I’m going to write about three movies I watched recently. I had heard of Alfred Hitchcock and wanted to watch at least a few of his movies. The dream became true and I watched three of his movies including Psycho (1960), Rear Window (1954) and Vertigo (1958). Each movie was a masterpiece.

Psycho

It is said to be Alfred Hitchcock’s best one and one of the greatest movies ever released. It is a 1960 Black and White movie. Though color movies were quite common at that time, I think Alfred Hitchcock wanted to take this movie in this BW.

It’s a psychological thriller movie. Janet Leigh steals $40000 from her boss in order to marry her boyfriend John Gavin and flees Phoenix. On the way she is followed by a policeman who suspects her. After getting free from the cop, she stops in a motel, due to rain. The motel is run by Norman Bates, who stays in his home nearby along with his mother. There is no one in the motel, as it far away from Fairvale. She dines with Norman and his mother is unhappy with her arrival. That night, we are shown Janet being murdered by a woman like structure, who probably must be his mother.

Norman fights with his mother for her murdering act and starts to clean the room. Meanwhile Janet’s boss sends her sister to find her and his money. She along with John Gavin sends a detective to the motel. He is also murdered by the same woman like structure. Then both of them come to the motel and finds that Norman’s mother is dead and her decayed body is kept in his home. So, who killed both the people and whose voice did we hear when Norman spoke to his mother? Watch movie to know the climax.

Alfred Hitchcock has used many of his peculiar film making techniques in this movie. First is his Mcguffin technique. Mcguffin is a film making technique in which the story revolves around a particular object or thing. In this story $40000 tends to be Mcguffin, but in the end we even forget there was money involved in the story. The best scene in the movie is the murder scene of Janet Leigh. The director has used a lot of close up cameras and different angles to make it terrific. It is said that after watching this movie, many people were horror filled to take a bath.

Rear Window

The next movie I watched was Rear Window. The suspense movie was released in 1954 and stars James Stewart, Grace Kelly and Thelma Ritter. The whole movie has been shot in one location, an apartment and most of the movie has been shot from a single room.

James Stewart is a professional photographer and breaks his leg in a dangerous assignment. He is confined to a wheelchair in his house. His daily visitors are an elderly nurse Thelma Ritter and his girlfriend Grace Kelly. Due to summer heat wave, the occupants leave their window open and James passes his day by watching people through the window. He becomes suspicious of a businessman as his ill wife gets disappeared all of a sudden. He tells the things to his girlfriend and nurse and with the help of them, he finds out things. Was the businessman a murderer? Watch the movie.

Actually I started watching this movie by 11 pm. I thought of seeing some of the movie and then to continue it the next day. But the movie was so interesting and I finished the movie in a stretch. I can’t imagine today’s directors to stick with just a home and finish of a movie.

Vertigo

I watched this thriller yesterday. It was released in 1958 and stars James Stewart and Kim Novak. Again, it was a different story and a superb movie.

James Stewart is a detective in the police force who develops Acrophobia (fear of heights) as he sees a police officer fall down from a roof, despite his efforts to save him. He retires from the police force. One of his school friend requests James to decode his wife’s suspicious behaviour. As per his request, James follows Kim Novak and finds her to be peculiar. Her great grandmother committed suicide and she pretends to have all her behaviours. James saves her from committing suicide in California bay. After that he falls in love with her and she tells him about a peculiar dream.

In an effort to find out the solution, he takes her to a Spanish colony some 100 miles apart. There she says James is too late and starts climbing the church’s tower. James follows her, but because of his acrophobia he is not able to climb and sees Kim falling through a window. He is shocked and he is unable to talk for some days. After recovery, he wanders through and finds a girl much similar to Kim. He meets her awkwardly in her room and later they fall in love.

James requests her to dress similarly to the old Kim and finally he sees that she has the same necklace as that of old Kim. That raises suspicion and he takes to the same church to wrangle out the truth. What happens next is the climax. Were they the same? Or were they different people? Why was James used in all these things? Watch the movie to find out the answers.

Hope you enjoyed the post. I’m going to continue watching Alfred Hitchcock’s movies and write about them.

continued in  Awesome Alfred Hitchcock Movies - Part 2

Happy Reading!!!