What Interests Me: Good movies, good books, good music, any of the creative arts.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Foreign Correspondent
Next on my list of " to sees": another Alfred Hitchcock movie- "Foreign Correspondent", starring Joel McCrea. This movie airs this Wednesday, February 6, on TCM at 5:45pm EST.
When Mr. van Meer talked about 'feeding the birds,' it reminded me of you telling me about the sign in England today that reminds people not to feed the birds.
Did you notice the lit up Hotel sign breaking and leaving the word Hot?
Did you see Hitchcock reading the paper?
They just aren't making anything really new today. There is a movie coming out called "Vantage Point" that is using a similar theme.
I liked the elements of suspense and surprise. I didn't see many things coming. I also expected other things to happen that didn't.
Well, I did like this movie. It had a lot of the hallmarks of classic Hitchcock. Yes, I did notice Hitchcock making his appearance strolling past Joel McCrea. He had hair and it was dark. As usual, it took me a while to figure out what was going on and what the principal characters played by McCrea, Herbert Marshall, Laraine Day and George Sanders were all about. McCrea is the entrepid reporter sent out to get " the story" for Harry Davenport on the verge of war in Europe. Some similarities ring true between this movie and " North By Northwest", a Hitchcock classic. First, the accidental involvement of McCrea with the subversive spy ring. Some very cool suspense scenes - the assassination, McCrea dodging his way in and around the Holland windmill. That was reminiscent of Cary Grant craftily sneaking into James Mason's chateau in "Northwest". The spectacle of the plane crash and drifting on a very realistic oceanscape was a similar thrill-ending to the Mt. Rushmore scene. What was missing was that McCrea and Laraine Day have about .00012% of the chemistry that Grant and Eva Marie Saint had. I did notice the hotel sign going out, but it didn't register that it only said " Hot". Very observant.
Glad I am making a point to see these movies that I've missed thus far.
I think, perhaps I've been suspensed into a stupor over the years and can't enjoy the films that began the genre. Between his films and those of his imitators, the radio series Suspense and it's imitators, and his own long running TV show and, well, you get the idea...that's a lot of suspense! Yeah, Laraine Day was completely non-combustible. We watched Rebecca the last two nights and I had to ask my wife "Is she gonna play the wimp for the whole movie?" I had more fun re-watching Topper, the film Cary Grant made just before The Awful Truth. I think Topper is really his 'breakout', not TAT.
3 comments:
I saw "Foreign Correspondent" tonight.
When Mr. van Meer talked about 'feeding the birds,' it reminded me of you telling me about the sign in England today that reminds people not to feed the birds.
Did you notice the lit up Hotel sign breaking and leaving the word Hot?
Did you see Hitchcock reading the paper?
They just aren't making anything really new today. There is a movie coming out called "Vantage Point" that is using a similar theme.
I liked the elements of suspense and surprise. I didn't see many things coming. I also expected other things to happen that didn't.
Anyone else see this movie?
Well, I did like this movie. It had a lot of the hallmarks of classic Hitchcock. Yes, I did notice Hitchcock making his appearance strolling past Joel McCrea. He had hair and it was dark.
As usual, it took me a while to figure out what was going on and what the principal characters played by McCrea, Herbert Marshall, Laraine Day and George Sanders were all about. McCrea is the entrepid reporter sent out to get " the story" for Harry Davenport on the verge of war in Europe.
Some similarities ring true between this movie and " North By Northwest", a Hitchcock classic. First, the accidental involvement of McCrea with the subversive spy ring. Some very cool suspense scenes - the assassination, McCrea dodging his way in and around the Holland windmill. That was reminiscent of Cary Grant craftily sneaking into James Mason's chateau in "Northwest". The spectacle of the plane crash and drifting on a very realistic oceanscape was a similar thrill-ending to the Mt. Rushmore scene.
What was missing was that McCrea and Laraine Day have about .00012% of the chemistry that Grant and Eva Marie Saint had.
I did notice the hotel sign going out, but it didn't register that it only said " Hot". Very observant.
Glad I am making a point to see these movies that I've missed thus far.
I think, perhaps I've been suspensed into a stupor over the years and can't enjoy the films that began the genre.
Between his films and those of his imitators, the radio series Suspense and it's imitators, and his own long running TV show and, well, you get the idea...that's a lot of suspense!
Yeah, Laraine Day was completely non-combustible. We watched Rebecca the last two nights and I had to ask my wife "Is she gonna play the wimp for the whole movie?"
I had more fun re-watching Topper, the film Cary Grant made just before The Awful Truth. I think Topper is really his 'breakout', not TAT.
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