HitchcOctober Day 31: The Paradine Case

Posted on October 31, 2014 by jaycluitt

Colonel Paradine, a wealthy blind man, has been murdered by a poisoned glass of burgundy. His wife (Alida Valli) is the prime suspect, and is therefore arrested. Via the family solicitor Sir Simon (Charles Coburn), she hires hotshot lawyer Anthony Keane (Gregory Peck) to defend her, but things get tricky when Keane starts to fall for his latest client, despite being happily married to the idyllic Gay (Ann Todd), who is also friends with Sir Simon’s daughter Judy (Joan Tetzel).
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HitchcOctober Day 30: Shadow of a Doubt

Posted on October 30, 2014 by jaycluitt

Charlie (Teresa Wright) is in a state of despair. She believes her family are far too boring and ordinary, and prays for a miracle to save them from this rut. This miracle manifests in the form of her mother’s brother, the man she was named after, Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten), who is coming to stay for reasons undisclosed. The family and entire town are quick to embrace Uncle Charlie, with his lavish gifts and big city thinking, but young Charlie begins to suspect that all may not be as it seems, as her uncle seems to be hiding something. shadow-charlie
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HitchcOctober Day 29: The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

Posted on October 30, 2014 by jaycluitt

Ben and Jo McKenna (James Stewart and Doris Day) are holidaying in Morocco with their son Hank (Christopher Olsen) when a ruckus on a bus causes them to meet Frenchman Louis Bernard (Daniel Gélin). They spend some time with the mysterious man, as well as an English couple, the Draytons (Brenda de Banzie and Bernard Miles), but when at a market the next day, Bernard is killed and, with his dying breath, tells Ben a few fragmented details of an assassination attempt in London in the near future. When Hank is kidnapped, the McKennas must attempt to solve the case without assisting the police, or risk their son’s wellbeing. the-man-who-knew-too-much-hank-tells-a-joke Continue reading →

HitchcOctober Day 28: Stage Fright

Posted on October 29, 2014 by jaycluitt

Jonathan Cooper (Richard Todd) is the bit-on-the-side for famous stage actress Charlotte Inwood (Marlene Dietrich and her ridiculous eyebrows). He’s hopelessly in love with her, so when she arrives on his doorstep with a blood-stained dress and claims of having murdered her husband, he doesn’t take much convincing to head to the scene of the crime to stage a robbery and pick her up a clean outfit. Alas, Charlotte’s maid (Kay Walsh) sees him, and Johnny suddenly finds himself accused of a crime he didn’t commit. Fortunately, his more steady ladyfriend Eve (Jane Wyman) is on hand to secret him away with her father (Alastair Sim), whilst she sets about clearing his name, first by becoming close to the investigating police detective Smith (Michael Wilding) and second by posing as Charlotte’s replacement maid, Doris. Continue reading →

HitchcOctober Day 27: I Confess

Posted on October 27, 2014 by jaycluitt

Father Michael Logan (Montcomery Clift) is in a bit of a pickle. A man in his town has just been murdered and, immediately afterwards, the culprit – Otto Keller (O. E. Hasse), a handyman who lives and works predominantly at the rectory – confesses to the murder to Logan, within the safe confines of the church’s confession booth. The next day the police are alerted once Keller “discovers” the body during his regular duties, and Logan looks on in pained disapproval, knowing the murderer is free and walking amongst his clergy. What makes matters worse is when a couple of schoolgirls claim they saw a priest fleeing the scene of the crime – Keller wore a priest’s cassock to conceal himself – and Logan finds himself accused of killing the man, not helped by his shaky alibi and motive for wanting the man dead. 1TRPjP8SILPt2K4udjpoPZD74Kh
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HitchcOctober Day 26: Notorious (1946)

Posted on October 26, 2014 by jaycluitt

When her German father is arrested and sentenced to 20 years in prison for treason, Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman) is recruited by the American government as the perfect candidate to spy on some suspected Nazi agents in Brazil. For her mission, Alicia must become close with one of the agents, Alex Sebastian (Claude Rains) which doesn’t sit well with her American correspondent Devlin (Cary Grant), as he and Alicia have recently fallen in love.
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HitchcOctober Day 25: Marnie

Posted on October 25, 2014 by jaycluitt

Marnie Edgar (Tippi Hedren) is a serial con artist, whose latest heist saw her steal almost $10,000 from the tax firm she became employed at under a fake name and a dark dye-job. She sends the money home to her single mother (Louise Latham), with whom Marnie has a relationship that could be described as difficult. Marnie’s next target is the Rutland company, managed by Mark Rutland (Sean Connery). Unfortunately for Marnie, Rutland is a client for her most recent score, and Mark recognises her as the “brunette with the legs.” Fortunately for Marnie, Mark is a zoology enthusiast, with a particular interest in criminal women, so he hires her anyway. She carries out the robbery as planned, but Mark catches up with her and offers an ultimatum; either he goes to the police, or she agrees to marry him. 3-sean-connery-and-hedren-in-marnie-color
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HitchcOctober Day 24: Easy Virtue (1928)

Posted on October 24, 2014 by jaycluitt

Larita Filton (Isabel Jeans) is in court, undergoing divorce proceedings. Through flashback we learn she has cheated on her husband (Franklin Dyall) with a painter (Eric Bransby Williams), hence the divorce. After the trial, Larita flees the incessant journalists and heads to Europe, where she meets John Whittaker (Robin Irvine), and soon marries him instead, without mentioning her previous marriage. Everything is going fine until John brings Larita back to his home in England to meet his family, many of whom – particularly his mother Violet Farebrother) – take an instant disliking to this new woman. 5921
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HitchcOctober Day 23: Rear Window

Posted on October 23, 2014 by jaycluitt

L.B. “Jeff” Jeffries (James Stewart) is a renowned photographer, whose latest on location piece resulted in a broken camera and a broken leg. He has been wheelchair-bound inside his two-room apartment for six weeks, with his cast due to be removed in seven days time. He is regularly visited by his acerbic carer Stella (Thelma Ritter) and fashion model girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly), who wants to marry Jeff, but he has deemed her too perfect for him, and is reluctant to settle down from his country-hopping lifestyle. With cabin fever beginning to set in, Jeff spends his days peeping on his neighbours, including a lonely woman looking for love, a beautiful and nubile ballerina, a pair of newlyweds, a composer, a married couple with a dog and a salesman with his ill wife. After piecing together a few out-of-character actions, Jeff begins to suspect that the salesman (Raymond Burr) may have murdered his wife, so he calls in his detective friend Doyle (Wendell Corey) to look into it. Continue reading →

HitchcOctober Day 22: Young and Innocent (The Girl was Young)

Posted on October 22, 2014 by jaycluitt

Robert Tisdall (Derrick De Marney) is out walking by the beach one day when he sees a body in the water. He rushes down to discover it is Christine Clay, an actress and friend of his, and she has somehow died and washed up on shore. Clearly shocked, Robert rushes off to get help, but is seen fleeing the scene by two women, who later accuse him of the murder, as does everyone else, which isn’t helped when the murder weapon is ascertained to be the belt from a raincoat, and Robert’s coat went conveniently missing not long before the crime was committed. Moments before Robert’s trial he escapes the court and goes on the run, dragging along Erica (Nova Pilbeam, the little kidnapped girl from The Man Who Knew Too Much, now 18 years old) the police chief’s daughter to help. Robert believes all he has to do is find his missing raincoat and he’ll prove himself innocent young-and-innocent-2-1000-1024x803
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