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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HitchcOctober Day 16: Under Capricorn

Posted on October 16, 2014 by jaycluitt

In 1831, Charles Adare (Michael Wilding) the governor’s cousin and youngest son of his family’s wealthy estate, arrives in Sydney to leave his mark. He soon meets Mr. Sam Flusky (Joseph Cotten) a local businessman and land owner, whose emancipated past leaves him with an ill reputation around town, particularly with the governor (Cecil Parker), with whom Charles is staying. Charles is forbidden from engaging with Flusky in any manner, but the reckless younger man disobeys his superior, and heads to Flusky’s house anyway, despite the many warnings he receives from numerous, unrelated people. At Flusky’s dinner party, Charles runs into Flusky’s wife, Henrietta (Ingrid Bergman), who usually remains out of the way and hidden. It soon becomes clear that Hetty has an alcohol problem and is regularly drunk, but once Charles recognises Hetty as being a friend of his sister’s from their youth, the newcomer sets about improving her condition, much to the annoyance of Hetty’s maid Milly (Margaret Leighton). bergman-and-wilding
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HitchcOctober Day 11: The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

Posted on October 11, 2014 by jaycluitt

Bob and Jill (Leslie Banks and Edna Best) are holidaying in Switzerland with their daughter Betty (Nova Pilbeam), partaking in some kind of competition where Jill gets to show off her clay pigeon shooting skills, and they get the chance to meet up with their family friend Louis (Pierre Fresnay), who is involved in the skiing tournament. On the last evening of Louis’ stay he is shot whilst dancing with Jill, and his dying words set in motion a mission for the couple, as they must keep the contents of a hidden message secret, because their daughter’s life is at risk. 723
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HitchcOctober Day 9: The Lodger

Posted on October 9, 2014 by jaycluitt

In 1920s London, a string of murders has just received its latest addition. Every tuesday night a golden-haired young woman is slain within a small area of town, and as yet the police have no leads to go on, other than the killer goes by the name of The Avenger, and is a tall man with a face wrapped up in a scarf. Meanwhile, a tall, creepy, scarf-adorned man (Ivor Novello) arrives at a lodging house and requests a room. The landlady Mrs. Bunting (Marie Ault) accepts and he is shown the room, were he immediately requests that all the portraits of blonde women be removed, as they unnerve him. Mrs. Bunting runs the lodging house with her husband (Arthur Chesney) and daughter Daisy (June Tripp), who also works as a fashion model. The house is regularly visited by bumbling policeman Joe (Malcolm Keen) who is attempting to woo Daisy and, once he is put onto the Avenger case, he vows that as soon as he catches the killer he’ll put a ring on Daisy’s finger. Over time, Daisy grows closer to the house’s new, mysterious lodger, much to the concern of her parents, who begin to suspect this strange man may be involved in the murders.

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HitchcOctober Day 7: To Catch A Thief

Posted on October 7, 2014 by jaycluitt

John Robie (Cary Grant) is a former master cat burglar, who gave it all up during the war to become a hero of the French resistance. He now lives a life of luxury in the south of France, but when a string of burglaries starts up the police immediately puts Robie in the frame, causing him to go on the run. He hatches a plan using a connection within the jewellery insurance industry to scope out the next potential victims, believing the only way to clear his name is to catch the real burglar in the act. This brings him into contact with the wealthy Jessie Stevens (Jessie Royce Landis) and her beautiful daughter Frances (Grace Kelly). Thief 1
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HitchcOctober Day 5: Suspicion

Posted on October 5, 2014 by jaycluitt

Johnnie and Lina meet by chance on a train when Johnnie (Cary Grant) can’t afford a first class upgrade, and pays for it in pennies and a borrowed stamp from Lina (Joan Fontaine). Lina leads a relatively sheltered life, being bookish and introverted, whereas Johnnie is a serial blagger, flying by the seat of his pants without a care for cause or consequence. Naturally, these opposites attract and the two are soon married, against the wishes of Lina’s parents. Eventually, Johnnie’s extravagant lifestyle leads to financial woes, and Lina suspects Johnnie may have some untraditional methods of fixing them. Annex - Grant, Cary (Suspicion)_09 Continue reading →

HitchcOctober Day 2: Elstree Calling

Posted on October 2, 2014 by jaycluitt

This review was originally written for Blueprint: Review a few months ago, but I’ve saved it here for HitchcOctober!

In the late 1920s/early 1930s, Hollywood produced a number of musical and comedy revues; a selection of skits, dances and musical numbers, combined together into one long production, similar to a modern day Royal Variety Performance, but without the obligatory monarch amongst the audience. In response to these, Britain retaliated with Elstree Calling, a more comedic take that almost parodied the American counterparts, whilst still showcasing a range of talented performers from the time, and linked together by a sporadically inept compère, a desperate Shakespearean performer (the greatest Shakespearean actor in captivity) and a man attempting to re-tune his television set to watch the broadcast at home.
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The Color Purple

Posted on August 3, 2014 by jaycluitt

Celie and her younger sister Nettie are being raised by an abusive father in southern USA, near the start of the 20th Century. They have just lost their mother, and so far their father has taken the two children he raped into Celie and killed them in the woods. Now, though, their father’s eye has begun to wander onto the blossoming Nettie, so Celie is married off to a widowed man who needs a wife to take care of his house and his three unruly children. This new man turns out to be just as bad as Celie’s father, and it doesn’t help when he spends all his time pining for a lost love, in the form of Shug Avery. Purple03

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Goal of the Dead

Posted on July 12, 2014 by jaycluitt

This review was originally written for Blueprint: Review. When the Parisian football team Olympique head to the small town of Capelongue for a minor match against their local team, the most eventful thing on anyone’s minds is the potential transfer of their star player, and the trepidation of the team’s oldest player, Sam Lorit, at returning to his home town, which he left seventeen years ago, abandoning the home team to mediocrity. However, when the spurned father of a Capelongue player tries out a new steroid-like injection on his son, it soon leads to an outbreak of rabid, blood-thirsty rioters terrorising the stadium. Continue reading →

American Hustle

Posted on February 17, 2014 by jaycluitt

Last night, American Hustle won the BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay and that got me thinking: “How the hell did American Hustle win the BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay?” I’ve also been contemplating “Why is American Hustle nominated for Best Director at so many awards shows, including yesterday’s BAFTAs and the upcoming Oscars?” They’re questions I can’t really fathom an answer to because, as far as I can recall, it wasn’t a very good film, and the main aspects that let it down were the direction and the script. Continue reading →