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 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 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 17: Waltzes From Vienna

Posted on October 17, 2014 by jaycluitt

Johann Strauss (Edmund Gwenn), the famous composer, had three sons. Two of them he encouraged to become composers themselves, but his youngest, Johann Jr. (Esmond Knight) lacked talent to his father’s eyes, and was relegated to being second fiddle amongst his father’s orchestra. Undeterred, Johann Jr. (also known as Johnny) attempts to write his own compositions anyway, and is thrilled when the Countess (Fay Compton) commissions him to apply music to some lyrics she has written. This perturbs Johnny’s sweetheart Rasi (Jessie Matthews) who, as the lowly daughter of the proprietor of a pastry shop (Robert Hale), believes she cannot hope to compete against such a fine woman. 5888 Continue reading →

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 15: Mr and Mrs Smith

Posted on October 15, 2014 by jaycluitt

David and Annie (Robert Montgomery and Carole Lombard) have been married for three years and, despite the occasional row (the most recent of which lasted three days, five short of their record) they are still very much in love. One morning Annie asks David if he would still marry her if he could go back and live his life again, to which he foolishly replies no, saying he would rather remain a carefree bachelor than marry anyone. Annie is understandably perturbed, but an argument does not ensue and the pair go about their days. A short while later, David is visited in his office – he’s a lawyer – by a man from the town he and Annie were married in, claiming that, due to a discrepancy over which state their church was actually in, the couple are not legally married. The notion amuses David, who delights himself in the idea that he is technically dating a single woman again, but his hesitancy to tell his then-wife-now-girlfriend may cost him the entire relationship. 5111 Continue reading →

HitchcOctober Day 12: Downhill

Posted on October 12, 2014 by jaycluitt

Two boarding school students and best friends, Roddy and Tim (Ivor Novello and Robin Irvine) are invited by Mabel, one of the serving maids (Annette Benson) to visit her in the shop she works (Ye Olde Bunne Shoppe, love it) after school one day. She just wants Roddy to be there, and dances and kisses him, but he convinces her to dance with Tim as well. Roddy becomes distracted by children in the shop and Tim takes Mabel into the back and has his way with her. Later, the two boys are called into their headmaster’s office, where Mabel blames Roddy for her pregnancy, because his father is wealthy and can pay for it, whereas Tim is relying on a scholarship. Roddy, despite being a star rugby player and freshly dubbed Captain of the School, is thrown out, and deemed a liar by his father, prompting Roddy to leave home, becoming a penniless waiter whose life continues to get worse and worse with every new person he meets. 3M4FD3JoZNgp0UCdJ6ckgJzNxZb
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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 10: The Pleasure Garden

Posted on October 10, 2014 by jaycluitt

See, told you I’d be getting to The Pleasure Garden soon (though when I wrote that yesterday I had no intention of it being quite so soon, I just ran out of time to watch anything longer than an hour. All praise YouTube!).

Patsy (Virginia Valli) is a chorus line girl at a theatre known as The Pleasure Garden, which is run by Mr. Hamilton (Georg H. Schnell). One day a new girl, Jill (Carmelita Geraghty), arrives, but she’s had her introductory letter stolen along with all her money, so Patsy offers her a place to stay for the night. The next day, after Patsy puts in a good word and Jill haggles with Hamilton, Jill is offered a shot at dancing and, despite never having danced professionally before, she secures herself a place not just as one of the backing dancers, but as a starring attraction. Jill stays with Patsy in her small flat (even sharing a bed, which they do on their first night together as perfect strangers, it was a different time back then), and when Jill’s fiancé Hugh (John Stuart) visits, Patsy is soon set up with his colleague Levett (Miles Mander). Hugh has to go abroad on business for two years, and requests Patsy prevent Jill from going off the rails, but Jill’s newfound fame and fortune soon go to her head, leading her down a dark path. Meanwhile, Patsy and Levett marry, with the intention of waiting for one another and being together once he is back from his similar work trip.
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