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 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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