Hitchcock: Shadow of a Genius (1999)

Ted Haimes put together this tribute to a fine film maker. It's narrated by Kevin Spacey, and there are interpolated comments from Alfred Hitchcock's stars, co-workers, relatives and friends like Janet Leigh, Norman Lloyd, Joseph Stefano, John Michael Hayes, and Peter Bogdanovich.The comments are brief and informative. Most of the screen time is given over to Hitchcock's home movies, still photos, and clips from his better-known movies.Among the subjects given more extensive treatment are "Rear Window," "The Birds," "Shadow of a Doubt," and examples of Hitchcock's skill as an entertainer and self promoter, especially his appearances on "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." Appearing on television, in the 1950s, was considered something of a demotion for a movie director. The guy must be in decline if he's desperate enough to appear on the small screen, right? Can you imagine something along the lines of "John Ford Presents"? And yet, for all the show biz elements of his television show, it worked. It was successful even though he only directed a dozen or so episodes, and even though the material for his irreverent framing announcements were written by someone else. By this time he was as much a public figure as his movies. He was recognizable and, probably more important to him, merchandisable. By selling himself he made Alfred Hitchcock the instrument for the sale of his products.What a complicated man he was. The movie soft pedals his human weaknesses and, since it's a paean to Hitch, he is presented as a genius in touch with our innermost fears. A genius, no doubt, and an artist. Also, in the end, an abject alcoholic, a stingy man ("mean" in Britain), uncomfortable with either expressing or accepting affection or dissent, and obsessed with lurid fantasies. I doubt that the documentary would have been a lesser piece if it had mentioned some of these devalued habits.But, perhaps, that's a different kind of documentary. This one is splendidly written. It doesn't talk down to the audience, doesn't treat them as children. Not once is Hitchcock referred to as "the master of suspense." Thank Bog. I don't know if we would want to change places with Hitchcock. He earned world-wide acclaim, but his tormented soul inhabited a most unprepossessing body with compulsive traits. At the same time, I'm sure he would happily have traded places with Cary Grant.

Dial H for Hitchcock (1999) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Well made documentary covering the entire career of Alfred Hitchcock features interviews with Janet Leigh, Jonathan Demme, Brian De Palma, Curtis Hanson, Wes Craven, Peter Bogdanovich and various others including Hitchcock himself. We really don't learn anything new here but it's always interesting hearing directors speak of their favorite films and there are some nice stories told here. Psycho gets the majority of the talk but I always find these stories the most entertaining since this film does contain the greatest number of shocks. A lot of detail is also given to Hitchcock's relationship with his wife, which was pretty touching. AKA Hitchcock: Shadow of a Genius.

Not only a good glimpse at the legendary works of the Master of Suspense, this documentary, which, had it been a series, could have focused on more films, but a more modern approach that does not only repeat what Hitchcock declared himself about his movies in the famous Truffaut book. It is a very good lesson to all those who still consider Hitch only from that point of view. One of the film's greatest pleasures - one only wishes we had been given more of it - is to watch all those modern directors (who mainly started their career years after Hitchcock had died) explain the different movies and what they meant to them. Seeing, among others, Bryan Singer getting quite excited when explaining the bird's first attack on Bodega Bay is inspiring...should not every film fan and, even more, every director have the same light in his eyes when being allowed to speak about the classics, or movies in general?

Despite giving a glimpse at some intriguing archive footage this treads the same path as previous looks at Hitch's career. Shame whoever was responsible for researching this piece chose to pull out (amongst others) the old chestnut about the failure of "Torn Curtain". If they had done their job better they might have pointed out that at the time of its release it was Universals top box office grosser of all time some failure. Also wasn't Spielberg hanging around Universal during the Hitchcock years? I've never seen or heard of him talking about his co-worker.As has been pointed out the director of this special seemingly chose to leave out the titles which fell outside the rather limp thesis. While not wishing to take anything away from my favourite director I think the time has come to remember that movie-making is a collaborative process and one of Hitchs strengths was working with an enormously talented set of creative personnel (often referred to rather disparagingly as technicians) who supported his creativity and raised it to new levels.