For Classic Movie Fans

[Jet]

Originally Posted by Graphiteta2s

hey Jet,
I hear ya. So you want to talk film do you? Here is a list of what I've taught:
1. The Women Who Know Too Much: Women and Violence in the Films by Alfred Hitchcock

I'm not aware of your vantage point or your theories, so I'm just going to comment from a fan's perspective, not having studied film formally, but observed through the years. I wanted to be an actor and a screenwriter when I was younger and so I've had a love affair with the movies ever since I was a kid. Isn't that how it usually starts? I know it did for Scorsese among others. Just commenting off the cuff here...I think Hitch was kind of half and half on movies involving women being victimized. And just taking a quick look at victims vs. heroines it looks kind of even to me, even tilting more toward women being heroines or shining through in some way.

His victims:

The Birds-she's totalled
Dial M for Murder - she gets justice but was violated nonetheless
Rear Window- both catagories because a woman is murdered
Psycho-she's totalled
Strangers On a Train (Robert Walker was such a maniac-and he totalled a woman)
Notorious- She barely made it through
North by Northwest - Eva Marie Saint is an intended victim
Vertigo- she's totalled
Frenzy- She's totalled
The Paradine Case-love this movie and she's her own enemy

Women who shine through as heroines
or whose characters were not objects of violence:

Rebecca (my favorite) she comes through okay
Shadow of a Doubt (love this movie)
Marnie- who overcame
The Man Who Knew Too Much-
Rear Window (Grace Kelly being really strong and gutsy)
Spellbound- Ingrid Bergman is the heroine
Lifeboat- damn tough women in there/Tallulah and the gang
Suspicion-I'm going to put it here just because he really wasn't after her,
she only thought so.
Saboteur-great movie and Priscilla Lane's character doesn't choke
Mr. and Mrs. Smith-no victims
To Catch a Thief - no victim in the central characters
Foreign Correspondent-
Torn Curtain-spy stuff
Topaz
The Trouble With Harry
The Wrong Man-talk about a victim---a male victim here.

I'm not commenting on:
Jamaica Inn
Stage Fright
Rope-this is about guys
Under Capricorn
39 Steps-I can't remember of Madeleine Carroll gets in trouble or not
I Confess
Family Plot

just because I haven't seen them in sooooo long.

I love Hitch and his movies, except for the British silents, because i never saw them. But I never considered "women and violence" in the same sentence regarding his films. To me, his movies were more about suspense and mystery as a whole and throughout the movement of the stories. I don't separate women and violence out because there were plenty of male characters who were victims in his movies as well such as The Wrong Man... Just my .02

One thing's for sure.....he loved blonds...

See ya at the movies....