Category: Classics & Hitchcock

Tennessee Williams is undoubtedly best known for A Streetcar Named Desire and other Southern tragedies like The Glass Menagerie and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. His is not a name that many would associate with warm, often comedic Christmas movies like those of, say, John Hughes, Chris Columbus, or even Frank Capra. Still, his…

There are war movies and there are more war movies, but I do not hesitate to state that The Bridge on the River Kwai is as unique as it is excellent. Within the huge category of war movies, we have many about prisoners of war, and the inevitable nightmares and madness of horrific situations brought…

2 Hours 9 minutes Fair Value of The Farmer and His Wife: $0.00. In this early (1928) silent film, a young Hitchcock is both out of his element (mystery) and his medium (dialogue), and so this early drama is generic and basic, largely lacking in Hitchcock’s style. This is a snoozer. Summary of the Concept:…

                                1 hour 34 minutes Fair Value of Juno and the Paycock: $-5.00. 1920s knockoff Bernard Shaw misery porn that lacks in much of the style or timing that Hitchcock would later display. This early Hitchcock film shows why he went to thrillers and suspense- it’s artless and heartless. Summary of the Concept: A poor…

  1 hour 26 minutes Fair Value of Secret Agent: $2.00. If it’s streaming, it’s a good old timey punt, with amusing performances by Peter Lorre and John Gielgud Summary of the Concept: During World War I, a newly commissioned British spy is tasked with identifying and catching a German spy moving through Switzerland. What’s…

1 hour 26 Minutes The Grandfather of all Spy Films. Without The 39 Steps, no Bond. No Bourne. No The Fugitive, the most obvious modern descendant of this film, which truly established Hitchcock on the map of international cinema. Fair value of The 39 Steps: $20.00. It’s must-see cinema, in the same way as Star…

2 hrs, 36 minutes, suitable for all ages Q’esque que c’est? The last of Jacques Tati’s Monsieur Hulot comedies, a major inspiration for Rowan Atkinson’s Laugh In. Fair value of Antrum: $25.00. I really can’t think of another film like it. In some ways, it evokes Chaplin’s Modern Times, but it has a subtlety and…