Favorite Films Friday: Alfred Hitchcock (Part 2)

Day 351

It’s been a long time coming, but here is my follow-up to a previous post, about more of my favorite Alfred Hitchcock movies:

Dial M For Murder (1954)

Grace Kelly was one of the most beautiful, luminous actresses ever to appear on the silver screen. Is it any wonder that Hitchcock cast her in three of his films? In this film she portrays Margot, a woman unhappily married to Tony (Ray Milland). She has fallen in love with another man Mark (Robert Cummings), unaware that her husband has learned of her infidelity and plans on having her murdered. Tony blackmails a man into coming to their house on a night when Tony will be out and murdering Margot, and making it look like she was killed during a robbery.

Tony seems to have plotted the perfect murder; however, things do not go as planned, as Margot manages to fight back and then stabs her would-be killer with a pair of scissors (a very brutal scene!) At first Tony is disappointed with the turn of events, until he realizes that he has another way of disposing of his unfaithful wife - by having her killing in self-defense appear to be a cold-blooded murder. But Mark and a helpful chief inspector (John Williams) are determined to prove her innocence.

Rear Window (1954)

This is my favorite Grace Kelly/Alfred Hitchcock collaboration, and is considered a true classic! The main character is L.B. “Jeff” Jeffries, played by James Stewart, a photojournalist who is laid up in his apartment with his left leg in a cast. Cooped up in his hot, stuffy apartment during an especially hot summer, Jeff finds himself spying out his window to the apartments across from his; he sees various people in various situations, but one in particular gets his attention: a man with a bed-ridden, nagging wife. The two are constantly arguing, then one day the wife is gone.

Jeff begins to assume the worst as he notices the man, named Lars Thorwald (played by Raymond Burr) doing suspicious things, such as taking numerous trips out of his apartment late at night, wrapping up a large knife and saw in newspaper and becoming very protective/guarded of his garden (especially when a nosy dog starts digging around it). Then the dog is found dead one night and Jeff determines that Lars has murdered the dog because the dog found something in the garden (body parts of Mrs. Thorwald, perhaps?!) Jeff, his gorgeous girlfriend Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly) and his nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter) work together to try and get evidence against Thorwald!

Shadow Of A Doubt (1943)

It has been said that this was Alfred Hitchcock’s personal favorite, as this is a film that deals with a serial killer living in a quiet, all-American town. Teresa Wright plays Charlie, a young woman named after her mother’s brother, the beloved Uncle Charlie (played by Joseph Cotten). She and her family are thrilled when Uncle Charlie comes from his home out east to their town for an extended visit. Young Charlie and her uncle have a special bond, a close relationship and not just because they share the same name.

But Young Charlie begins to have feelings of concern and worry that something is not right with her beloved uncle. Then she is approached by a pair of detectives and she learns that her uncle is suspected of being the notorious “Merry Widow” killer who is still on the loose. At first Young Charlie can’t believe that her uncle could be this serial killer, but then she discovers some dark truths about her uncle, unaware that Uncle Charlie knows this and will do whatever it takes to keep his true identity hidden!

Spellbound (1945)

Ingrid Bergman is captivating as Dr. Constance Peterson, a psychiatrist who finds herself falling in love with the new doctor in charge at Green Meadows, Dr. Anthony Edwardes (played by Gregory Peck). But there is something wrong with Dr. Edwardes and Constance soon discovers that the man claiming to be Dr. Edwardes is actually “JB” a suffering from amnesia, and he’s convinced that he killed the real Dr. Edwardes and took on his identity to hide the truth.

“JB” escapes the hospital just as authorities are called in to investigate. Constance, in love with “JB” and convinced that he is not capable of murder, follows after him and when the two are reunited she works with him to help him discover the truth. “JB” has a most unusual dream (that is presented in a memorable sequence that uses artwork by famed artist Salvador Dali), and as Constance analyzes it she begins to uncover information about what happened to the real Dr. Edwardes and how “JB” is involved.