Well, we hadn't watched it since December. Missed the flash at the beginning, despite looking out for it. Same comments as before. The focus pulling is great throughout, almost magic, one of the finest examples of the craft. The background sound is extremely well thought out. There is for example a scene between Stewart and Corey backed by scales being practised - and the moment Stewart's argument is disproved it changes to singing. I wonder if Polanski was influenced by this for Repulsion? Probably.
Half the film is Stewart's reaction shots.
There seemed to me (through a fog of armagnac) that there is a direct correlation between the shot length (distance) and the emotional significance.
Could Cary Grant have played the lead? No. Could anyone else have played it better? It's a fun game, despite being totally pointless. Is it Thelma Ritter's best film? She was six times Oscar-nominated (once for the excellent Pickup on South Street), though not for this. Yes, it probably is.
So, the ending. In the final struggle, the cutaways are all speeded up, which looks quite funny. Why has he done this? I think it's to accelerate the climax, making it seem like a violent rush.
The purest of Hitch's 'pure cinema' and very possibly his best film (it's certainly more fun than Vertigo).
No comments:
Post a Comment