Tuesday 29 December 2015

Body Double (1984 Brian de Palma and co-scr)

You can tell Mr de Palma loves Hitchcock. There's fun to be had in identifying the references - film essentially mixes Rear Window with Vertigo, throws in a house from NBNW and a murder from Dial M for Murder, and in the way Griffith only (seems) to be in it at the end is also a reverse Psycho - plus that Melanie is Tippi Hedren's daughter then can't help but invoke Marnie and The Birds.

He copies the master quite well (somehow it isn't as good no matter how slavishly copied, e.g. the scenes where Craig Wasson is following Deborah Shelton in the mall). De Palma is also quite prurient really. Was that Griffiths doing the nude scenes?

Enjoyable nonsense, rather splendidly shot by Stephen Burum (several other de Palmas including Carlito's Way, plus Rumble Fish, The Outsiders and the Escape Artist). There's some great focus pulling, though not credited - the operator is Doug Ryan. Music by Pino Donaggio. Edited by Jerry Greenberg (Apocalypse Now) and Bill Pankow.

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