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Sunday, October 30, 2022
The Body in the Woods:
'He looked exactly the same when he was alive, only he was vertical.'
Jennifer
One of my favorite Hitchcock films is actually not a horror film, but the 1955 comedy, mystery tale, The Trouble With Harry. Harry's a dead man, and although no one seems to mind, they all feel responsible. After Harry's body is found in the woods, several locals must determine not only how and why he was killed, but what to do with the body...
The Trouble With Harry (1955)
Visual Interpretation
by LukeG
One of the reasons I love the film so much goes beyond the story to the location and visuals. The film is set during Autumn and it's filled with colorful Autumn imagery and colors. The color were actually part of the film's original marketing. Red! Gold! And Glorious! The full flavor of autumn in Vermont in VISTAVISION
Although very much alive, artist and model Luke G headed out into the woods to recreate Harry's hillside position surrounded by the glorious red and gold. It was a bitterly cold day when Luke re-created these moments from the film and I'm grateful for his time, and for his freezing his beautiful body off, to capture a few moments to commemorate the film.
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
'It Begins With a Shriek... It Ends With a Shot!'
Based on the 1929 play by Patrick Hamilton, Alfred Hitchcock's Rope was originally adapted for the screen by Hume Cronyn with a screenplay by Arthur Laurents. The story focuses on Brandon (John Dall) and Philip, (Farley Granger) two brilliant young aesthetes who strangle to death David Kentley, their former classmate from prep school.
The murder takes place in their Manhattan penthouse apartment, just hours before the pair host a dinner party. One of the guests is their prep-school housemaster, publisher Rupert Cadwell. (James Stewart) who helped plant the idea.
Rupert had previously discussed with them, in an apparently approving way, the intellectual concepts of Nietzsche's Superman, as a means of showing one's superiority over others. For Brandon and Philip, the murder is part of an intellectual exercise, a perfect murder as a way to prove their superiority
Rope (1957)
Visual Interpretation by
Tom Nakielski, Lights On Studio
'I've always wished for more artistic talent. Well, murder can be an art, too. The power to kill can be just as satisfying as the power to create.'
Brandon, Rope
Rope is completely infused with homosexual subtexts. After he had come out as gay later in life, the films screenplay writer, Arthur Laurents, shares on the films DVD commentary that to him, it was obvious that Brandon and Philip were gay.
In addition to the murder weapon, rope is also a metaphor for how emotionally twisted the characters become after the murder. This is especially true for Philip who cannot hide his nervousness, fear and guilt. In real life, John Dall was also gay but died in 1971 without talking openly about his sexuality. Farley Granger was supposedly bisexual when the movie was made, but was in a lifelong gay relationship starting in 1963.
Alfred Hitchcock was well aware of the sexual orientations of both actors and was reportedly pleased with what is now called the on-screen “chemistry” between the two. Hitchcock avoided obvious gay stereotypes in his portrayals of Brandon and Philip. Also, he could have easily incorporated indications that they were straight. Other directors regularly “straightened out” characters that were gay in the source material. He chose neither option for Brandon and Philip, keeping their homosexual relationship as just another, rather minor, aspect of their twisted personalities.
Badman & Russell, Mensa
Seeing Isn't Always Believing
'We’ve become a race of Peeping Toms. What people ought to do is get outside their house and look in for a change.'
If I had to name my favorite Alfred Hitchcock film it would be 1954's Rear Window. James Stewart is perfect in his role and I absolutely love Thelma Ritter as Stella. I could also definitely love, marry and have sex with Lisa, so elegantly played by Grace Kelly. I really should check out more of Kelly's work as an actress as she's so enjoyable in this film.
Although it turns into a murder mystery, at it's core, Rear Window is a film about voyeurism. Before Jeff starts following clues to a killer, he's watching women exercise, family dramas and sadness and depression through his tightly held binoculars. Jeff's voyeuristic tendencies may have been amplified by his accident, but it's obvious, they were there long before.
Rear Window (1954)
Visual Interpretation
by Von Melzer
When I was planning my Hitchcock themed Halloween posts, I initially thought Rear Window would be the easiest film to recreate. I was wrong. I pitched a guy in a blue robe with binoculars to several of my favorite artists, but it just didn't work out. I had interest and enthusiasm for the project, but accidents, model misses and a windowless studio meant it just didn't work out.
Then I remembered... One of the most interesting themes I explore on the site is voyeurism, and one of the best chronicles of the theme is the fetishly inclined Von Melzer. Not only does the Washington based photographer capture voyeuristic moments, he also often uses a pretty spectacular window.
I've featured several of Von Melzer's shoots, but the one that stood out for me was the 2015 piece The Third Floor Window. (HERE:) The images were right on theme, and perfect for the a Rear Window inspired post. Then I remembered another series of Von Melzer's work, this one featuring adult film star Colby Keller.
Although not in a wheelchair, this series of images beautifully capture the feeling of being alone, bored and with too much time on your hands. You can see the signs of boredom in the room, and the end result... a series of cameras and video feeds capturing every moment of all of Colby's neighbours. Von Melzer not only captured the voyeuristic feel of Rear Window, he also captured a great window, and an exceptionally beautiful rear.
Voyeurism (from the French voyeur, "one who looks").The voyeur may observe the subject from a distance, using sometimes some kind of devices and strategies.'
Eating Crow by Frisky Frolic
She let the critter get away.
Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, hey donny dostle-tee,
knickety-knackety, retro-quo-quality, willoby-wallaby,
Now, now, now!
Back in 1952, English novelist Daphne du Maurier (aka Lady Browning) published a short novel and some short stories entitled The Apple Tree: One of the stories is a chilling tale called The Birds, an environmentally-conscious fable about a population of birds who start attacking humans after a harsh winter depletes their natural food supply.
Hitchcock read and liked the basic premise and wanted to put The Birds on film. However, his film would be far from a faithful retelling. Once Hitchcock bought the rights to du Maurier, he hired screenwriter Evan Hunter to pen a script. Hunter remembers Hitchcock wanted to rid of the original story and wanted the focus to be squarely on the birds attacking people.
The Birds (1963)
Visual Interpretation
At FH, Halloween and artist JayBee, (Frisky Frolic) go hand in hand. JayBee's imagery helped inspire my annual Halloween themed posts after I first discovered his incredible imagery over 12 years ago. Since then, his costumed hotties, his witches, his ghosts, and now his crows have been apart of almost every FH Halloween celebration since.
There were over 3000 birds trained for the making of the movie. Most of birds were wild-caught crows, ravens, seagulls, and sparrows. Through a meticulous positive reinforcement process, animal handler Ray Berwick trained hundreds of live birds for use in Hitchcock’s movie.
Berwick oversaw an entire bird-wrangling team whose members spent a huge amount of time corralling their feathered co-workers between takes. Berwick thought that the ravens were the cleverest, and the seagulls were the most vicious. The crows however, were the birds most remember, especially from that chilling scene in the school yard.
Crows are a rare breed of bird that have actually managed to changed their reputation over the years. Once thought of as mostly annoying scavengers, animal research has taught us how intelligent crows actually are. In addition to having excellent memories, crows have also been observed using basic tools to aid in accomplishing their tasks.
Crows are also the the bird most closely associated with witches, with evil and with deathcr. This of course makes crows the perfect avian for All Hallow's Eve. When I asked JayBee if he'd ever shot anything Hitchcock related, he remembered a shoot in his archives of a model in a crow themed costumed he shot a few years ago. JayBee had a hard time finding the images in his extensive archive, but even though crows are also associated with bad omens and bad luck, JayBee managed to find his feathered friend just in time for Halloween!
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