Well, dear readers, the day off was just the day I needed, which was a day off rather than a day on. The stress level for the past week was in the red, so the day off was stress relief in most ways. I did only things that were relaxing, only things I felt like doing, and the only show-related thing I did was approve two costume substitutions. I got up just before noon o’clock after nine hours of needed sleep. Once up, I answered a few e-mails, approved the two costume changes, had a brief telephonic conversation, ordered a Marco’s pizza thing, at the Marco’s pizza thing, which was very good, listened to a little music, watched a few irritating YouTube videos, and then sat on my couch like so much fish and watched two count them two Alfred Hitchcock movies. Of course, I own all these, but new transfers have been done on all the ones owned by Universal and relased on 4K discs to rave reviews. Now, all those 4K releases have Blu-rays included but, and it’s a big BUTT – Universal didn’t use the new transfers for the Blu-rays – they’re the same old Blu-ray transfers we had, many of which were really substandard. So, I was really interested to see these new UHD transfers even scaled down for my non-UHD TV. I began with The Man Who Knew Too Much, 1956-style. As those who’ve read my first novel know, that movie was one I absolutely loved when I saw it at the Lido Theater in my neighborhood in 1956 on a double bill with Autumn Leaves. That theater and double bill adorn the cover of the book as painted by the late and much-missed Harvey Schmidt. The movie is generally considered not top-tier Hitchcock and is held up as inferior to the original 1930s British version. Well, that’s really a load of hooey. I enjoy the earlier version, but it really doesn’t come close to the 1956 version, at least not for me. The 1956 version has brilliant direction by Hitchcock, wonderful performances by James Stewart, Doris Day, young Christopher Olson, Brenda de Banzie, Bernard Miles, and Daniel Gelin, a terrific screenplay by John Michael Hayes, a short but excellent score by Bernard Herrmann, great photography by Robert Burks, and on and on. It was everything I loved about movies at the tender age of eight. Plus, I identified with the little boy and wished I had a mother like Doris Day. It also had a great song that would go on to win the Oscar, Que Sera Sera. The last fifteen minutes of the film are a textbook in how to construct a sequence and film it (not the famous Albert Hall sequence, but the sequence that follows it in the embassy). I hadn’t seen it since the Blu-ray came out and I didn’t even watch the whole thing then because the transfer looked so weird. This new 4K transfer is spectacular even on my non-4K TV and I’m sure it looks even better in 4K. It was great fun to see it again.
Then I had a piece of cherry chocolate chip cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory – very good, if a bit too sweet for the likes of me. After that, I moved on to Marnie, which was horrible looking on Blu-ray. When Marnie came out in 1964 all one had to do was look at the ads to know that Universal had no idea how to sell the film. Selling it as a sex mystery was about as stupid as you could get, and I feel that’s one of the major reasons it was so reviled by critics and audiences. Being a Hitchcock FANatic, I saw it on its opening day at the Village in Westwood. I hadn’t read any reviews and knew nothing about it, other than the horrible ad, which was cheesy as can be. Well, I loved it. Sorry, I did and I don’t care who knows it. I loved everything about it including the things people hate most – the rear projection, the painted backdrops of Marnie’s street, all stylized and weird and, for me, perfectly suited to the story being told. I think that there were probably only a handful of us who felt that way and we were pretty much derided for thinking it great. I thought Tippi Hedren was great and I think I was one of the first people to ever tell her that there were people who loved the film and her in it. That was the late 1980s, before it became fashionable to suddenly love it and defend it. I was hired to direct a comedy movie that never got made, but we brought Tippi in to read for it and she was really taken aback by my praise for Marnie and her performance. She got teary eyed, as a matter of fact. The only critic who really defended the movie when it was released was the Brit Robin Wood and he wrote about it lovingly in his book on Hitchcock’s films. As I mentioned, in the 1990s it was suddenly a lost gem and all these people who loathed it were quietly jumping on the bandwagon. The same thing happened with Spielberg’s A.I. but faster. No, Marnie is not a sex mystery. It’s barely a mystery at all. It’s a psychological portrait of a very sick female thief who, because of a childhood trauma, is the way she is. It was, back then, considered a film of a very old man and very old-fashioned. Hitchcock was, at the time, all of sixty-five. But a new generation of filmmakers were making a lot of noise and suddenly the older generation of directors were out of fashion. Marnie was a final film for many of Hitchcock’s most treasured collaborators – Robert Burks only made four films after Marnie and died before Torn Curtain was shot. Hitchcock’s longtime editor, George Tomasini, died a few months after Marnie’s release, and Marnie would be the final collaboration between Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann, before their famous fallout with Torn Curtain. And no matter what one thinks of the films that followed, none have the magic of those that preceded it. I’m happy to say that Marnie looks very good now and I’m sure even better in 4K. And one must give a shoutout to the supporting performances of Diane Baker and especially Louise Latham as Marnie’s mother. Interestingly, Latham was 42 when she did Marnie, and Hedren was 34. Anyway, I enjoyed seeing it again and I still love it.
And that was about it. I even played the piano a bit and am now listening to the new recording of The Man Who Knew Too Much’s film score – it’s very short but I inserted the Storm Clouds Cantata and Que Sera Sera and We’ll Love Again into it, which fills it out nicely.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I have to do a Gelson’s run so I’ll probably get some food from there for food. Then I’ll relax until it’s time to go to the theater. We’re convening at six to run a few things that need vacuuming and then we’ll do our final dress rehearsal.
Tomorrow is meant to be our first preview, but unless tonight goes well, I’m not sure we’ll do it. I would like to do Thurdsay’s preview so we’ll see how it goes, and then we open on Friday.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, do a Gelson’s run, eat, relax, clean up some blocking, and then do our final dress rehearsal. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite Hitchcock films and your least favorite? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, knowing that I, BK, am the man who knew too much Marnie.