Goodland (2017)

Rockhaven Films
Directed by Josh Doke
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(theatrical showing)

When the body of a drifter turns up in a farmer's combine, a sheriff begins to think it is more than just an accident. A recently arrived photographer is her primary suspect, especially when he is found with photographs of a local teenage girl. However, he turns out to be part of a larger puzzle involving a bank heist and organized crime. Independent production makes the most of its small town atmosphere and is populated with some interesting characters. However, the dialogue and humor seem a little forced, not to mention dry, and emotions are rarely on display, so we don't really get to know these people any more than what is needed to advance the plot. Writer-director Doke has included enough twists and turns to keep it interesting, though.

A Step Out of Line (1971)

CBS
Directed by Bernard McEveety
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, CBS)

Peter Falk needs money to help his dying father get dialysis. He manages to convince his ballpark buddies Vic Morrow and Peter Lawford to help him rob a local money exchange office. Morrow has been laid off from his job as an electronics technician and has skills that will be needed in the robbery. Lawford is a bored and broke film director. After a long buildup around these characters, the heist is relatively uneventful. The loot turns out to be far less than expected, and Falk begins to consider another robbery. However, before they can act they are arrested. And that is it. A rather abrupt ending. This is more of a character driven film than typical heist film. It feels a little dated, but with these three actors it is still very watchable. Interesting Jerry Goldsmith score.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

Robert Montgomery and Carole Lombard are a married couple going through some bumps after three years. After a mishap leaves them legally single again, they decide to test each other's resolve. She gets a job and accepts a date from her lawyer, while he feigns disinterest and tries to cook up a way to reconcile. They all end up together at a ski resort where the opportunity to do that presents itself. Silly, breezy Hitchcock that seems like a complete waste of his time. The two lead character's juvenile antics are tiresome. I kind of hoped they would not get back together to spare us all the pain.

Stage Fright (1950)

Warner Bros.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

Actress Jane Wyman is approached by her friend Michael Todd to hide  him from authorities when his lover's husband is murdered. In an important flashback, he tells her how he went to the scene of the crime to retrieve a dress, since the one worn by his lover, Marlene Dietrich, was bloody. Since Wyman is in love with him, she believes him and takes him to  her father's remote house to hide. Her father, however, finds cracks in his story, as does an investigating detective. Wyman finds herself falling for the detective while doubting Todd. All clues point to Dietrich, and the truth comes out in typical Hitchcock style in a large, empty theater. Less Hitchcock, to my eyes, with Dietrich chewing up the scenery and Wyman unsympathetic.

Follow That Bird (1985)

Warner Bros.
Directed by Ken Kwapis
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

A well-meaning social worker convinces Big Bird that he need to live with his own kind, and finds him a foster family in the midwest. After a tearful goodbye on Sesame Street, he flies out to meet them. They turn out to be Dodo birds, and he has a hard time adapting to their silly and ignorant lifestyle. He decides to walk back to Sesame Street, having a series of misadventures along the way. Sort of a lesser cousin to the original Muppet Movie, it still has its moments, including an incredible scene in the "Don't Drop Inn", a diner for Grouches with Sandra Bernhard as a waitress and Paul Bartel the cook!

Jamaica Inn (1939)

Paramount Pictures
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Kino)

Young orphan Maureen O'Hara, in her first major role, travels to a remote inn to live with a cousin. The locals avoid it and so she turns to wealthy neighbor Charles Laughton for the last part of the journey. The crude inhabitants of the inn are thieves and murderers who prey on shipwrecked survivors and loot their cargo. Laughton turns out to be the mastermind, and when an undercover law officer is exposed he uses O'Hara to escape detection. She soon finds herself kidnapped and on the way to France, until Laughton himself is exposed to the gang. Overplotted Hitchcock is also somewhat underrated, with a vivid atmosphere and a couple of violent, bloodthirsty scenes. Laughton threatens to overwhelm everything, but O'Hara's manages to keep him somewhat in check.

The World's Greatest Lover (1977)

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Gene Wilder
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Fox)

Frustrated baker Gene Wilder goes to Hollywood with his wife Carol Kane in search of stardom. Movie mogul Dom DeLuise is looking for the next Rudolph Valentino for his struggling studio. His casting call draws thousands of wannabes for a screen test. Meanwhile, his wife goes in search of the real Valentino, leaving Wilder alone to figure out how to win her back. Good spoof of 1920s Hollywood and even manages to capture some of the period feel. Feels more like a Mel Brooks movie, but Wilder is the whole show, he directed, wrote and stars.

I Confess (1953)

Warner Bros.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Warner Bros.)

Montgomery Clift is a Catholic priest who hears the confession of a man who just committed murder. The man abuses the priest-penitent privilege and proceeds to frame Clift for the crime. A motive is supplied by Clifts's pre-priesthood relationship with Anne Baxter. After planting evidence, Clift is arrested, tried, but found innocent by a skeptical judge and jury. On the way out of the courthouse, the murderer's wife breaks down and let's out the truth. Clift and the police follow the killer for a final confrontation. Subdued, atypical Hitchcock, that nonetheless explores the familiar Hitchcockian themes of murder and the "wrong man". Clift is quietly intense as usual, but lacks chemistry with Baxter, and their backstory is just not that interesting. Beautiful location shooting around Quebec, Canada.

Strangers on a Train (1951)

Academy Awards, USA 1952

Nominated Oscar

Best Cinematography, Black-and-White Robert Burks

Warner Bros.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Warner Bros.)

Tennis pro Farley Granger is approached by stranger Robert Walker on a train. The conversation quickly turns personal, and Walker proposes an "exchange of murders" that would benefit both of them. Granger laughs it off, but Walker soon fulfills his end of the bargain and begins to demand that Granger do the same. Fearful of the police, Granger successfully avoids him for awhile, but not after Walker manages to work his way into his family friendships. The battle of wills comes to a head on a memorable carousel ride! Outlandish plot, even for Hitchcock, but pure entertainment. The murder scene, filmed as a reflection in the victim's eyeglasses, is one of Hitchcock's signature moments, and probably helped earn cinematographer Robert Burks his first of four Oscar nominations, three of which were on Hitchcock films.

Notorious (1946)

Academy Awards, USA 1947

Nominated Oscar	Best Actor in a Supporting Role Claude Rains
	Best Writing, Original Screenplay Ben Hecht

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Criterion Collection)

Government agent Cary Grant convinces Ingrid Bergman to travel to Brazil in order to infiltrate a ring of Nazis. They fall in love while waiting for the assignment, only to have their relationship fall apart when she must fake a romance with Claude Rains, one of the Nazis. She even goes as far as marrying him, all the while Grant feigning disinterest. She eventually discovers that the group is hiding uranium ore in wine bottles in the basement, leading Grant to the stash during a fateful evening gala. However, Rains finds out and together with his mother tries to slowly poison her. One of Hitchcock's most mature mid period works, with Grant and Bergman's complex relationship front and center. The casting is perfect, from the leads all the way down to the supporting characters.

Animals Are Beautiful People (1974)

Warner Bros.
Directed by Jamie Uys
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

Documentary focusing on the animals which live in the Namib Desert and nearby areas of South Africa. We see everything from insects and snakes to warthogs and elephants in their natural habitat. Towards the end, some native bushmen are shown as well, with their animal imitations particularly interesting. Beautifully filmed in stunning widescreen, my only complaint would be the obvious staging of certain scenes, particularly the one where many animals get "drunk" by eating some rotting fruit.

Under Capricorn (1949)

Warner Bros.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Kino)

The new governor of Sydney, Australia, and his second cousin adapt to life among the ex-convicts around them. The cousin soon finds himself making a deal with shady landowner Joseph Cotten. At a visit to his remote bungalow, he discovers he was childhood friends with Cotten's wife, Ingrid Bergman, but that she is struggling with an alcohol addiction. The truth turns out to be far more sinister, as she is actually being poisoned by the housemaid who is in love with Cotten. Her relationship with her husband also has a dark history. All of this is revealed in a somewhat understated way, especially by Hitchcock standards, giving it more of a melodramatic flavor. Nonetheless, it does deal with the usual Hitchcock themes of murder and a guilty conscience, and has a colorful period feel for 19th century Australia. As with his previous color film Rope, it utilizes long, unbroken takes, but they are much less intrusive this time around, and the transitions are difficult to spot.

Rope (1948)

Warner Bros.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Universal)

Two college men decide to murder a classmate as an intellectual exercise. The strangle him in their New York penthouse and then stuff the body in a chest. For further amusement, they hold a dinner party shortly after with the victim's father, aunt and girlfriend among the attendees. However, it is the arrival of Jimmy Stewart that gets them the most excited. He is their former housemaster and instilled in them the philosophy of Nietzsche, from which they drew their inspiration. However, the two men struggle to keep it together, particularly the younger who drinks too much. Stewart begins to suspect something is wrong and eventually pieces together what happened. The film itself is also something of an intellectual exercise, as Hitchcock utilizes a series of long takes to make it appear it takes place in real time. It is partially successful, although the cuts between scenes where the camera artificially zooms in for a close up of a couch or coat, is distracting. Nonetheless, this is another dazzling Hitchcock entry, his first in color and first with Stewart.

The Paradine Case (1947)

Academy Awards, USA 1948

Nominated Oscar

Best Actress in a Supporting Role Ethel Barrymore

Selznick Releasing Organization
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Kino Lorber)

Gregory Peck is hired to defend exotic beauty Alida Valli, accused of poisoning her wealthy husband. He falls in love with her, jeopardizing not only the case but his marriage. His wife realizes what has happened but encourages him to stay on the case. Peck tries to pin the murder on the servant with little evidence, but instead it drives the servant to commit suicide. The real murderer is revealed in court in dramatic fashion. Talky but still fascinating Hitchcock courtroom drama.

Spellbound (1945)

Academy Awards, USA 1946

Won Oscar	Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture Miklós Rózsa
Nominated Oscar	Best Picture
	Best Actor in a Supporting Role Michael Chekhov
	Best Director Alfred Hitchcock
	Best Cinematography, Black-and-White George Barnes
	Best Effects, Special Effects Jack Cosgrove (photographic)

United Artists
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, MGM/Fox)

Gregory Peck is hired to replace the retiring director of a mental hospital. Soon after he begins to have a mental breakdown, triggered whenever he sees pairs of vertical lines in patterns. Pretty psychologist Ingrid Bergman helps him with his condition, discovering along the way that he is not the same man that was supposedly hired. He admits to having amnesia and believes he may have killed the man and stolen his identity. He leaves the hospital in the middle of the night but tells her where he is going. They meet up at his hotel then travel to stay with her former mentor. They analyze a dream he had for clues to his past. They are able to deduce where the murder had occurred and travel there, triggering more memories in Peck. They are almost able to prove it was an accident until a bullet is discovered in the body. Peck is convicted of murder, but the dream provides one more vital clue. Another massively entertaining Hitchcock yarn. However, I wasn't always convinced by the psychoanalytical babble, nor the over-reliance on the dream for clues to advance the plot. The final scene is an unconvincing special effect involving what looks like a giant fake hand!

The Aristocats (1970)

Buena Vista Distribution
Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Walt Disney)

A pampered cat and her kittens live with their owner, a former opera diva, in turn-of-the-century Paris. As the aging woman dictates her will to her lawyer, the terms are overhead by her butler, who is outraged at being passed over by her cats. He kidnaps the cats and dumps them in the country. They spend the rest of the movie trying to get back home. They get help from a friendly tom cat, who introduces them to his carefree lifestyle and jazz loving friends back in Paris. The butler won't give up so easily, though, and they have to confront him one more time. Colorful, entertaining Disney, with memorable characters and some psychedelic jazz scenes that made it a hit on college campuses in the early 70s as a "head movie", much to the chagrin of the family oriented Walt Disney.

Lifeboat (1944)

Academy Awards, USA 1945

Nominated Oscar	Best Director Alfred Hitchcock
	Best Writing, Original Story John Steinbeck
	Best Cinematography, Black-and-White Glen MacWilliams

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Kino Lorber)

The survivors of the sinking of a merchant marine ship by a German U-boat gather in a lone lifeboat occupied by reporter Tallulah Bankhead. Among the survivors is the captain of the German boat. Some of them want him thrown overboard, but Bankhead talks them out of it. They also have to deal with a hysterical woman and her dead baby, providing some rather morbid moments. Another one gets gangrene and has to has his leg amputated. They lose their limited supply of food and water during a storm. As they become more desperate and lose hope, the German takes over and seems to be stronger than the rest. When they discover his secret stash of food, water and a compass, they kill him in a rage. Just when it looks like they will be rescued by a German supply ship, it gets attacked. Unusual, claustrophobic setting provides a challenge for Hitchcock, but he is more than able to meet it as the action never stops. Bankhead is a revelation as the reporter. However, Canada Lee seems like an afterthought as a black servant.

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Academy Awards, USA 1944

Nominated Oscar

Best Writing, Original Story Gordon McDonell

Universal Pictures
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Universal)

Naive teenager Teresa Wright has her life turned upside down by the arrival of an uncle. At first hoping to bring excitement to her bored life in suburban California, it soon turns to horror when she suspects he is the "Merry Widow Murderer" sought by the police back east for murdering older women. After the uncle is apparently exonerated, her knowledge of the truth becomes a threat and he plots to do away with her. Their final confrontation on a train is classic Hitchcock. However, I found Teresa Wright's character annoying and was kind of rooting for the uncle, played to cold blooded perfection by Joseph Cotten.

Saboteur (1942)

Universal Pictures
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Universal)

Everyman Robert Cummings gets a glimpse of the man who set a fire at the airplane factory where he works. Accused of the crime himself, he is forced to prove his innocence. He goes to the address he saw on an envelope the man dropped: a ranch in the desert. The wealthy ranch owner at first declines any knowledge, but reveals his real identity as ringleader and calls the police. Cummings escapes and follows another clue to a ghost town in the desert where he finds a cell of saboteurs planning to blow up the Boulder Dam. He foils the plan, then escapes to a nearby cabin in the woods where he is taken care of by a kindly blind man. His daughter recognizes Cummings as a wanted man, but he kidnaps her before she can turn him in. After awhile she starts to believe his story and helps him prove his innocence. They end up at a swanky party in New York City where they confront the leaders of the gang. However, they each get kidnapped, escape, and chase the original saboteur to the Statue of Liberty. One of the best Hitchcock films from the 1940s. The plot twists, however implausible, make perfect sense while watching the film. The symbolism can get a bit heavy handed, but in the hands of Hitchcock at least it is fun and exciting.

Suspicion (1941)

  Academy Awards, USA 1942

Won Oscar	Best Actress in a Leading Role Joan Fontaine
Nominated Oscar	Best Picture
	Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture Franz Waxman

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Warner Bros.)

Socialite Joan Fontaine falls for playboy Cary Grant, eventually marrying. After a long and expensive honeymoon, she finds out he has no money or job. She talks him into working for a cousin in real estate. However, she finds out later that he was fired for embezzling money to pay a gambling debt, then lying about it. Her suspicion mounting, she finds out his best friend died mysteriously while they were together in Paris. She begins to fear for her own life when his lies continue and he asks a friend about poisons. It all comes to a head in a dramatic drive along a cliff. Hitchcock classic builds momentum like few films can, but ultimate explanation seems like a cop out. And indeed it was, as he was forced to change the ending to satisfy studio executives who did not want to mar Grant's image by making him a killer.

Alice in Wonderland (1951)

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by Clyde Geronimi, et al
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Walt Disney)

Alice follows the perennially late, hurried white rabbit down the rabbit hole, where she finds a dreamlike world inhabited by unusual characters. She changes her size by eating various things, from cookies to mushrooms, which allows her to pass through small doors. After some preliminary adventures involving Tweedledum and Tweedledee, some talking flowers and a Cheshire Cat, she ends up at a mad tea party hosted by the March Hare. They talk mostly nonsense about things such as unbirthdays, causing Alice to leave for home. However, she gets lost and ends up at the castle of the Queen of Hearts, where she plays a croquet match for her life. Colorful Disney adaptation of the Lewis Carroll classic, though it feels a bit watered down at times.

The Lady Vanishes (1938)

Gaumont British
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Criterion Collection)

Tourist Margaret Lockwood befriends middle aged May Whitty at a county inn. The next morning, she gets bumped on the head before boarding the train, waking up in a passenger compartment with her new friend and some strangers. After chatting a bit, Lockwood falls asleep, then wakes up to discover her friend missing. Unable to convince anyone else that she actually exists, much less look for her, she turns to musician Michael Redgrave, whom she had met, and disliked, at the inn. However, she gradually warms up to him as they search the train, discover clues and eventually unravel the mystery of her disappearance. Highly entertaining Hitchcock, if a bit contrived, with comedy relief from "Charters and Haldicott", who proved to be so popular that they would appear in several more films in the next decade.

Rapsodia Satanica (1917)

Società Italiana Cines (Italy)
Directed by Nino Oxilia
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

Aging woman makes a Faustian bargain with the devil to regain her youth. She flaunts it in front of two brothers who fall in love with her. One brother commits suicide when she does not show up at their appointed time, while she agrees to marry the other one. However, this violates the terms of her bargain with the devil, who shows up and makes her old again. Early example of style over substance, with some astounding shots in the second half by cinematographer Giorgio Ricci of leading actress Lyda Borelli. A fine silent Gothic romance.

The Tomb of Ligeia (1964)

American International Pictures
Directed by Roger Corman
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Shout Factory)

Reclusive aristocrat Vincent Price falls meets equestrian beauty Elizabeth Shepherd while on a fox hunt. They eventually marry against his better judgment, for he is still not over the death of his first wife, who bears a striking resemblance to his new one (also played by Shepherd). A black cat which freely roams the premises makes life difficult for everyone, probably because it is possessed by his first wife and is intent on ruining his new marriage. It all ends in flames, where Corman gets to reuse the footage of a burning house for the umpteenth time. Last, and least, of the Corman Poe Cycle, though the location shooting in and around a crumbling English priory adds authenticity.

Genuine (1920)

Decla-Bioscop (Germany)
Directed by Robert Wiene
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Kino)

The story of "Genuine", a tribal princess, who is sold at a slave market to an eccentric Lord who locks her in a room in his house. His friend the barber becomes enamored by her and visits every day, raising the suspicions of locals. So one stay he sends his young nephew instead, who also becomes entranced by the girl. She breaks out of the room and murders the barber, then demands that the nephew kill himself to prove his love for her. Meanwhile, the original Lord Melo's grandson arrives and becomes yet another victim of her irresistible charms. Director Wiene made this just before The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which would become one of the most highly influential German Expressionist films of the 1920s. Genuine often has the same look as Caligari, particularly her elaborate chamber, but completely lacks Caligari's emotional impact. The confusing plot, and lack of character motivation, combine to relegate it to obscurity.