WEEK 24: Foreign Correspondent (1940)

Hello! And welcome back, if you are indeed back, to Weekly Hitch. This is a film studies type project in which I watch all of Alfred Hitchcock’s films, in chronological order, and then I write about them and sometimes friend and family read what I write because they’re kind.

This week I’m watching Hitch’s second American film, but personally – I think it would be more accurate to call it ‘The First American Hitchcock’, because while it was made after Rebecca, this week’s film is far more like the British master we’ve come to know. So buckle up for war! Excitement! Thrills! Romance! It’s 1940’s Foreign Correspondent!

WEEK 22: Jamaica Inn (1939)

Hello, greetings, howdy, and welcome back – yet again – to Weekly Hitch! This is a personal study-type blog in which I watch all of Alfred Hitchcock’s movies, in order, and then try to work out if they’re great and how they were made and what we can learn from them. It’s like going to school, only I won’t send anyone to the principal’s office for passing notes.

This week, our last week of the 1930’s and the last of Hitchcock’s British period, brings us to the troubled, odd, and curious tale of Hitch’s 1939 period melodrama Jamaica Inn – starring the very famous Charles Laughton. Are you ready for adventure?

WEEK 21: The Lady Vanishes (1938)

After a couple months spent writing for a television show with nary a moment to watch amazing old movies, I am returned to the trail – and ready to carry on with the twenty-first week of Weekly Hitch, a project type thing in which I watch all of Alfred Hitchcock’s films in order and try to think about them – and what might be my favourite of all Hitch’s movies.

This week brings us to Hitchcock’s penultimate British film – and one of his most enjoyable, clever, funny, exciting, and satisfying films – 1938’s The Lady Vanishes. It’s a great film made even more poignant by the times in which it was made. So all aboard for adventure!

WEEK 20: Young and Innocent (1937)

We’re back – finally – after a slight hiatus and a rather hectic couple weeks at a new job, with the twentieth week of Weekly Hitch! This is a film blog wherein I watch and think about all of Alfred Hitchcock’s films in chronological order, and then I write about them here and you read half the post and then sort skim to the end and maybe look at the pictures.

This week Hitchcock brings us the light and fun and thrilling adventure/romance of 1937’s Young And Innocent. It’s a pleasure of a movie and one of the best of Hitch’s mid-thirties thrillers and the perfect palate cleanser after the paranoid panic of Sabotage.

WEEK 17: The 39 Steps (1935)

Hello there, and welcome back to the seventeenth week of Weekly Hitch! This is a film-studies blog-type project wherein I watch every single one of Alfred Hitchcock’s movies, in chronological order, and then write about them in a way that probably only makes sense to me and maybe other slightly deranged people.

This week we follow up Hitchcock’s breakthrough thriller The Man Who Knew Too Much, with the smashiest smash hit The 39 Steps. It’s the film that really put Hitch on the international map, and you do not want to not read why I think you shouldn’t not see it. If you get what I mean.

WEEK 16: The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

It’s week 16 at Weekly Hitch, a film-type blog where I watch all of Alfred Hitchcock’s movies in chronological order, no matter what they are, and then I talk about them and tell people what I think. You’re people.

This week Hitchcock turns a corner and we turn it with him as I watch 1934’s classic, exciting, and only slightly flawed thriller The Man Who Knew Too Much. So read on, and see how much he knew!

WEEK 11: Murder! (1930)

Hello again you wonderful people, and welcome back to Weekly Hitch – a blog sort of thing, in which I watch every Hitchcock movie and then try to work out what makes them good, or bad, or ugly.

This week Hitchcock returns to suspense and thrills with one of his very few actual “who-done-its” – the pleasant, but uneven 1930 film, Murder!

WEEK 9: Blackmail (1929)

Hello once again, and welcome back to Weekly Hitch. This is a film studies project sort of thing in which I watch all of Alfred Hitchcock’s films, in chronological order, and then analyze them to the best of my meagre ability. It’s sort of like I’m going to a very weird film school, and you have to read all my homework.

This week, our last week in the twenties, also brings us our very first film with actual synchronized sound – and brings Hitchcock back to form (and to murder) with a morally ambiguous and rather startlingly raw thriller with 1929’s Blackmail.

WEEK 2: The Lodger (1927)

Welcome to the second week of Weekly Hitch, in which I watch most of Hitchcock’s movies in chronological order for a year and then try to make you read about it. Fun, right?

For week two of the project we arrive at Hitchcock’s third film, 1927’s The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog. Hitch’s second film, The Mountain Eagle, is considered lost and may never be seen again – so we had to skip over that and continue on with a really great and pivotal film – a movie that Hitch himself would later call “the first true Hitchcock picture.” So let’s get the week underway with, The Lodger.