WEEK 23: Rebecca (1940)

Hello! And welcome back once again, to Weekly Hitch. This is a film-studies sort of blog in which I watch all of Alfred Hitchcock’s movies in chronological order and then write about them and try to learn things. It’s like a hobby, only I try make other people join in against their will.

For week 23 here at Weekly Hitch, we – and Hitchcock – enter the 1940’s and move to America for Hitch’s biggest, and possibly best film yet. It’s a classic tale of romance and suspense, and teamed Hitch up with one of the great producers of the age, David O Selznick. So, read on if you like, as I learn about 1940’s Rebecca.

WEEK 19: Sabotage (1936)

It’s that time again, time to dive into the past and look back at the films of Alfred Hitchcock – at the reasonable rate of one a week – which is what this blog does, and what I do along with it because I write it and also I don’t want the blog to get lonely.

This week we’re in the solid middle of six British suspense films that Hitchcock made in the 1930’s and a very solid entry into what I would call his “domestic thrillers” with a look at darkness and light in Sabotage.

WEEK 18: Secret Agent (1936)

And we’re back, once again, and welcome to week 18 of Weekly Hitch, a film-studies blog wherein I watch all of Alfred Hitchcock’s movies – in chronological order – and then I write about them, also in chronological order because that’s just how things happen in the world due to the relativistic nature of time and whatever.

This week, Hitch and us are riding high off the success of The 39 Steps and straight into a nearly forgotten and constantly overlooked espionage drama, 1936’s Secret Agent. So get ready for intrigue and drama, in a world where nothing is what it seems!

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 15: Waltzes From Vienna (1934)

Hello, and welcome back to Weekly Hitch. This is a film studies style blog where I watch all of Alfred Hitchcock’s films in chronological order and then I write about them, usually in a meandering and unfocussed way that I then later find irritating, but all the same at least I’m not out doing crimes or whatever.

This week, my 15th (!) week on the project, we dance our way in to a movie that Hitchcock described as “the lowest ebb” of his career – and also one of the films that stands out as the most atypical for the director. It’s a musical-operetta-comedy-period-biopic about Johann Strauss, and it’s called Waltzes From Vienna.

WEEK 13: Rich and Strange (1931)

It’s lucky week 13 here at Weekly Hitch, which is a film studies blog wherein I watch every one of Hitchcock’s movies, in chronological order, and then I write about them and what I think about them. Sort of like a book report, but instead of books – which don’t move, I write about films – which do.

This week we’re taking a look at Hitch’s 1931 comedic travelog Rich and Strange, adapted by Hitch and Alma from a novel by Dale Collins. It’s a light and frivolous movie, and only slightly removed from plausibility, so here we go with Rich And Strange.

WEEK 7: Champagne (1928)

It’s lucky number seven at Weekly Hitch, as I continue my quest to watch pretty much all of Alfred Hitchcock’s movies in chronological order and with a violent and angry panther gnawing on my leg. Except without the panther.

This week we watch one of the oddest and most curious instalments in Hitch’s body of work, and one which he would later remember as, “the lowest ebb of my output.” But does the film deserve such harsh reflection, or is it just a bubbly and frothy cocktail of joy? We shall find out, with Hitchcock’s 1928 silent comedic-drama – Champagne.

WEEK 1: The Pleasure Garden (1925)

And so, Weekly Hitch begins with the 1925 silent melodrama, and Alfred Hitchcock’s first complete and surviving film as a director; The Pleasure Garden.

For the sake of format, we’ll start with a bit about the story of the film, then my own broad impressions, and then we can get a little deeper into the history and making and interesting bits about the film. Since we’re all new to this, I don’t see much harm in feeling our way together. After all, as Hitch often said – “It’s only a movie.”