Films of the 50's: The Decade of Hitchcock (One of Many)

Strangers on a Train (1951, Alfred Hitchcock)

I could think of few other combinations as potent as Patricia Highsmith, Raymond Chandler, and Alfred Hitchcock. Highsmith wrote the original novel of Strangers on a Train, Chandler wrote an early draft of the screenplay (despite claiming the novel wasn’t believable), and Hitchcock directed the heck out of it. A recurring theme in many of Hitchcock’s films is the everyday man stuck in a tough situation and the evils of human nature allowing him to make things even worse for himself. Farley Granger is that man in Strangers on a Train, yet he’s not quite average. Granger plays an up and coming amateur tennis star, aptly named Guy, but he wants out of his marriage to a manipulative cheater. Thus, we have our first stranger.

Then we meet Bruno, played by Robert Walker. Bruno wants his father taken out of the picture. Both men have problems and Bruno, a bit psychotic, puts forth the idea of the ‘perfect murder’ in that they take care of each other’s killings. If Hitchcock makes one thing perfectly clear in most of his films, it’s that there is never any such thing as a perfect murder. Evidence is left behind, people who share a secret are not to be trusted, and nerves will always leave you undone in the end. In few other Hitchcock films does he present the game of cat and mouse so well, wrapping up in a nail-biting culmination that will leave you breathless. Strangers on a Train is easily one of my favorite Hitchcock films, despite the presence of Granger, one of my least favorite Hitchcock actors. Oddly, he is also in Rope, another of my favorites, so his presence apparently isn’t enough to change my opinion of a film.



I Confess (1953, Alfred Hitchcock)

Amazingly, before I Confess, I had never seen a Montgomery Clift film. I can say that after seeing this particular Hitchcock gem, I can see why he was a sought after star. I Confess is a film largely unsung in the Hitchcock collection and I’m not sure why. Clift plays a Catholic priest, Father William Logan. Logan is implicated in a crime by the church groundskeeper, a fact we as the audience know from the very beginning. The drama isn’t a whodunit, as it rarely is in Hitchcock's films, but rather how is the innocent man going to get out of it. The twist comes when we find out more about Logan’s life, about why he doesn’t have an alibi for the time of the murder, and why everyone suddenly believes he actually committed the murder. It is a study of public opinion, of paranoia, and of shared misinterpretation leading to mania. I Confess could be a film that is a parable for today’s audience, especially in things such as the New York mosque issue. Hitchcock always seemed to get amazing performances out of the secondary authority figures such as cops or judges. In this case, Karl Malden, playing Inspector Larrue, is phenomenal, as is O.E. Hasse, the groundskeeper.



Rear Window (1954, Alfred Hitchcock)

I tend to go back and forth as to whether Vertigo or Rear Window is my all-time favorite Hitchcock film. In a pinch, I’d have to go with Vertigo, but the latter is a very close second. There are oh so many things I love about Rear Window, from the elaborate set to the performances, and then the camera’s perspective. Jimmy Stewart plays L.B. Jeffries, often called Jeff, a famous photographer who is laid up in his apartment thanks to a broken leg after getting too close to the action for a photo. He is being taken care of, from time to time, by his girlfriend, played by Grace Kelly. Yeah, life is rough. But, being a man who needs to be in the thick of it, Jeff starts to snoop out his panoramic picture window into the courtyard between buildings. He begins to learn his neighbors’ habits and starts to give them nicknames, like Miss Lonelyhearts. I realize as I type this that I should be thinking this to be too much of a summary, as I hope that everyone has seen this seminal movie already. If not, you’re in for a treat. The twist on the story is that rather than just being an ordinary man thrust into dire peril, thanks to his natural instincts for finding trouble, he is given a handicap and is literally trapped with nowhere to go. The screenplay is based on a short story by the great Cornel Woolrich, who, if you haven’t read any of his work, you should. Plus, when a great film inspires an equally great Simpsons episode, how can you go wrong?




The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956, Alfred Hitchcock)

Jimmy Stewart is again the go-to guy, but this time in a remake of a film Alfred Hitchcock had already made. Hitchcock preferred this later version, saying it was more professional, but I’m sure some people would beg to differ. It is probably most known for the appearance of Doris Day, playing Jimmy’s wife, and her singing of “Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera Sera),” the Academy Award winning song introduced in this film. It seems an odd debut for a song with so much treacle, but there it is. On a trip to Morocco, the McKennas (Stewart, Day and the boy playing their young son) stumble upon intrigue and murder, thus making Stewart the titular hero. The boy is kidnapped, and the rest of the story is a race to save the son and a foreign dignitary. It’s not one of my favorites, and the song tends to stick out, but it is Hitchcock and it is enjoyable. I’d rather watch one of Hitch’s worst movies than watch most of the movies being made today.




The Wrong Man (1956, Alfred Hitchcock)

Other than Jimmy Stewart, I can think of few other ‘everyman’ actors as great as Henry Fonda. He plays Manny Balestrero, a jazz musician in New York who is mistakenly fingered for a bank robbery due to his resemblance to the real felon. The amazing thing about this film is that it was based on a true story. Originally told in a long article in Life Magazine, the story relates the tale of mistaken identity and the fight to prove innocence in the face of overwhelming ‘eyewitness’ evidence. Fonda is amazing in the film, giving one of his best performances, and that is really saying something, looking at his stellar work. Vera Miles also gives a fantastic performance as Balestrero’s wife. Through the film, we see the slow breakdown of what a simple case of mistaken identity can do to ordinary people, and how little the public seems to care about that suffering. Fonda’s scene with his son, trying to explain his innocence, and his son believing him with every fiber in his being, is undoubtedly moving. Like I Confess, The Wrong Man is unsung, and is yet one of Hitchcock’s finest films.



North by Northwest (1959, Alfred Hitchcock)

I love the story told by Gene Wilder on Inside the Actor’s Studio. Wilder had just starred in Silver Streak, a comedy / mystery film with Richard Pryor. Soon after, Wilder met Cary Grant, who remarked that he had enjoyed Silver Streak, and likened it to North by Northwest saying something to the effect of, “It always works, put someone in mortal danger, an everyday man like you or me…” The audience laughed, getting Wilder’s point. Cary Grant was never an everyman, but he didn’t need to be.

I love everything about North by Northwest. Hell, I could just watch Saul Bass’ opening credits, one of the first examples of kinetic typography, over and over again. Bernard Herrmann’s music is stellar. But, along with memorable appearances by James Mason and Eva Marie Saint, Cary Grant owns this movie from beginning to end. Grant plays Roger Thornhill, caught up in yet another signature case of mistaken identity, this time the baddies thinking he is George Kaplan. He barely manages to escape a murder attempt and then spends the rest of the movie trying to escape even more. Except for perhaps Vertigo and Psycho, North by Northwest has some of the most signature scenes in Hitchcock history, including the divebombing cropduster and the chase atop Mount Rushmore. But, Grant is anything but a bumbling or tortured Jimmy Stewart-type. Instead, he is a cavalier James Bond-ish figure, a dashing leading man on the run, yet so charming that we root for him all the same, despite not being able to fully relate to his predicament.