ROPE

This Sunday's film is "Rope." It's Hitchcock's first color film, his first time working with actor James Stewart (Stewart would go on to do three more Hitchcock films - "The Man Who Knew Too Much," "Rear Window," and "Vertigo"), and first and only attempt at shooting a film in real-time. This film is composed of a series of ten-minute continuous takes (at that time, ten-minutes was the maximum length one could get out of a reel of film. "Rope" is based on the stage play by the same name which is in turn based on the Leopold and Loeb murder case.

While the film is not completely seamless - it's quite obvious when Hitchcock is changing reels - it does have some snappy dialogue, great moments of suspense, and some humorous moments (thrill killing an old college classmate is humorous, isn't it?).



Anyway, it should be a lot of fun.

This Sunday's Hitchcock Film Forum (Cinetastic!)

This weekend's Hitchcock film is the 1940 classic "Rebecca" - we'll be going to the 4:00pm showing. This is Hitchcock's first American film and marks the point in the Hitchcock Sunday series where the director's style really kicks in. This one won the 1940 Oscar for best picture, and is a lot of fun - it's very atmospheric and has some amazing shots. This is one of my favorite images from the movie:


I hope people can make it.

Calling all Film Geeks

Yesterday was the first meeting of the Hitchcock Film Forum (Insert nerd snort here). Actually, I just wanted to tell everyone that this summer Oak Street Cinema is showing early Hitchcock films every Sunday afternoon. I plan on going to as many as possible; anyone who wants to join in, let me know and we can go as a group and then discuss the film over coffee/tea. Yesterday Liz, Chad, and Erin

were my companions. We saw Hitchcock's first film, "The Pleasure Garden."


We had a great time laughing at both the humor of the conventions of silent film acting and that of Hitchcock. There were some great moments in this film which can be seen over and over again in subsequent films of his. What was the main idea of the film?: You can always trust a dog named Cuddles to pick the right man for a chorus girl.

We arrived 40-45 minutes early due to a misprint in the paper regarding show times so we walked down to the Weisman Art Gallery:




This last pic is of a really cool/wall-drippingly-creepy installation piece. It's an apartment hallway - when you put your ear to the doors of this corridor, you get to hear what's going on in each apartment (I'd avoid apt. #7).

After the art and the film, we decided to head down to Uptown and take in the lakes (at least Calhoun and Lake of the Isles). We relaxed:



Practiced Tai Chi:



We also found a purple ball that we kicked around for a bit. I have two great pics from this part of the evening, but both Ofoto and Photobucket are being rather ineffective at the moment. I'll try and get them up soon complete with commentary.

Next week's film forum film: "The 39 Steps"

What does one do when one is done with one's thesis? One impulse shops.

That title, by the by, was for Chad's student.

So, here's a Hitchcockian "shot-reverse-shot" depiction of what it's like to complete your thesis (complete with commentary)


Camera shows aprehensive grad student looking at his thesis


Cut to close up on eye staring at thesis. I like this one cuz it looks like Marion Crane's eye in "Psycho."


Camera cuts to a page of the thesis; "Goblin Market" is framed in the center.


Cut back to reaction shot of grad student (exhausted relief).

Um, yeah...I kinda bought a digital camera today.