Hitched

I've been using my TiVo to search out and record classic movies. I'll often watch an hour at a time every night before I go to bed and I've seen quite a few classics now. In recent months that's included the Alfred Hitchcock movies like Life Boat, Rear Window, and Vertigo.

I liked Life Boat (1944) the most, but that's to be expected since I'm a WWII buff. I actually saw Ron Silver's Lifepod (1993, made for TV) first, which is essentially the same story but in space.

I thought Rear Window (1954) was the most suspenseful and interesting. Jimmy Stewart's character was more likeable here than in Vertigo and you could really feel his helplessness.

I was least impressed with Vertigo (1958), which is supposed to be one of Hitchcock's best. Maybe the problem was that I knew that and set my expectations too high. I had trouble connecting with Stewart's character and was stuck on some sort of supernatural explanation to understand what was happening in the end.

All three movies surprised me to some degree. This is the 40's and 50's -- aren't they supposed to be morally pure? I thought bad stuff in movies was a recent invention [insert sarcastic eye rolling here]. They didn't have blatant nudity or four letter words but they weren't exactly redeemed either. I guess I'm saying that the absence of these things does not a clean movie make! And Hitchcock seemed to like flirting with adult themes like adultery and voyeurism. In fact most of his work revolves around sex and murder.

Nevertheless, I appreciate the skill of story crafting that Hitchcock had and I learn a lot from watching his works. I had someone tell me this week at VBS that I was a good storyteller. Maybe I should give some credit to the "Master of Suspense."