"Shadow Of A Doubt" and the new Alfred Hitchcock book...

Today I watched Shadow Of A Doubt (1942), Alfred Hitchcock's beautiful suspense thriller starring Joseph Cotton as 'Uncle Charlie' and Teresa Wright as his namesake niece. This is a wonderful piece of filmmaking; it is simple and vastly brilliant in its complex relationship puzzle. This film is the heart of 1940's Americana.

According to Hitchcock's daughter, Shadow Of A Doubt was the director's favorite among his films. Hitchcock supposedly loved the element of evil--Joseph Cotton--subtly invading and attempting to destroy a small town family. If you haven't seen this film, you truly should! It is amazing how many directors today use cues Hitchcock created and you see many of them in this film: Camera angles, light/shadow, use of stressful close-ups.

I watched this film again on the heels of the new book release Hitchcock: Piece By Piece by Laurent Bouzereau (available at Amazon and Turner Classic Movies). This book is fascinating with a forward by Hitchcock's daughter Patricia and pull-out faux memorabilia like photos and letters.

Alfred Hitchcock is such a fascinating element of film history and--especially as we see/think of his films around Halloween--deserves to be appreciated regularly!

I highly and especially recommend his films (aside from Shadow Of A Doubt) Rear Window, Vertigo, The Birds, Strangers On A Train, North By Northwest and the ever underrated Rope. And of course Psycho!

(Note: it is very interesting to watch Hitchcock's Psycho followed immediately by a viewing of Van Sant's Psycho just to see how far films and society have come and just how truly innovative and long-reaching Alfred Hitchcock and his film style are!)

Hitchcock leads us down twisty and turny paths, allowing us to think we know just where we are headed, only to shock us with a jolt into a whole new, even scarier direction!

HAPPY HITCHCOCKING!!!!!!!

Welcome inside the jar of noir...

I'm bringing my love of all things noir (classic and modern) to you through my blog! I find my love of noir intense; it encompasses all forms from books to old time radio drama to film and art.

I can remember--when i was a kid--my grandmother loving all the Mike Hammer shows and me and my cousins always watched the classic, black and white films at grandma's on Sunday mornings ( from White Heat, to Night Of The Hunter to Bogart in The Big Sleep and Key Largo).  There is just something keen and a bit gritty in noir. It's cool and rebellious all at the same time.

Noir comes from a place where all women were tough and vulnerable, beautiful and dirty all at the same time. Noir is smokey rooms and dark alleys. It is bold and mean. It is soft and vulnerable. Noir will kiss you and punch you in the face.

Noir is a true escape into a world where men are men and women are dames. You can smoke 'em if you got 'em in noir and stay up all night. You can shoot bourbon at seven in the morning in noir and shoot the bad guy without making him bleed.

My favorite noir actors are John Garfield, Farley Granger, Montgomery Clift, Robert Mitchum, Joseph Cotton and Orson Welles. My favorite noir directors are John Huston, Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch and (seemingly new to the foray) Martin Scorsese.

I'll be sharing more of my loves of noir from radio drama and film in the next couple of posts, so feel free to share your loves too!!

I'm interested in what type of noir you all like and am always looking for new, different, interesting and exciting forms of noir...

WELCOME TO NOIR IN A JAR!!!!!!!!