Alfred Hitchcock Premier Collection [8 Discs]Alfred Hitchcock Premier Collection [8 Discs]

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DVD FEATURES:
  • Number of Discs: 8
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
  • Audio: Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Digital 5.0
  • Screen: Black and White
  • Subtitle: English, French, Spanish
  • Features:
    • The Lodger - A Story of the London Fog:
    • Includes audio commentary, audio interviews with Peter Bogdanovich and François, making-of featurette
    • Sabotage:
    • Includes audio commentary, audio interview with Peter Bogdanovich
    • Young and Innocent:
    • Includes audio commentary, audio interviews with Peter Bogdanovich and François Truffaut
    • Rebecca:
    • Includes audio commentary, two featurettes, screen tests, audio interviews with Peter Bogdanovich and François Truffaut
    • Lifeboat:
    • Includes audio commentary, the making-of featurette
    • Spellbound:
    • Audio commentary, three featurettes, audio interview with Peter Bogdanovich
    • Notorious:
    • Audio commentary, two featurettes, AFI Tribute to Hitchcock, audio interviews with Peter Bogdanovich and François Truffaut
    • The Paradine Case:
    • Includes audio commentary, audio interviews with Peter Bogdanovich
AWARDS
  • Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
  •     Won Best Score - Drama or Comedy - 1945 (Miklos Rozsa)
  •     Won Best Black and White Cinematography - 1940 (George Barnes)
  •     Won Best Picture - 1940
  •     Nominated Best Supporting Actress - 1947 (Ethel Barrymore)
  •     Nominated Best Original Screenplay - 1946 (Ben Hecht)
  •     Nominated Best Supporting Actor - 1946 (Claude Rains)
  •     Nominated Best Black and White Cinematography - 1945 (George Barnes)
  •     Nominated Best Director - 1945 (Alfred Hitchcock)
  •     Nominated Best Picture - 1945
  •     Nominated Best Special Effects - 1945 (Jack Cosgrove)
  •     Nominated Best Supporting Actor - 1945 (Michael Chekhov)
  •     Nominated Best Black and White Cinematography - 1944 (Glen MacWilliams)
  •     Nominated Best Director - 1944 (Alfred Hitchcock)
  •     Nominated Best Original Story - 1944 (John Steinbeck)
  •     Nominated Best Actor - 1940 (Laurence Olivier)
  •     Nominated Best Actress - 1940 (Joan Fontaine)
  •     Nominated Best Black and White Art Direction - 1940 (Lyle Wheeler)
  •     Nominated Best Director - 1940 (Alfred Hitchcock)
  •     Nominated Best Original Score - 1940 (Franz Waxman)
  •     Nominated Best Screenplay - 1940 (Robert E. Sherwood, Joan Harrison)
  •     Nominated Best Special Effects - 1940 (Jack Cosgrove)
  •     Nominated Best Supporting Actress - 1940 (Judith Anderson)
  • Film Daily
  •     Won 10 Best Films - 1946
  •     Won 10 Best Films - 1945
  •     Won 10 Best Films - 1944
  •     Won 10 Best Films - 1940
  • National Board of Review
  •     Won Best Acting - 1940 (George Sanders, Joan Fontaine)
  •     Nominated Best Picture - 1944
  •     Nominated Best Picture - 1940
  • New York Film Critics Circle
  •     Won Best Actress - 1945 (Ingrid Bergman)
  •     Won Special Award - 1945 (Ingrid Bergman)
  •     Won Best Actress - 1944 (Tallulah Bankhead)
  • New York Times
  •     Won 10 Best Films - 1946
  •     Won 10 Best Films - 1945
  •     Won 10 Best Films - 1940
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
REVIEWS:
  • Behind a veil of psychoanalytic babble lies a simple tale of murder in Alfred Hitchcock's popular thriller Spellbound. During the WWII era in which the film was released, it was heralded for its intellectual use of Freudian theories to solve a murder. In retrospect, however, the film reveals psychoanalytic ideas that are simplistic and obsolete to the point of becoming comical. In spite of this, Hitchcock's tremendous ability to create suspense remains a timeless one and the film's thriller elements, combined with a series of outstanding visuals, bring Spellbound within a notch of the director's best works. The psychological elements allowed Hitchcock to be creative visually and he went to the best, hiring artist Salvador Dali to design a series of incredibly eerie dream sequences. Sadly, only a few of Dali's wonderful creations made the final cut while the others were either lost or destroyed. Hitchcock often spoke of one particularly fantastic sequence in which a statue cracked and fell apart, revealing star Ingrid Bergman beneath it. Gregory Peck is a strong male lead playing the protagonist with a confused and cloudy mind, but Bergman steals the show as his love-struck shrink, a woman described by one of her peers as "a human glacier." Spellbound was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor (Michael Chekhov), but went on to win for Miklos Rozsa's chilling score. Hitchcock's cameo arrives at the film's 38-minute mark, when the director can be seen exiting an elevator. ~ Patrick Legare, All Movie Guide
  • Lifeboat shows what the disaster films of the '70s and beyond might have been like if they were shorn of their special effects and forced to concentrate on character rather than activity -- and if they were directed by a true master, of course. Today's audiences, weaned on The Poseidon Adventure et al, might find the basic setup (toss in a handful of characters from every walk of life and force them to work together for their mutual survival) a little trite, but director Alfred Hitchcock and his (credited and uncredited) screenwriters take this premise and create a gripping, taut, suspenseful, and thoroughly captivating piece of cinema. Hitchcock, of course, deserves praise for keeping visually interesting a story with such a limited setting, but he deserves even greater credit for the marvelous work he pulls forth from his cast. In what is arguably the only film role that takes advantage of her unique talents, Tallulah Bankhead delivers a tour de force performance that is simply mesmerizing. Bankhead establishes the character clearly and precisely within the first few seconds -- a cynical, ironic, self-centered woman; she should be rather repulsive, but Bankhead makes her playful and appealing. She anchors the film but does not overshadow it, allowing the likes of John Hodiak, Hume Cronyn, and William Bendix to shine as well. There are moments in the film that don't quite work (usually when it crosses the line from war drama to war propaganda), but overall, Lifeboat is an engrossing, often thrilling and sometimes unsettling cinematic experience. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
  • Alfred Hitchcock relished in playing off of his audience's suspicions, and this early suspense film accomplishes just that. Made when Europe was on the verge of war, Sabotage focuses on Mr. Verloc, the incarnation of the heavily accented neighbor who may not be as benign as he seems. This xenophobic approach works to the film's advantage, as the sight of Verloc and his shadowy associates plotting the destruction of London surely must have grabbed English audiences in 1936. Hitchcock's fascination with espionage and crime is evident, as always, especially in the scene where Verloc meets his contact in the aquarium. Another favorite Hitchcock element present is having a wife slowly come to distrust and fear her husband. Sylvia Sidney plays this transformation beautifully. In the early scenes she is warm and friendly, but as the film progresses, she begins to tighten up, and in the final scenes, her hatred toward Verloc is utterly convincing. As for Oscar Homolka, from the start it's obvious he's up to something, but he is convincing as a small cog in a much larger wheel, a pathetic man who is overwhelmed by the pressures imposed upon him. But the centerpiece of the film is the nerve-racking journey of Mrs. Verloc's younger brother Steve, as he travels through London unaware that the reel can he carries contains a bomb. The bomb, of course, is set to a timer, and each delay adds increasing tension as the hour of detonation approaches. The sequence is pure Hitchcock, as there is nothing more suspenseful than to see an innocent in danger. Sabotage may be a couple of notches below The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes, but it is still classic Hitchcock. ~ Bob Mastrangelo, All Movie Guide
  • Producer David O. Selznick's 's second consecutive Best Picture (after the previous year's Gone With the Wind) and another enormously popular adaptation of a bestseller, this adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's novel was also the first American film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Screenwriters Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison recreated du Maurier's novel precisely, complete with the ideal casting of new star Laurence Olivier as brooding Maxim de Winter and insecure neophyte Joan Fontaine as his timid new bride. Rebecca displayed Hitchcock's unparalleled talent for ominous atmosphere, as he derived suspense from the clash between Fontaine and Judith Anderson's coldly sadistic, Rebecca-obsessed Mrs. Danvers. The elaborately appointed Manderley mansion became a character in itself, with Rebecca's expressively lit, diaphanously curtained bedroom, overlooking a suitably wild ocean, evoking her all-consuming absent presence. Selznick's and Hitchcock's attention to detail paid off with eleven Oscar nominations, including Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress, and it won the top prize as well as an award for George Barnes's cinematography. However, control freak Hitchcock took a break from control freak Selznick for his next film, Foreign Correspondent (1940). ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
  • Described by Alfred Hitchcock himself as the "first true Hitchcock film," The Lodger is a suspenseful Jack-the-Ripper tale that features one of the master's most familiar themes: an innocent man who is blamed for a crime. In the case of this 1926 silent about a killer who targets blondes, that man is a mysterious lodger in a London apartment house played by British screen star Ivor Novello. The actor does a terrific job of casting suspicion on himself by alternating between being sinister and sincere. The plot is similar to that of 1941's Suspicion, but unlike the weak ending of that Hitchcock classic, The Lodger's conclusion is stunning: Novello being chased across town by an angry lynch mob that believes he is the killer. In only his third film, Hitchcock's creative style and willingness to innovate are already apparent. The story is carried entirely by its images, with only a minimal number of title cards used for dialogue. The director shot the opening scene as a combination of images that set up the entire plot and convey the terror of the situation, all with only a few words. In another chilling scene that shows the fright of the building's owners as they see a chandelier shaking, Hitchcock used a see-through Plexiglas ceiling to show that the movement is caused by the lodger, who nervously paces above them. The Lodger marked the first of Hitchcock's famed onscreen appearances, due to the fact that he was needed as an extra. He is seen in two spots, first as a man in a mailroom during the opening sequence, then again at the end as an onlooker to the mob scene. ~ Patrick Legare, All Movie Guide
  • {#Lifeboat} shows what the disaster films of the '70s and beyond might have been like if they were shorn of their special effects and forced to concentrate on character rather than activity -- and if they were directed by a true master, of course. Today's audiences, weaned on {#The Poseidon Adventure} et al, might find the basic setup (toss in a handful of characters from every walk of life and force them to work together for their mutual survival) a little trite, but director {$Alfred Hitchcock} and his (credited and uncredited) screenwriters take this premise and create a gripping, taut, suspenseful, and thoroughly captivating piece of cinema. {$Hitchcock}, of course, deserves praise for keeping visually interesting a story with such a limited setting, but he deserves even greater credit for the marvelous work he pulls forth from his cast. In what is arguably the only film role that takes advantage of her unique talents, {$Tallulah Bankhead} delivers a tour de force performance that is simply mesmerizing. {$Bankhead} establishes the character clearly and precisely within the first few seconds -- a cynical, ironic, self-centered woman; she should be rather repulsive, but {$Bankhead} makes her playful and appealing. She anchors the film but does not overshadow it, allowing the likes of {$John Hodiak}, {$Hume Cronyn}, and {$William Bendix} to shine as well. There are moments in the film that don't quite work (usually when it crosses the line from {\war drama} to {\war} {\propaganda}), but overall, {#Lifeboat} is an engrossing, often thrilling and sometimes unsettling cinematic experience. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
  • {$Alfred Hitchcock} relished in playing off of his audience's suspicions, and this early suspense film accomplishes just that. Made when Europe was on the verge of war, {#Sabotage} focuses on {%Mr. Verloc}, the incarnation of the heavily accented neighbor who may not be as benign as he seems. This xenophobic approach works to the film's advantage, as the sight of {%Verloc} and his shadowy associates plotting the destruction of London surely must have grabbed English audiences in 1936. {$Hitchcock}'s fascination with espionage and crime is evident, as always, especially in the scene where {%Verloc} meets his contact in the aquarium. Another favorite {$Hitchcock} element present is having a wife slowly come to distrust and fear her husband. {$Sylvia Sidney} plays this transformation beautifully. In the early scenes she is warm and friendly, but as the film progresses, she begins to tighten up, and in the final scenes, her hatred toward {%Verloc} is utterly convincing. As for {$Oscar Homolka}, from the start it's obvious he's up to something, but he is convincing as a small cog in a much larger wheel, a pathetic man who is overwhelmed by the pressures imposed upon him. But the centerpiece of the film is the nerve-racking journey of {%Mrs. Verloc}'s younger brother {%Steve}, as he travels through London unaware that the reel can he carries contains a bomb. The bomb, of course, is set to a timer, and each delay adds increasing tension as the hour of detonation approaches. The sequence is pure {$Hitchcock}, as there is nothing more suspenseful than to see an innocent in danger. {#Sabotage} may be a couple of notches below {#The 39 Steps} and {#The Lady Vanishes}, but it is still classic {$Hitchcock}. ~ Bob Mastrangelo, All Movie Guide
  • {#Young and Innocent} plays like a warm-up for {$Hitchcock}'s later masterpieces. With some echoes of his earlier classic {#The 39 Steps}, it follows the journey of a man wrongly accused of murder on the run with a woman who thinks he is guilty. The themes {$Hitchcock} addresses here would return again and again in his future films, and would often be pulled off with more sophistication and style, but {#Young and Innocent} remains entertaining and thrilling in its own right. {$Nova Pilbeam} and {$Derrick de Marney} lack the charm and chemistry of later {$Hitchcock} stars, but they still give it an enthusiastic effort. {$Edward Rigby} is good as {%Old Will}, a bum who helps the young leads, and {$Mary Clare} and {$Basil Radford} give very different performances from their roles a year later in {#The Lady Vanishes}. There are some truly {$Hitchcockian} moments, such as the entire opening sequence (from the confrontation between a man and a woman to the discovery of her body on the beach), and the birthday party for {%Erica}'s niece. Equally impressive is a later scene when {%Tisdall}, {%Erica}, and {%Old Will} flee to an old mine, and their car falls into the collapsing ground. The wrong man on the run was one of {$Hitchcock}'s favorite plots, as it allowed him to delve into some of his familiar themes; {#Young and Innocent} falls short of the complexity of those later films, but is still a strong effort. ~ Bob Mastrangelo, All Movie Guide
  • Producer {$David O. Selznick}'s 's second consecutive Best Picture (after the previous year's {#Gone With the Wind}) and another enormously popular adaptation of a bestseller, this adaptation of {$Daphne du Maurier}'s novel was also the first American film directed by {$Alfred Hitchcock}. Screenwriters {$Robert E. Sherwood} and {$Joan Harrison} recreated du Maurier's novel precisely, complete with the ideal casting of new star {$Laurence Olivier} as brooding Maxim de Winter and insecure neophyte {$Joan Fontaine} as his timid new bride. {#Rebecca} displayed Hitchcock's unparalleled talent for ominous atmosphere, as he derived suspense from the clash between Fontaine and {$Judith Anderson}'s coldly sadistic, Rebecca-obsessed Mrs. Danvers. The elaborately appointed Manderley mansion became a character in itself, with Rebecca's expressively lit, diaphanously curtained bedroom, overlooking a suitably wild ocean, evoking her all-consuming absent presence. Selznick's and Hitchcock's attention to detail paid off with eleven Oscar nominations, including Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress, and it won the top prize as well as an award for {$George Barnes}'s cinematography. However, control freak Hitchcock took a break from control freak Selznick for his next film, {#Foreign Correspondent} (1940). ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
  • Young and Innocent plays like a warm-up for Hitchcock's later masterpieces. With some echoes of his earlier classic The 39 Steps, it follows the journey of a man wrongly accused of murder on the run with a woman who thinks he is guilty. The themes Hitchcock addresses here would return again and again in his future films, and would often be pulled off with more sophistication and style, but Young and Innocent remains entertaining and thrilling in its own right. Nova Pilbeam and Derrick de Marney lack the charm and chemistry of later Hitchcock stars, but they still give it an enthusiastic effort. Edward Rigby is good as Old Will, a bum who helps the young leads, and Mary Clare and Basil Radford give very different performances from their roles a year later in The Lady Vanishes. There are some truly Hitchcockian moments, such as the entire opening sequence (from the confrontation between a man and a woman to the discovery of her body on the beach), and the birthday party for Erica's niece. Equally impressive is a later scene when Tisdall, Erica, and Old Will flee to an old mine, and their car falls into the collapsing ground. The wrong man on the run was one of Hitchcock's favorite plots, as it allowed him to delve into some of his familiar themes; Young and Innocent falls short of the complexity of those later films, but is still a strong effort. ~ Bob Mastrangelo, All Movie Guide
  • One of Alfred Hitchcock's greatest films, Notorious features the director at his devilishly elegant, self-assured best. A visual masterpiece, it plays like a seamlessly assembled jigsaw puzzle, in which each piece fits together with clean precision. The film's smooth veneer largely creates its visceral impact; lurking beneath the gloss are dealings of the most grotesque sort, their execution made all the more insidious by their sophisticated guise. Aside from containing one of Hitchcock's most famous MacGuffins, the uranium ore, Notorious boasts some of his most famous camerawork, most notably the gorgeous tracking shot during Sebastian's party that takes the viewer from the top of a staircase to Alicia's hand, clenched around the key that will lead her to the uranium ore. The camera moves with the quiet intimacy of an unobserved party guest, almost serpentine in its journey. Similarly ingenious is Hitchcock's use of point-of-view shots, particularly that of Alicia's waking up with a hangover and watching Devlin walk toward her as the camera spins 180 degrees. Seeing through Alicia's eyes, the audience sympathizes with her, making the character one of Hitchcock's most full-blooded and enduring heroines. It goes without saying that the success of Alicia's characterization is in no small part due to Ingrid Bergman's performance; tragic, lovelorn, and marked by logical cynicism, her portrayal of Alicia was one of the best of Bergman's career. She was ably supported by Cary Grant and Claude Rains, the former going against his likeable, effortlessly charismatic persona to play an initially charmless man with morals as questionable as the heroine's are supposed to be. Rains, paired with Bergman again after Casablanca, makes Sebastian into one of the film's more sympathetic characters; it is a mark of Rains' ability that when Sebastian turns to climb the stairs in the film's closing scene, we feel real terror for him. That Sebastian's fate is the result of both his own manipulations of others and his heart's manipulations of himself is at the center of the film's true MacGuffin: masquerading as a Cold War thriller, Notorious is one of the screen's classic black romances. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
  • Described by {$Alfred Hitchcock} himself as the "first true Hitchcock film," {#The Lodger} is a suspenseful Jack-the-Ripper tale that features one of the master's most familiar themes: an innocent man who is blamed for a crime. In the case of this 1926 silent about a killer who targets blondes, that man is a mysterious lodger in a London apartment house played by British screen star {$Ivor Novello}. The actor does a terrific job of casting suspicion on himself by alternating between being sinister and sincere. The plot is similar to that of 1941's {#Suspicion}, but unlike the weak ending of that Hitchcock classic, {#The Lodger}'s conclusion is stunning: Novello being chased across town by an angry lynch mob that believes he is the killer. In only his third film, Hitchcock's creative style and willingness to innovate are already apparent. The story is carried entirely by its images, with only a minimal number of title cards used for dialogue. The director shot the opening scene as a combination of images that set up the entire plot and convey the terror of the situation, all with only a few words. In another chilling scene that shows the fright of the building's owners as they see a chandelier shaking, Hitchcock used a see-through Plexiglas ceiling to show that the movement is caused by the lodger, who nervously paces above them. {#The Lodger} marked the first of Hitchcock's famed onscreen appearances, due to the fact that he was needed as an extra. He is seen in two spots, first as a man in a mailroom during the opening sequence, then again at the end as an onlooker to the mob scene. ~ Patrick Legare, All Movie Guide
  • One of {$Alfred Hitchcock}'s greatest films, {#Notorious} features the director at his devilishly elegant, self-assured best. A visual masterpiece, it plays like a seamlessly assembled jigsaw puzzle, in which each piece fits together with clean precision. The film's smooth veneer largely creates its visceral impact; lurking beneath the gloss are dealings of the most grotesque sort, their execution made all the more insidious by their sophisticated guise. Aside from containing one of {$Hitchcock}'s most famous MacGuffins, the uranium ore, {#Notorious} boasts some of his most famous camerawork, most notably the gorgeous tracking shot during {%Sebastian}'s party that takes the viewer from the top of a staircase to {%Alicia}'s hand, clenched around the key that will lead her to the uranium ore. The camera moves with the quiet intimacy of an unobserved party guest, almost serpentine in its journey. Similarly ingenious is {$Hitchcock}'s use of point-of-view shots, particularly that of {%Alicia}'s waking up with a hangover and watching {%Devlin} walk toward her as the camera spins 180 degrees. Seeing through {%Alicia}'s eyes, the audience sympathizes with her, making the character one of {$Hitchcock}'s most full-blooded and enduring heroines. It goes without saying that the success of {%Alicia}'s characterization is in no small part due to {$Ingrid Bergman}'s performance; tragic, lovelorn, and marked by logical cynicism, her portrayal of {%Alicia} was one of the best of {$Bergman}'s career. She was ably supported by {$Cary Grant} and {$Claude Rains}, the former going against his likeable, effortlessly charismatic persona to play an initially charmless man with morals as questionable as the heroine's are supposed to be. {$Rains}, paired with {$Bergman} again after {#Casablanca}, makes {%Sebastian} into one of the film's more sympathetic characters; it is a mark of {$Rains}' ability that when {%Sebastian} turns to climb the stairs in the film's closing scene, we feel real terror for him. That {%Sebastian}'s fate is the result of both his own manipulations of others and his heart's manipulations of himself is at the center of the film's true MacGuffin: masquerading as a Cold War {\thriller}, {#Notorious} is one of the screen's classic black {\romances}. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
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