Hitchcock Overkill

Good evening.

Hitchcock rules. Here are some reviews of murders in my favorite Hitchcock movies. Eschewing my policy of not rating movies, these murders are discussed and rated on a scale of 0 to 4 screams. There are minor spoilers about.

Be warned.

The Lodger
Considered to be Hitchcock’s first Hitchcockian movie. The movie opens with an extreme close-up of a chick screaming. Turns out she’s being murdered. Also turns out the movie is silent.
The victim: Some chick.
Method of killing: Very vague. As far as I can tell, it was from a calling card with “The Avenger” written on it.
Rating: This murder is very economically shot. Too economical for my taste. 2 screams.

Blackmail
Britain’s first talkie.
The victim: An evil rapist/painter.
The method: A bread knife.
Rating: Very nicely shot. Shadows on the wall. A pan to the curtain. A hand outstretched – reaching for the knife. The only sounds are shy Alice’s cries of “Let me go!” 3 screams.


The 39 Steps
There are two murders in this movie. The first is hammily acted and slightly illogical. I am reviewing the second murder.
The victim: Mr. Memory.
The method: A gunshot.
The rating: “What are the 39 steps?” When asked, Mr. Memory squirms, quivers his brow and answers. He’s compelled to answer – even though he knows he could die for doing it. He keeps reciting (top secret) trivia until he dies. The killer leaps onto the stage (a la John Wilkes Booth), but is surrounded by the cops in an awesome shot. Pretty good. But I’ve seen better murders. 3 screams.

Sabotage
The victim: Little boy goes boom. And a puppy. A busload of innocent people.
Method: A time bomb.
Rating: Very tense. This is the purest correlation of Hitchock’s example of a classic suspense scene. The little boy unknowingly carries a bomb that will go off at 1:45. He lollygags on the street – letting a stranger brush his teeth! Numerous shots of clocks tracking his time. Little boy plays with a puppy. A puppy! Finally, a shot of the clock hand hitting 1:45. A succession of jump cuts to the bomb. Then, boom! Cut to people laughing. Ha! Awesome! 4 scream murder.

The Lady Vanishes
The victim: A balladeer singing songs in code.
The method: Strangulation by evil, shadowy hands.
Rating: Mrs. Froy liked it. She tossed out a tip. I didn’t. Boring. One scream.

Rebecca
The victim: The proverbial Rebecca.
The method: An anchor to the face.
Rating: The suckiest of all Hitchcock “murders.” The camera pans across an empty room as Laurence Olivier (accompanied by a melodramatic score) narrates what happened that fateful night. Most critics assume Olivier is telling the truth. The truth is boring. One scream murder.

Foreign Correspondent
The victim: European diplomat Van Meer.
The method: Someone took his picture. Seriously! Those things kill!
Rating: A moody, rainy day. A sea of umbrellas nearby. A quick succession of shots – including one of Van Meer with blood running down his face. He drops his umbrella and tumbles down the stairs after it. The killer escapes into the sea of umbrellas. Awesome. Four scream murder.
BONUS: There are actual screams in the scene.

Suspicion
The victim: No victim. 
The method: Not a poisoned glowing glass of milk.
Rating: Lame. Really lame. 0 screams.

Saboteur
The victim: Sick saboteur Fry.
The method: Bad tailoring and the Statue of Liberty.
Rating: Nicely done. An overhead shot of Fry hanging from the Statue. Only the sound of the wind blowing and ships passing. Then he falls away from the camera. Three screams.
BONUS: An actual scream.

Shadow of a Doubt
The victim: Head-traumatized Uncle Charley.
Method: Either the fall from one train, or the wheels of another oncoming train.
Rating: Kind of a boring kill. Not that Hitch didn’t try. There’s the shots of the feet on the edge of the train, the pounding train-like score, shots of the tracks racing past. It seemed to impress Powell & Pressburger. It inspired the climax for Black Narcissus. Two screams.

Lifeboat
The victim: There are many. I could talk about the chick who commits suicide after she realizes the baby she is carrying is dead. But instead, I’ll focus on Gus and Willy.
The method: A nazi nudge and good ole American mob rule.
Rating: Very, very brutal killings. Poor Gus, deliriously rambling – forgetting that one of his legs is gone. Only the sounds of the sea. The horizon rising and falling behind them. And then Willy’s death. One shot. Previously gentle characters grabbing anything they can find and pounding him mercilessly. The only sounds the grunts of the mob. Three scream murders.


Spellbound
The victim: Ballantine’s little bro.
The method: Fratricide by way of impalement.
The rating: Most of the visuals in this movie are amazing. Everything else – ugh! But seeing the short montage of a little boy sliding down a banister. And seeing another boy drop onto a spikey fence. Ouch! That image has never left me. Fortunately the visuals are so strong I can ignore the absurd score and what Gregory Peck is saying at the time, “Something in my childhood. I remember now!” A three scream murder.

Notorious
The victim: Metrosexual mama’s boy Alex Sebastian.
The method: Unsure. The murder is only implied.
Rating: Very suspenseful. The slow parade of characters descending the stairs. Then the lone climb back up the stairs. The subtle score. The close-ups. Awesome. A four scream murder.

Rope
The victim: Over-achiever David.
Method: Rope.
Rating: Not bad. First the muffled scream. Then the close-up of David being strangled. It gets your attention. Three screams.
BONUS: An actual scream.



Strangers on a Train
The victim: Slutty Miriam.
The method: Strangulation.
Rating. Totally awesome! Just the sounds of the fair. Calliope music, laughter, etc. The murder reflected in the pair of glasses that have fallen off Miriam’s face. Creepy and riveting. Four scream murder.

Dial M for Murder
The victim: Some dude named Swann.
Method: A pair of scissors in the back. Ouch.
Rating: This murder is like an action scene after all the talky boredom of the first thirty minutes. The movie was shot in 3-D, but there’s nothing about this scene to suggest that. Two screams.

Rear Window
The victim: A doggie.
Method: “It’s been strangled. The neck is broken.”
Rating: It fits in nicely with the rest of the movie. Mostly shots from inside James Stewart’s apartment. Just the sounds of the city on the soundtrack. And then the realization that Thorwald is sitting in the dark – puffing his cigar. Three scream murder.
Someone else might get killed in this movie. Or might not. If they did, then their head is in a hatbox in the garden. Just saying.

The Trouble with Harry
The victim: Harry.
Method: Who the hell knows?
Rating: The comically exaggerated shots of Harry’s feet. A lot of discussion about how he died and who did it. Two scream murder(?).


The Man Who Knew Too Much

The victim: Sexy spy Louis Bernard.
Method: A knife in the back.
Rating: Visually seering. He stumbles to the ground – his make-up rubbing off onto James Stewart’s hands. Nothing but a sparse score by Bernard Hermann and foreign chatter. A four scream murder.

Vertigo
The victim: Recently reincarnated Madeline.
Method: Suicide – kind of. But not really.
Rating: Very famous shot here. The simultaneous zoom and tracking shot that keeps Stewart from chasing her up the tower. Then the silly looking dummy falling past the window. All backed up by a menacing score. Marred mostly by the absurdity of the situation. A three scream murder.
BONUS: An actual scream.

North by Northwest
The victim: UN Ambassador Lester Townsend.
Method: A sudden knife in the back.
Rating: Pretty lame murder. No style. All surprise. The sudden burst of brass instruments when the knife hits doesn’t help matters. A one scream murder.

Psycho
There are two murders in this movie. I will only discuss the first. And the more famous.
The victim: Kleptomaniac Marian Crane.
Method: Stabs.
Rating: This is perhaps the most copied scene in all of film. The famous quick-cutting montage. The classic score by Bernard Hermann. The sounds of the shower, the stabs, and the multiple screams from Marion. The most famous of all of Hitchcock’s murders. And rightfully so. Four screams.
BONUS: Many, many actual screams.

The Birds
There are numerous victims in this movie. I will only discuss the first one found.
The victim: Kindly neighbor Dan Fawcett.
Method: Pecking in the bedroom.
Rating: Super creepy. Miss Daisy is first alerted that something is wrong by the broken tea cup. Then the dead bird in the window. The bloody feet, and the quick jump cuts to the eye-less face of Farmer Fawcett. All done in complete silence. Really chilling. Four screams.

Marnie
The victim: Some horny, pedophile sailor.
Method: “I hit him with a stick!”
Rating: Poorly executed. The tracking shot/zoom is nice, but the slightly sepia-toned flashback, the echoing voices and the clumsy blocking ruin it. One scream murder.
BONUS: Actual screams.

Torn Curtain
The victim: Russian spy Gromek.
Method: Strangulation, a knife in the heart, a shovel to the shins, and a head in the oven. It’s a spectacularly messy death.
Rating: The only reason to watch this movie. Brilliantly shot. The overhead shot of dude getting strangled, the low shot of chick holding the knife, her lunging at the camera, the overhead shot of the guy in the oven, the shots from the POV of the victim getting his ass dragged toward the oven. Four scream murder.

Frenzy
There’s more than one murder in this. I will only discuss the first.
The victim: Estranged ex-wife Brenda.
Method: Strangled . . . with a tie.
Rating: Pretty creepy murder. The booby. The tie pin. The off-center shot of Brenda. The sounds of the rapist whispering, “Lovely . . . lovely!” while Brenda recites. The tie tightening around the neck. The legs kicking. The head jerking back and forth. Hard to watch. And then the strange dark humor at the end. Three screams.