Do you put this movie in Hitchcock's top 5?
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franzkabuki — 15 years ago(April 28, 2010 06:36 PM)
I think it belongs firmly among the 5 worst films Hitchcock ever made.
In short, what he did was create a character as fascinating, unique and compelling as Uncle Charlie, have this character played by a great actor and then throw him into a complete f-cking cartoon. Throughout the entire film he is surrounded by an army of one-dimensional, preposterously chipper caricatures of zero nuance or interest. Everyone is so ridiculously upbeat that the mere news of Uncle Charlies arrival is greeted with shockwaves of collective euphoria by the entire family. And then they babble - boy do they babble. The entire film is filled with endless yacking, dished out in bouts of stiff overacting; only very occasionally is some suspense or more appropriately sinister atmosphere allowed to creep in.
And then we have this silly device of having that horrible little man Hume Cronyn rain in from time to time to cheerfully hobnob about how to kill people - presumably to highten tension (a clumsy move he also repeated in Strangers On The Train). What it does however is cheapen the thing by taking it down onto a dimestore pulp novel level. And so it goes just about everything is constantly undercut by inappropriate overacting. Very rarely is there an actual air of danger - when Cottens presence is allowed to occupy the center stage. Dont happen too often though - Im afraid the only way to save this movie would have been for Uncle Charlie to strangle the entire family (minus the Charlie chick, of course) as well as Cronyn right upon arrival.
In addition to all that the film has to offer 2 of the most risible "assassination attempts" in all of Hitch - first, a wooden staircase is broken (apparently the broad should have died of a twisted ankle or a broken leg) and then setting up a gas chamber expecting the victim simply to walk into it. And, of course, theres the ending which looks every bit as silly as its reputation suggests. 4/10.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan -
g-nicol27 — 15 years ago(June 02, 2010 05:13 PM)
I completely agree. The family was a (bad) joke, his sister was just irritating, and even more irritating
was the way Charley Junior couldn't walk anywhere without flouncing - whether happily when
she met him at the station, or frantically on her way to the library, and in fact most times when she walked. I found this body over-acting distracting. Daft plot. NOT one of his best. Ginger -
kikiteka — 15 years ago(August 11, 2010 03:08 PM)
But that was the point! They're all upbeat and good natured with a healthy outlook on life, and he'snot. The contrast between Uncle Charlie and his family is
supposed
to be pronounced. He grew up in the same environment as his sister, and she's fine, which implies that it's not their upbringing that causes him to be this way. It's just him, which makes him scarier because he's completely unpredictable. Not only that, the sort of dizzy behavior of the family ensures that everyone is just completely oblivious to this guy who has serious problems, and the only person who notices is Little Charlie. Hence the tension! -
franzkabuki — 15 years ago(September 29, 2010 05:01 PM)
Upbeat is one thing, but here everyone but Cotten is reduced to a majorly annoying walking caricature. The balance is completely off and instead of highlighting or stressing the tension, all darkness simply dissolves in the allaround goofiness. What a film like Blue Velvet gets about right, ASOD misses by a mile.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan -
dizexpat — 15 years ago(December 08, 2010 11:54 PM)
For what it's worth (and some of the comments here make me wonder if responding is worthwhile) my Hitchcock Top Ten shows the film making it into the Top Five.
Vertigo
Psycho
Rear Window
Notorious
Shadow of a Doubt
North by Northwest
The Birds
Strangers on a Train
Frenzy
The Lady Vanishes
"I am embarrassed. I never made love in Technicolor before."