North by Northwest - free to the public...

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr637xG2iyQ_sRktVwa9aEU8Zvq6KuG0SUPERY3uaNJYOQWJP5tDcVNJhZuNEB8d7XMX8uxPQjtczN1SEX8dJsiZlajboQ7Jeg7y0gOswjWpQ0xTvHld3ON4JkaKk91gn6ElX0UtTckIAO/s1600/NxNW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr637xG2iyQ_sRktVwa9aEU8Zvq6KuG0SUPERY3uaNJYOQWJP5tDcVNJhZuNEB8d7XMX8uxPQjtczN1SEX8dJsiZlajboQ7Jeg7y0gOswjWpQ0xTvHld3ON4JkaKk91gn6ElX0UtTckIAO/s320/NxNW.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi83aD-6R-rdZTEsPdUtZICQS45Vc1oWGtSvEEZOXg9q-_VzGytTEii0RAMSWQTTT-Wy5ilXYHrCrAQcD4Gu5O_0xILq0jDF1-b2sBfjVLnmedqK1IagbcGezl684kMwhe2A-Kn7xyR-MnK/s1600/nxnw+audience.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi83aD-6R-rdZTEsPdUtZICQS45Vc1oWGtSvEEZOXg9q-_VzGytTEii0RAMSWQTTT-Wy5ilXYHrCrAQcD4Gu5O_0xILq0jDF1-b2sBfjVLnmedqK1IagbcGezl684kMwhe2A-Kn7xyR-MnK/s320/nxnw+audience.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">When I was a little girl, the only director whose name I knew was Alfred Hitchcock. Though I didn't see any of his signature films of the era in a theater - <i>Rear Window</i> (1954), <i>To Catch a Thief</i> (1955), <i>Vertigo</i> (1958), <i>North by Northwest</i> (1959) - I must've seen the trailers, because I was well aware that he made exciting, colorful and glamorous movies.</span><br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Psycho</span></i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> (1960) was the first Hitchcock film I watched on in a theater. I saw <i>Psycho </i>(a far cry from his elaborate VistaVision/Technicolor creations of the 1950s) second-run (I was <i>finally</i> old enough) at the local movie house, the Ritz Theater, with a friend who'd already seen it. Pal that she was, she nudged me just as Arbogast, the detective, reached the staircase landing of the Bates home and a figure with a knife darted toward him...naturally, I shrieked long and loud...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">I was fortunate enough to see <i>Rear Window</i> when it was re-released into theaters in 1984, but have seen most of Hitchcock's films on television. There's no question that his work comes through powerfully on TV, but his films were made – carefully - to be seen on full-size theater screens.</span><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgjDVlIn6pkex3gmKtAHxtjk1_8AYLjZY_3SmPVd3gyMMbsloLcphtilF64YL6aneiN_gBBTLXtoAEmcjqQfRWAbUGpo0cuXTF_zDgJ8E0zmNJNnFK-1O1pAWOQ-X4_M0vBuJ9OIlEozJo/s1600/Rafaelatnight-300x225%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgjDVlIn6pkex3gmKtAHxtjk1_8AYLjZY_3SmPVd3gyMMbsloLcphtilF64YL6aneiN_gBBTLXtoAEmcjqQfRWAbUGpo0cuXTF_zDgJ8E0zmNJNnFK-1O1pAWOQ-X4_M0vBuJ9OIlEozJo/s1600/Rafaelatnight-300x225%255B1%255D.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Rafael Theatre, San Rafael, California</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Last July the nearby <a href="http://eves-reel-life.blogspot.com/search/label/Rafael%20Theater"><span style="color: #990000;">Rafael Theatre</span> </a>screened the silent version of Hitchcock’s <i style="color: #cc0000;"><a href="http://classic-film-tv.blogspot.com/search/label/blackmail" style="color: #990000;">Blackmail</a> </i>(1929). The film exceeded my expectations in just about every way possible. I was surprised that it as well-crafted and fluid as it was and that it contained so many elements that were to become Hitchcock trademarks. Live accompaniment by the Alloy Orchestra underscored the action and added dimension. And it was thrilling to be surrounded by an appreciative SRO audience.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Six weeks later, at noon on Sunday, September 5, the Rafael presented <i>North by Northwest</i>, free to the public, as part of its quarterly "Everybody's Classics" series. At 11:40 a.m. the line was long, but good seats were still to be had. By show time Theater 1 was packed and anticipation ran high.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Then Bernard Herrmann's pulsing score began and the crisscrossing lines of Saul Bass's title sequence filled the screen. <i>North by Northwest</i> was upon us and in just a few exhilarating moments I was whisked into the adventure.</span><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjncfTwxhlJ2LRmR7Js0ElvhCP0rydU3WwiZlcaNajjCjteH2h-thupKtdDIKMMWhqDVOae1u3vYpADTARrMJn1gVzZ1b2WssACPfp3TBJfeR46TrNQl3knU-mnnua1ISQmQn54Akoy3td6/s1600/North%252520by%252520Northwest%252520movie%252520image%252520%25283%2529%255B1%255D+b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjncfTwxhlJ2LRmR7Js0ElvhCP0rydU3WwiZlcaNajjCjteH2h-thupKtdDIKMMWhqDVOae1u3vYpADTARrMJn1gVzZ1b2WssACPfp3TBJfeR46TrNQl3knU-mnnua1ISQmQn54Akoy3td6/s320/North%252520by%252520Northwest%252520movie%252520image%252520%25283%2529%255B1%255D+b.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cary Grant - the adventure begins</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Possibly Hitchcock's quintessential thrill-ride, <i>North by Northwest</i> incorporates many familiar themes and plot devices - an innocent man accused, a romance complicated by mistrust and betrayal, a double chase (the police after the innocent man and the innocent man after the true villain), a backdrop of international espionage...</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">North by Northwest</span></i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> has been linked to two of Hitchcock's earlier classics, <i>The 39 Steps</i><b> </b>(1935) and <i>Notorious</i> (1946), but by 1959 the director, at the height of his powers, was in a position to control just about every aspect of his films, much more so than he had been 10 and 20+ years earlier.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">He was able to cast his favorite actor/star, Cary Grant, in the lead. And though he was unsuccessful in enticing Princess Grace back to the screen as his leading lady, he transformed Academy Award-winning method actress Eva Marie Saint into a stunning and complex femme fatale. James Mason, Martin Landau, Leo G. Carroll and Jessie Royce Landis rounded out his first-rate cast.</span><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMLm5_dVQc_8P3zWLK5BEr_R1Tz5jlUh_VZVlsnINBG7Gqa80U-UgV_u3ix8BcNzpWIigkkar68CB7NvSlGN5uEDSMGZqZXGUUByPgOnNvbnc9v3toGPGV8MBOS6OOwSWbTTL1oVSftLfi/s1600/nxnw+hands.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMLm5_dVQc_8P3zWLK5BEr_R1Tz5jlUh_VZVlsnINBG7Gqa80U-UgV_u3ix8BcNzpWIigkkar68CB7NvSlGN5uEDSMGZqZXGUUByPgOnNvbnc9v3toGPGV8MBOS6OOwSWbTTL1oVSftLfi/s320/nxnw+hands.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint, hands on </td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Bernard Herrmann, who by now had worked with Hitchcock on several films, was just completing the score for the pilot of "The Twilight Zone" when he began <i>North by Northwest</i>. Ernest Lehman wrote the sophisticated and clever script that earned an Oscar nomination. Academy Award winning cinematographer Robert Burks, production designer Robert F. Boyle (also Oscar-nominated for this film) and other Hitchcock stalwarts joined in the collaboration.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">All of these ingredients plus glorious VistaVision and Technicolor added up to produce one of Hitchcock's most successful and exciting films.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">I'd seen <i>North by Northwest</i><b> </b>countless times and felt I knew the film well, but to finally see it on a movie screen was akin to seeing it for the first time.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">To begin with, Cary Grant's starpower was almost overpowering - his screen presence was that commanding. What grace, what confidence…and how impossibly handsome he was. It's not surprising that Bernard Herrmann adjusted his score to match what he described as Grant's "Astaire-like agility."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">As might be expected, the suspense seemed magnified on a theater screen, and so did everything else - the humor was more direct and the seduction scenes more intense in their intimacy and erotic implications. The film’s pacing is acutely precise – with suspense building to an exquisite pitch, then, at just the right moment, relief - via wit or romance. Then, once more, the suspense begins to build…</span><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqdsZttYxl-0L4WHyQTs4Fcc1DhOSajvG0gixaqFzmqLNqD1Xs_a0dNjO1k2VV8YgGAVhg8MvaFLMm42kTbYlpNKJ9t4F6SuWzbsqpTOlEFbO764Ez5_RCDRgBe-FwZwfX9vK6tAaW0eX4/s1600/NorthBrand%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqdsZttYxl-0L4WHyQTs4Fcc1DhOSajvG0gixaqFzmqLNqD1Xs_a0dNjO1k2VV8YgGAVhg8MvaFLMm42kTbYlpNKJ9t4F6SuWzbsqpTOlEFbO764Ez5_RCDRgBe-FwZwfX9vK6tAaW0eX4/s320/NorthBrand%255B1%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Climax of a classic chase scene</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The crop-dusting sequence with its truck-in-flames finale and the moonlit chase across the face of Mount Rushmore are striking set-pieces on a screen of any size. Via the big screen I could almost feel the heat of the truck’s explosion and smell South Dakota’s night air. These scenes are legendary and, for obvious reasons, much imitated. The early James Bond films emulate the crop-dusting scene... Steven Spielberg's <i>Close Encounters</i> (1977) includes a well-known homage with its replication of Hitchcock's night-time Black Hills.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Afterward, I couldn't help wishing I'd been able to see <i>North by Northwest</i> back in 1959 at the Ritz. The kid I was then would've come out of that theater exhausted and elated, convinced she'd just been on the greatest rollercoaster ride of her life.</span><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoihabE6skbsSXUgz8BYBgbrbge-kESZRwqe64NIDi9ldGw2fQW-buTDBrsvEbl9I4TgdIA2BIK_Hl_BIJjkR7xKt3P_x7xfjsrenzHciIQ6fqQS-bow7sC_uSAkm6_j25btSHHNVQiIoY/s1600/nxnw_great_cast%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoihabE6skbsSXUgz8BYBgbrbge-kESZRwqe64NIDi9ldGw2fQW-buTDBrsvEbl9I4TgdIA2BIK_Hl_BIJjkR7xKt3P_x7xfjsrenzHciIQ6fqQS-bow7sC_uSAkm6_j25btSHHNVQiIoY/s320/nxnw_great_cast%255B1%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eva Marie Saint, James Mason and Martin Landau</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Alfred Hitchcock has been widely acknowledged for his matchless ability to maneuver an audience's emotions and point of view with ease, and it's hard to maintain much distance from Hitchcock's best films. This could be why I enjoy the <i>experience</i> of his films as much as I enjoy the exercise of <i>studying</i> them.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">As with all Hitchcock films, <i>North by Northwest</i><b> </b>has a few things going on beneath its slick surface. But last Labor Day weekend, inside a darkened theater filled with laughing, sighing, cheering people, I was a child again for a while. Happily immersed in a suspenseful, clever, sexy adventure, I didn't really notice that, from the first note of Herrmann's score to the final shot of a darkened railroad tunnel, I was being swept along as if aboard a sleek 20th Century Limited under the command of a very crafty locomotive engineer.</span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc_eDVg712jVxSH8zKidSYldd3z-4A5O1JdxsUl31TOYTc-3O9sXaHvQtaQOdcWJm3q_kVu0p4IgQVbTrYkGlx0LhM2qJUKEH11HBXDrTQ75ICTRO6McAx9MGwcjc8yfgQGPDdWtN-u6Oz/s1600/nxnw+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc_eDVg712jVxSH8zKidSYldd3z-4A5O1JdxsUl31TOYTc-3O9sXaHvQtaQOdcWJm3q_kVu0p4IgQVbTrYkGlx0LhM2qJUKEH11HBXDrTQ75ICTRO6McAx9MGwcjc8yfgQGPDdWtN-u6Oz/s400/nxnw+poster.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></div>

Alfred Hitchcock Bernard Herrmann Cary Grant Ernest Lehman Eva Marie Saint James Mason Jessie Royce Landis Martin Landau North by Northwest Rafael Theatre The Lady Eve (author) North by Northwest - free to the public...

When I was a little girl, the only director whose name I knew was Alfred Hitchcock. Though I didn't see any of his signature films of the era in a theater - Rear Window (1954), To Catch a Thief (1955), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959) - I mu…

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Break out the champagne (the '55 Hitchcock)...

<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBuu-j93w_O4SAZI35_v2b7KGevhXQy_WvDxLVNBYtMHbsY7tmgjWZVU4lXBmrhAWqRtI6pkot7SRLI8Bw5oqSnZi8-8vbfmusmfX2mnM8dp463edZ0RLidEHP9uPZBuJ-oW7h3pXhK_54/s1600/cote+d+azur.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBuu-j93w_O4SAZI35_v2b7KGevhXQy_WvDxLVNBYtMHbsY7tmgjWZVU4lXBmrhAWqRtI6pkot7SRLI8Bw5oqSnZi8-8vbfmusmfX2mnM8dp463edZ0RLidEHP9uPZBuJ-oW7h3pXhK_54/s1600/cote+d+azur.bmp" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;">Sometime just after Labor Day it began to seem that 2010 suddenly accelerated and was careening headlong toward Halloween…Thanksgiving…Christmas.  Each holiday quickly came and went and, what seems like moments later, 2011 is here.</span><br /><a name='more'></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">In my life, 2010 was a year highlighted by reconnecting with old friends and making new ones…so today I celebrate the old year along with the new.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Traditionally, of course, champagne is the <i>drink du jour</i> at New Year’s, and so champagne it shall be now. A bottle of ‘96 <span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Dom Pérignon Ros</span>é<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"> would be great, but I’m in the mood for something really special…an old favorite… Hitchcock’s distinctive ’55 </span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">vintage</span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"> from the </span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Cote d'Azur. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">To Catch a Thief</span></b><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"> (1955), or “Hitchcock champagne,” boasts a rare combination of elegance and flair. Light-bodied with a smooth finish that lingers, it remains unmatched, though it has been imitated far and wide for decades.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">A jaunty score sets the tone as the opening credits roll over a shot of an international travel service with a poster in its window, “If you like life, you’ll love France.” The tinkling keys of a grand piano hint at continental sophistication and adventure long before the first scream bemoaning stolen jewelry issues from a Riviera hotel balcony.</span></span> <br /> <br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh48Sgpw1nuTnGKA-hGWpGyPdQwOaT7n03Owk9uy7NmHcFMWFTNuebRjyaRRf1IL2SDRiAlyPMIflEK8rOeDZOaYHCfQLdUwz65_Al6d5ZsB3w2qQqY95hbdjGH0ShuV8axK6eP9sPlFOax/s1600/sainte+jeannet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh48Sgpw1nuTnGKA-hGWpGyPdQwOaT7n03Owk9uy7NmHcFMWFTNuebRjyaRRf1IL2SDRiAlyPMIflEK8rOeDZOaYHCfQLdUwz65_Al6d5ZsB3w2qQqY95hbdjGH0ShuV8axK6eP9sPlFOax/s320/sainte+jeannet.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">John Robie's Sainte-Jeannet villa</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial;">Quickly enough the action takes off with a colorful cruise through the Cote d'Azur as the French police speed to the village of Sainte-Jeannet and the hillside villa of retired jewel thief and prime suspect, John Robie (Cary Grant). The film has just begun and cinematographer Robert Burks has already heralded Hitchcock's first film in VistaVision/Technicolor.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Alfred Hitchcock and Robert Burks had initially worked together five years earlier, following the director's return to the U.S. after making two films in England. Hitchcock was beginning production on <b>Strangers on a Train </b>for Warner Bros. and the studio cinematographer assigned to the project was 40-year-old Robert Burks. This would be the beginning of a fabled partnership.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-aJ-LFhxBKGBVxsOpoMXKA9LFUFZ3nn0ZmbCFLYOEwnvpwl08JKliUAQyoatZUrp6FC-Dip7VCoYoKQA50NGVH3tOnfqGOOUi2pIb5WsF8-LzdqT_BHBSyPcbdGA-ZkwEtTMLr_Yyfm-6/s1600/robert+burks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-aJ-LFhxBKGBVxsOpoMXKA9LFUFZ3nn0ZmbCFLYOEwnvpwl08JKliUAQyoatZUrp6FC-Dip7VCoYoKQA50NGVH3tOnfqGOOUi2pIb5WsF8-LzdqT_BHBSyPcbdGA-ZkwEtTMLr_Yyfm-6/s200/robert+burks.jpg" width="141" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cinematographer Robert Burks</span></td></tr></tbody></table> <span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Burks began his career in the Warner Bros. special effects lab at 19 when Hal Wallis, who liked shadows and high contrast from his cinematographers, was in charge of production. Burks, who apprenticed under James Wong Howe, worked his way up, becoming a DP and then a cinematographer by 1948.</span></span><br /><br /><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The early influence of German expressionism on Hitchcock corresponded nicely with the influences Burks absorbed at Warner Bros. and the two collaborated on twelve films from 1951 – 1964, every picture Hitchcock made during that period except <b>Psycho</b>. Like Burks, Hitchcock had detailed knowledge of special effects and tended to devise scenes featuring complex imagery. One of the most memorable scenes in all of Hitchcock came in <b>Strangers on a Train</b>, the scene in which Robert Walker’s strangulation of Laura Elliott is reflected in the lens of a pair of fallen glasses. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />Robert Burks was Oscar-nominated for <b>Strangers</b> and again for <b>Rear Window</b>. With <b>To Catch a Thief</b>, he won the Academy Award for Best Color Cinematography.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From 1955 – 1958, Burks shot five Hitchcock films in VistaVision/Technicolor; four of the five were for Paramount Pictures.</span></span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzr8W-czTC3FMiCGK16WWGMNjigxqu6CxCVVO-PuVsxPiv1AqVSTVL9SfVDGpGd9prBf7E4__YFzTxtlIjTyWtpwvPhEtKGSG2wduZYjDmyRFyufRfBx73micT6qZm-hBiBCqakqV5Mikq/s1600/filming+TCat+in+VV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="190" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzr8W-czTC3FMiCGK16WWGMNjigxqu6CxCVVO-PuVsxPiv1AqVSTVL9SfVDGpGd9prBf7E4__YFzTxtlIjTyWtpwvPhEtKGSG2wduZYjDmyRFyufRfBx73micT6qZm-hBiBCqakqV5Mikq/s200/filming+TCat+in+VV.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Hitchcock on the set with VistaVision camera</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />Paramount had been the only major studio to balk at the widescreen CinemaScope system when it came into use in 1953, and set out to develop a process of its own. The studio worked with Eastman Kodak and came up with VistaVision, a method that delivered a higher resolution, widescreen version of 35 mm. The VistaVision process printed down large format negatives to standard 35 mm, creating a finer-grained print and improved image. The use of Technicolor's dye transfer process was key to VistaVision image quality.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />For his first VistaVision/Technicolor excursion, Hitchcock contrived a stylish romantic thriller fueled by dazzling starpower.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLtLE882JFOZgUtqIjSrnbv55ZduFCRVVu9gm11qpDvjVoBrfLE00ow453l5wdjAcWI6gYh43NRBsrtwr2t5H31LrfvgystnxYvCWDdlM7uhB9P_ipuuR5i-HUHsKKdpcNFLVCHUanhqoX/s1600/TCAT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLtLE882JFOZgUtqIjSrnbv55ZduFCRVVu9gm11qpDvjVoBrfLE00ow453l5wdjAcWI6gYh43NRBsrtwr2t5H31LrfvgystnxYvCWDdlM7uhB9P_ipuuR5i-HUHsKKdpcNFLVCHUanhqoX/s200/TCAT.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cary Grant and Grace Kelly</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Robert Osborne remarked, when he introduced TCM's most recent screening of <b>To Catch a Thief</b>, that it had “the best asset any film could have...Cary Grant.” Good point. This was the third of Cary Grant’s four Hitchcock pictures and it came nearly ten years after their last collaboration, <b>Notorious</b> (1946), one <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of</span> the best films in either man’s illustrious filmography. In the interim, Hitchcock’s career had gone into and dramatically come out of a slump. During the same period, Grant had continued to make popular films, but had increasingly moved away from the kind of part he had trademarked – the dapper, self-effacing man of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Following <b>Dream Wife </b>(1953), Grant retired, dissatisfied with the films he was being offered. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>But then he was<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>approached by Alfred Hitchcock who had a project in mind with the requisite amount of elegance and comedy to attract him. </span></span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">With <b>To Catch a Thief</b> Cary Grant returned to type; John Robie, “The Cat,” is a dashing charmer, “a man of obvious good taste” very few could or would want to resist. Grant seldom departed from type for the remainder of his career.</span></span> <br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKoJXaYjZ9ofOEJ5VFOE-jaUbsAeQQPtBML85fsIj7ONQ1VlAayIENcDsIObokCFf-ggUJve55Qm2kRvG-03vylAwZR-sic_Vf9Ujgfd0YDDiigJlpDf4Ezm_gfXGPEHZ1kSZAfJfkPoft/s1600/last+scene.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="272" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKoJXaYjZ9ofOEJ5VFOE-jaUbsAeQQPtBML85fsIj7ONQ1VlAayIENcDsIObokCFf-ggUJve55Qm2kRvG-03vylAwZR-sic_Vf9Ujgfd0YDDiigJlpDf4Ezm_gfXGPEHZ1kSZAfJfkPoft/s320/last+scene.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cary Grant and Grace Kelly</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>To Catch a Thief </b>was the third and final film Grace Kelly made with Hitchcock, who would have worked with her for the rest of his career had she not left movies <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">at the height of her stardom to marry Prince Rainier. </span>Hitchcock’s breathtaking onscreen vision of Kelly brings to mind Josef von Sternberg’s cinematic exaltation of Marlene Dietrich 20 years earlier. Kelly was a beautiful woman but among the handful of films she made, her image as<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a screen goddess achieved perfection only in her films with Hitchcock. In <b>To Catch a Thief</b> she plays a spoiled rich girl, the ultimate "snow covered volcano" and "Hitchcock blonde."</span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9y5C_Wc0Ior6XOQknst_xU10BJT7TDn8OiWVjwkcmhJdK-8t-xkWLrqr-fbM4IagH0gezvhBJDtS7HoARoIcpDXP8wGvG1taFUGP1oCvbZcTUW8Gvzn6TAaIZKN2d7O3hoHAoduYiepxa/s1600/TCAT+Jessie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9y5C_Wc0Ior6XOQknst_xU10BJT7TDn8OiWVjwkcmhJdK-8t-xkWLrqr-fbM4IagH0gezvhBJDtS7HoARoIcpDXP8wGvG1taFUGP1oCvbZcTUW8Gvzn6TAaIZKN2d7O3hoHAoduYiepxa/s200/TCAT+Jessie.jpg" width="147" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jessie Royce Landis</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The pairing of Grant and Kelly is irresistible. The two are perfect for the roles of debonair thief/innocent man and haughty/hot debutante, and they literally generate fireworks together.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">In her first Hitchcock outing, Jessie Royce Landis portrayed Kelly’s jovial, down-to-earth, bourbon-sipping mother. Hitchcock liked to include colorful women as supporting characters in his films, ranging from the silly (Florence Bates in <b>Rebecca</b>, Patricia Collinge in <b>Shadow of a Doubt</b>) to the clever and wisecracking (Thelma Ritter in <b>Rear Window</b>,  Barbara bel Geddes in <b>Vertigo</b>). Royce Landis portrayed two of the most appealing of the latter type in this film and <b>North by Northwest</b>.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Actor John Williams appeared in his third Hitchcock film with <b>To Catch a Thief</b>, this time as an insurance agent helping Robie track down the real jewel thief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His H.H. Hughson is a fine foil for Grant’s Robie. Their early scenes provide Hitchcock the opportunity to have some fun with a favorite theme, the ambiguity of guilt and innocence...Robie tells Hughson flatly that though he “only stole from those who wouldn’t go hungry,” he “kept everything myself.” Chiding Hughson for stealing hotel sundries and cheating on his expense account, Robie comments, “I was an out and out thief…like you.” Robie emphasizes his point with the throwaway line, “I wish I’d known someone in the insurance racket when I went into the burglary business.”</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgAMDio0AmddkrFXfJpPwo8RBcWrGDzjg0vhSntaTSrnp9bQ99AzG7VsDOefNmShmdsQbHJZB0OL11czH0OIHYsFaVIlPs2n1B5iLkSFT6tyWUy6SFqG4Youd2B0oCFBw-PJnlisdolSfB/s1600/robies++villa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="177" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgAMDio0AmddkrFXfJpPwo8RBcWrGDzjg0vhSntaTSrnp9bQ99AzG7VsDOefNmShmdsQbHJZB0OL11czH0OIHYsFaVIlPs2n1B5iLkSFT6tyWUy6SFqG4Youd2B0oCFBw-PJnlisdolSfB/s320/robies++villa.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cary Grant, John Williams, Georgette Anys</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Hitchcock toys with guilt and innocence again when Robie refers to the sensitive hands and gentle touch of his cook and housekeeper, Germaine, who bakes a quiche as "light as air" and who, during the war, “strangled a German general once…without a sound.”</span></span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some have dismissed <b>To Catch a Thief</b> for its lack of weight, however, it is a strong reflection of Hitchcock’s meticulous craftsmanship, lightly touches on some of the director’s pet themes, and is a solid film of its genre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Hitchcock delivered exactly what he intended, an exciting, lighthearted, romantic thriller. All elements click into place…from the John Michael Hayes screenplay to Robert Burks's VistaVision/ Technicolor photography, Lyn Murray’s score, Edith Head’s eyeball-popping costumes, two scintillating stars and the Cote d’Azur setting.</span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>To Catch a Thief</b> was successful and influential, and many later films bear its earmarks... most prominently Stanley Donen’s <b>Charade</b>, as well as his <b>Arabesque</b>, William Wyler's <b>How to Steal a Million</b>, Blake Edwards's <b>The Pink Panther</b> and countless romantic romps ever since.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TlPETvkuwu0?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TlPETvkuwu0?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object> </div>

Alfred Hitchcock Cary Grant Grace Kelly Jessie Royce Landis John Williams Robert Burks To Catch a Thief Break out the champagne (the '55 Hitchcock)...

Sometime just after Labor Day it began to seem that 2010 suddenly accelerated and was careening headlong toward Halloween…Thanksgiving…Christmas.  Each holiday quickly came and went and, what seems like moments later, 2011 is here.In my life, 2010 wa…

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Van Nest Polglase ~ Architect Of Cinematic Dreams, Part II

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfQ5hzKKenNU9Q8zv2ix7KD0GcPgm89rNNzwmT3HZZ8TdZZ86uTK6g-xqsX-s3SqTVDIOclOneQniL-d8CnYfMKnbehGRNPRL4mkSZ-aGeFrUKn-2fk8OTxPjMV6Xr0288uYZar2JsJ_Jz/s1600/artdirectionTheInformer1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536896414924983106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfQ5hzKKenNU9Q8zv2ix7KD0GcPgm89rNNzwmT3HZZ8TdZZ86uTK6g-xqsX-s3SqTVDIOclOneQniL-d8CnYfMKnbehGRNPRL4mkSZ-aGeFrUKn-2fk8OTxPjMV6Xr0288uYZar2JsJ_Jz/s320/artdirectionTheInformer1.jpg" style="float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 257px;" width="257" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>by guest contributor Whistlingypsy</i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The emergence of those stylistic elements in American films later termed <i>noir </i>by critics is often debated and open to interpretation.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Five years before the films that captivated French critics for their “dark” plots and visual style, John Ford directed an equally dark film for RKO Studios. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Informer</span> (1935) was based on the novel by Liam O’Flaherty and tells the story of an increasingly desperate man. <span lang="EN">Whether John Ford had the stylistic treatment of German expressionism in mind when</span><span lang="EN"> making the film seems unlikely, but </span>Gypo Nolan’s (Victor McLaglen) flight through Dublin’s fog wreathed streets suggests these atmospheric elements as an archetype of <i>noir</i> essentials. Through the effective use of black velvet drapery and fog, to disguise the minimal budget for art direction, Polglase and assistant art director Charles Kirk created an atmosphere that is alternately brooding and menacing, dark, claustrophobic and bleak. Setting the story over the course of one night gives immediacy to Nolan’s frantic race to outrun his conscience and his pursuers. <span lang="EN">This small film would proved an artistic triumph, surprising studio executives, and won four Academ</span></span><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">y Awards, one for John Ford’s direction and Victor McLaglen’s portrayal of the lead character.</span></span><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: arial;"></div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: arial;">Alfred Hitchcock, before he began directing films in 1925, was active as an art director. He entered the industry in 1919 when he was employed by the Islington studio location of Famous Players-Lasky and he worked as an art director on at least six films before moving on to directing. Hitchcock’s lifelong interest in production design has often been understood in light of his experi<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiegK03W6KHP0AIIXY8PICgLOKNTygJImp0HUdDjESJKHZB1T2jte_qMHUXL9TOj3H1sKXG74ghqj10UBx0HKDDOed3bpsQNp9GlI2-y9nFV4GWxAG6Z1_-6NSzZEka53fSjT1L9zo9Xz1k/s1600/artdirectionSuspicion1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536893241127740146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiegK03W6KHP0AIIXY8PICgLOKNTygJImp0HUdDjESJKHZB1T2jte_qMHUXL9TOj3H1sKXG74ghqj10UBx0HKDDOed3bpsQNp9GlI2-y9nFV4GWxAG6Z1_-6NSzZEka53fSjT1L9zo9Xz1k/s200/artdirectionSuspicion1.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 200px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 150px;" /></a>ences at German studios both in Berlin and Munich and his exposure to German expressionism.</div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: arial;">Hitchcock’s first project for RKO Studios had been a comedy and with his next assignment he was given the opportunity to pursue a subject in keeping with his earlier darker films. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Suspicion</span> (1941) was notable for first introducing actor Cary Grant and director Hitchcock, and for using art d<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg95S5fE57dHpHjWjcMNzBPmfN1Dkn65z07j_YP1wB65ymq-OfB6eK8KeOlohodtGX2DC00NKNjV9ewDK4hWbP2uc9ALDezkUNZr6h1lOCRI4Opcg_otgQsD3DTOzImVtnxZu1rF2aQ8dS4/s1600/artdirectionSuspicion2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536893545410650658" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg95S5fE57dHpHjWjcMNzBPmfN1Dkn65z07j_YP1wB65ymq-OfB6eK8KeOlohodtGX2DC00NKNjV9ewDK4hWbP2uc9ALDezkUNZr6h1lOCRI4Opcg_otgQsD3DTOzImVtnxZu1rF2aQ8dS4/s320/artdirectionSuspicion2.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 257px;" /></a>irection as a psychological element in storytelling. The contrast between Lina’s (Joan Fontaine) reassuringly stuffy family home and the coldly menacing home she shares with husband Johnny (Grant) personifies the tension of her state of mind.</div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: arial;">The film’s art direction, supervised primarily by Carroll Clark, is also noteworthy for using the human form as an architectural element. The tall and solid form of Cary Grant balanced on the stairs is echoed in the equally tall and solid column at the foot of the stairs. The graceful line of the pinstripe in Grant’s suit is echoed, but altered, in the equally graceful lines of the treads and risers of the stairs. These lines are further mimicked in the lines falling across the wall and surrounding Grant’s head. The elements confirm and confuse by communicating both Grant’s guise of reliability and the shadow of suspicion regarding his motives, all combining to create one of the most emotionally menacing sequences in the film.</div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: arial;"></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Van Nest Polglase is credited with supervising art direction on what is considered the finest film ever made in America. However, the credit for most of the innovative art direction rightly belongs to Perry Ferguson. Many film scholars have written in depth on the making of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Citizen Kane</span> (1941), with a focus on cinematography and the use of lighting, but few focus on the contribution of art direction.</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE5GOH44SCXhWHTRlXsiIpWtedR2CJS1UW03i6sSieH8YP0LKGzuYWpNjpC8gky1E2vE787aTui_dy2KXCwo14wdLZ4yTldsRdTPeviAZ-GrfEXKvX583vcGG7gyHS7zbGtBO0KSL2dAdT/s1600/artdirectionCitizenKane.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536894085944090018" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE5GOH44SCXhWHTRlXsiIpWtedR2CJS1UW03i6sSieH8YP0LKGzuYWpNjpC8gky1E2vE787aTui_dy2KXCwo14wdLZ4yTldsRdTPeviAZ-GrfEXKvX583vcGG7gyHS7zbGtBO0KSL2dAdT/s320/artdirectionCitizenKane.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 240px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 320px;" /></a>Pauline Kael, film critic and author of <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Citizen Kane Book</span>, mentions neither Polglase nor Ferguson. Orson Welles, in trade paper ads the day of the film’s Hollywood premiere, gave thanks “to everybody who gets screen credit for <span style="font-weight: bold;">Citizen Kane</span> and thanks to those who don’t.” Considering the risk involved in screening the film, this was a generous acknowledgment of the work of many creative individuals. Although Welles appears to have refused to acknowledge Polglase’s contributions, he praised Perry Ferguson’s historical details stopping short of giving Ferguson his due credit on the film.</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ferguson’s use of revers<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifbVsxXHB8e6FMuT3tMYs3zJK5ko01VdFYDqbHjlwVb3QOPPQs5VaXx7BerOutSBrJYQw9lSG1oq3Pd77Ilf_6FBh_2yxmQN_tWyuArKx1U2C0OpHewZfbQY0D9kjhFGmnCEaDDccAkvvL/s1600/artdirectioncollage3.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536894483708036914" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifbVsxXHB8e6FMuT3tMYs3zJK5ko01VdFYDqbHjlwVb3QOPPQs5VaXx7BerOutSBrJYQw9lSG1oq3Pd77Ilf_6FBh_2yxmQN_tWyuArKx1U2C0OpHewZfbQY0D9kjhFGmnCEaDDccAkvvL/s320/artdirectioncollage3.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 211px;" /></a>al of scale as Kane’s ambitions move from larger than life to dwarfing the man who created the illusion is one of the film’s benchmarks and an example of RKO’s sophisticated art direction. A comparison of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Citizen Kane</span> with a lesser film in production the same year proves the level of RKO’s emerging visual style.</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Stranger on the third Floor</span> (1940) was a minor B-film that caused no great stir at the time and could have easily disappeared to the dustbin. Some film historians claim the film contains the first examples of what would later be termed <span style="font-style: italic;">noirish</span> elements (but this is open to debate). Compare the two films for their remarkable similarities: the often dream-like quality, elaborate sets, oversized props and the exaggerated reversal of perspective found in both is significant. <span class="postbody1">The photos to the right show a scene from each film that again reveals a stylistic use of the human form in an architectural environment, and nearly duplicates the body language of the lead character poised at the top of the stairs. </span>Two different art directors created the design of these films, but the designs were produced under the guidance of Van Nest Polglase and RKO art direction.</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="postbody1">Polglase left RKO Studios as head art director in 1942 and divided his time between freelance and studio projects before retiring fifteen years later. His film credits during this period include <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Fallen Sparrow</span> (1943); <span style="font-weight: bold;">A Song To Remember</span> (1945); <span style="font-weight: bold;">Gilda</span> (1946);<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Slightly Scarlet</span> (1956) and B-films directed by Allan Dwan.</span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In February of 2005, the <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Art Directors Guild</span> unveiled its new Hall of Fame and inducted the following legendary production designers at the ninth annual <span style="font-weight: bold;">Art Directors Guild Awards</span>: Wilfred Buckland, Richard Day, John DeCuir Sr., Anton Grot, Boris Leven, William Cameron Menzies and Van Nest Polglase.</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="postbody1">A trend in film criticism seems to have developed regarding Polglase’s contributions to RKO’s art direction, dismissing them as negligible at best. An unfair appraisal of Polglase may be due to the assumption that he ran his department based on his experiences at and observations of M-G-M and Cedric Gibbons. Richard B. Jewell, film historian and author of <span style="font-weight: bold;">The RKO Story</span> states, </span>"The supreme irony of RKO's existence is that the studio earned a position of lasting importance in cinema history largely because of its extraordinarily unstable history. Since it was the weakling of Hollywood's 'majors,' RKO welcomed a diverse group of individualistic creators and provided them...with an extraordinary degree of freedom to express their artistic idiosyncrasies.... [I]t never became predictable and it never became a factory." </span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jewell’s assessment that RKO was a studio of artistic freedom did not preclude conflict over creative control. David O. Selznick, the man responsible for Polglase being made head of art direction, left the studio after a brief fifteen months. Polglase remained with the studio for ten years as an administrator and art director, successfully filling both roles with films that satisfied audience demand for inventive entertainment and studio executives’ demand for new revenue.<span class="postbody1"> A change of perspective from Polglase taking credit for work he did not do would result in his making possible the outstanding work of art directors Carroll Clark and Perry Ferguson.</span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="postbody1">There are many elements that form a link between architecture and art direction. </span>The difference between the two disciplines is where architecture “encompasses” space from without art direction “evokes” space from within, and the architecture of film works within cuts and edits, frames and openings. The architect designs a space with an eye to permanence while the art director designs a space with an eye to the ephemeral. This leaves the art director a greater sense of flexibility when creating his projects unfortunately; the <span class="postbody1">architect and the art director both depend on the efforts of preservation to maintain a permanent record of the artist’s original vision.</span></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" face="arial"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Scroll down to read Part I of Van Nest Polglase ~ Architect of Cinematic Dreams</i></span></div>

Alfred Hitchcock Carroll Clark Cary Grant Charles Kirk Film Noir John Ford Orson Welles Perry Ferguson RKO Studios Van Nest Polglase Victor McLaglen Whistlingypsy (author) Van Nest Polglase ~ Architect Of Cinematic Dreams, Part II

by guest contributor WhistlingypsyThe emergence of those stylistic elements in American films later termed noir by critics is often debated and open to interpretation.Five years before the films that captivated French critics for their “dark” plots a…

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