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besides the obvious Rear Window storyline, all of the following in this movie are also signature Hitchcockian themes or devices . . . the sudden overhead shots during interiors for dialog transitions; the use of shadows (the darkness and the light); the wrongly persecuted (Stanwyck) trying to prove the truth; the inept police wanting to incarcerate the innocent person; the average working-class Joe (or Josephine) getting thrown into a sinister web by no fault of their own; the dramatically different stories within each rear window, i mean each door in the apt. building where the victim lived; the stair-climbing climax to the top of the cloister tower, i mean State of Liberty, i mean skyscraper. <br /><br />not to mention fellow Brit George Sanders who features prominently in some of Hitch's biggest pre-50s films. and Then! there's even a cameo by Hitch himself! or at least an effective stand-in -- the super in Sanders building baring an obvious resemblance to Hitch's profile. <br /><br />This is Bizarroworld Hitchcock. <br /><br />it's The Woman Who Knew Too Much. . . . The Wrong Woman. . . . Saboteur-ess -- withthe opening scene being the crime, and the only person who knows the truth being committed / convicted by the police, with no 'authority' to turn to (except, perhaps, the highest one), and the climax up a long flight of stairs (and then a ladder!), and evil (the bad guy) falling off to his death (down to hell) with a nice direct overhead shot. <br /><br />It's the Spellbound amnesia, but instead of Dali, the lead character is a surrealist painter. It's Shadow of a Doubt with Sanders playing the suave and 'angelic' Uncle Charlie / Joseph Cotton role. <br /><br />not to mention the whole anti-fascism angle that ran through most of Hitch's '30s and '40s films. <br /><br />this has gotta be one of the most Hitchcockian movies ever made that wasn't made by Hitchcock. almost like a "lost Hitchcock". <br /><br />i'd love to know the backstory on this film -- whether it was a cash-grab rip-off, or a loving homage. the script directly acknowledges the TV show Dragnet at one point, which makes me hope the portly superintendent was a nod to Sir Alfred. <br /><br />this is either a heck of a forgery, or a heck of a tribute. but either way, it's a heck of a film. |