BEFORE: OK, roof repaired. Screen panel put in front door. I'm getting to most of my summer rituals, including the Washing of the T-Shirts. I don't mean to suggest that I don't wash my t-shirts at other times of the year, but since t-shirt season is here, it's very important to have my best novelty shirts ready for action, and Comic-Con, so whatever's in the pile is getting washed, even if that takes me a few days.
Just about two more weeks of Hitchcock films to go - and now I'm getting to the really important ones. Linking from "I Confess", Hitchcock appears only in a still photo tonight, and that hardly counts. But Brian Aherne links to all three of tonight's leads - let's say he was also in "Forever and a Day" with Ray Milland (last seen in "The Lost Weekend")
THE PLOT: An ex-tennis pro carries out a plot to murder his wife. When things go wrong, he improvises a brilliant plan B.
AFTER: Well, I'm glad that Hitchcock eventually figured out how to make movies in color again.
Let's see, we've got the unfaithful wife (Check), the planning of a "perfect" murder (Check), the person falsely accused (Check) and the police who leap to the simplest, most logical and yet still wrong conclusion (Check). Man, did Hitchcock know how to keep playing off the same themes, or what?
The difference here is that we do get to see a smart detective, eventually. But before we get there, there's a lot of minutia involved in planning the perfect murder, and explaining it to the man who's going to carry it out. Is it worth it? I mean, for a 5-minute action scene - to have 45 minutes of a planning session before, and 45 minutes of figuring it all out on the other end. Talk, talk, talk, that's all you murderers ever do, it seems like!
Much of the logistics in this case revolve around a key, which is how the killer gets in. How does he get the key, where is the key going to be hidden, what should he do with it afterwards, who knows about the key, where is the key right now, why isn't the key where it's supposed to be. Jesus Christ, enough about the goddamned key! It's like arresting a bank robber and charging him with jaywalking on the way to the bank!
Did Hitchcock really think the audience would be so freaking fascinated in HOW the killer got in to the apartment, compared with what he was supposed to do once he got inside? I mean, really, what's more important? Besides, I can think of a dozen reasons why the key shouldn't even be important in the first place. I mean, a killer could also pick a lock. A killer could also break a window to gain access, or in this case could have come in through another door. A killer could wait in the hall for someone to go into their apartment, and catch the door before it closes. A killer could have stolen the key (as suggested within the movie at one point), made a copy and returned the original. A killer could have knowledge of locksmithing and make a master key for that particular brand of lock. A killer could have told a phony story about being a cop or a priest or someone in need of help in order to be let in.
But nope, once the police figure out one possibility, they discount all of the other possible ways the killer could have gained access, and whatever they've figured out MUST be true. Meanwhile, I call shenanigans.
NITPICK POINT: Also, there are TWO cases where the policeman goes ahead and does things without getting a warrant first, so really, all of his evidence obtained from this would have been thrown out in court. So sorry...try again!
Also starring Grace Kelly (last seen in "High Noon"), Robert Cummings (last seen in "Saboteur"), John Williams (last seen in "The Paradine Case"), Anthony Dawson (last seen in "Thunderball").
RATING: 6 out of 10 press clippings
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