YOUR DAILY JOURNAL (page 106)

compound complex

They call me Mr. Compound-Complex (for short).

CoCo aka Leslie Thomson of Tasmania (get out your atlas, Charles).

I feel another story coming on (soon).

The Hayes Office will approve (I think).

Petit Prince (sorry - wrong board).

Okay, okay.....what was I thinking - Bette or Barbara? Wayyyy too much testosterone on the screen...........and that's even before that Tasmanian devil Leslie Thomson shows up! Look, we want Hayes to approve, of course.......but we want them to ssqquuiirrmm first....if you get my drift......

compound complex

Did you read how Hitchcock got around censorship Rs & Rs regarding kissing scenes?

Case in point: That inflammatory, near-conclusion scene where Cary Grant rescues an ailing Ingrid Bergman in "Notorious."

BizzyBee

Cary Grant rescues an ailing Ingrid Bergman in "Notorious."

No....enlighten me. BTW, one of my all-time favorite movies.......

compound complex

I believe it was in the biography, "The Dark Side of Genius - The Life of Alfred Hitchcock," by Donald Spoto, where I read of Hitch's "genius" for getting his way. I recall that the censors permitted a screen kiss of some two or three seconds but not a second more. What the clever old gent did was string together a series of kisses, each within the acceptable time allotment. A brilliant filming touch was to have the camera pan around the embracing couple in, if I remember correctly, a 360-degree sweep. The hero avers contritely and with subdued passion that he was a fathead, full of pain; she coos breathlessly that 'you really do love me, you really do love me.' What appears as an interminable and highly-charged scene of love-making is truly a series of mini-takes. We see the whole and, as a result, collapse vicariously from the crippling passion.

The censors were ... to be continued.

Mr. Hitchcock could pull off on-screen eroticism effortlessly, without a hitch.

The Master.

CC

BizzyBee

I remember the scene - it was dizzying not only from the movement of the camera but from the sheer chemistry between those two gorgeous people.

I agree about Hitch - such a terribly unattractive man, but an astute connoisseur of beauty - Bergman, Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Eva Marie Saint, Farley Granger, etc.

Dagney

Hitchcock fan here!

One of my favorite sexy scenes is in 'North by Northwest" where Cary and Eva are on the train and passing each other in the aisle. Masterfully shot, sparks flying, and I don't believe they touch. Hubbahubba.

Just watched "Lifeboat" the other night. Have you seen it? The movie takes place entirely in a lifeboat, stars Tallulah Bankhead, among others. Very very good.

compound complex

Loved it! Thanks, Dagney.

Lifeboat Review

96 minutes, USA (1944), PG Comment on this >

Hitchcock goes to sea in this Oscar-nominated character piece. Tallulah Bankhead is among the survivors of a Nazi torpedo attack on a cruise ship, but tensions on board the rescue craft are as lethal as the German threat

Rear Window and Rope. A simple premise tightens the dramatic focus and the film explores the delicate balance of power among the survivors as they suffer the consequences of their own and one another's folly.

Feature continues

The personalities themselves are neatly drawn archetypes (posh, rough, rich, tender, former-thief and bloke.) Of these Bankhead dominates as a haughty society journalist and even in these straightened circumstances there are clashes over race and class. It's the arrival of Nazi Captain Willy (Slezak) that provides the dramatic impetus, inspiring both hope and danger.

Released in the penultimate year of the war, the film was subsequently derided as Allied propaganda. Certainly there are elements of that here. But other aspects compensate and the result of the survivors' rising hysteria suggests human beings are quite capable of screwing things up without the intervention of government.

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Dagney

Hi CoCo, how are you?

Did you watch the movie on DVD? Do you know where Hitch makes his appearance in the movie?

xoxox

Dag

compound complex

Hi Dagney,

I'm great and hope that you and yours are likewise. I saw "Lifeboat" years ago on VHS but am tempted to rent it again. I know it's still available. I've seen most of Hitch's films and I never tire of seeing them again. I get ideas for my writing. If you've read my story on JWS, "A Captive Audience," (conclusion on my new thread "Your Stories and Poems," JWD), you'll see elements of "Signs," "Somewhere in Time," "Beauty and the Beast," as well as references to literature. Someday I hope to be totally original in my writing!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Love,

CoCo

Edited to add: I don't know where he makes his entrance - don't tell me!

YOUR DAILY JOURNAL

Loved it! Thanks, Dagney.

Lifeboat Review

Hitchcock goes to sea in this Oscar-nominated character piece. Tallulah Bankhead is among the survivors of a Nazi torpedo attack on a cruise ship, but tensions on board the rescue craft are as lethal as the German threat

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