『ストーリー・オブ・フィルム 111の映画旅行』などのマーク・カズンズ監督が、『めまい』『鳥』などで知られるサスペンス映画の巨匠アルフレッド・ヒッチコック監督の演出術に迫るドキュメンタリー。イギリス時代のサイレント作品からハリウッドに渡って以降の作品まで、フッテージ映像などを駆使しながらヒッチコックの演出について解説していく。 “サスペンス映画の神様”と称されるアルフレッド・ヒッチコック監督。監督第1作となった1925年の『快楽の園』、ヒッチコック監督にとってトーキー映画第1作となった1929年の『ヒッチコックのゆすり』、ハリウッドでの1作目にしてアカデミー賞作品賞を獲得した『レベッカ』など、今もなお観る者に驚きを与えるヒッチコック作品の秘密を解き明かしていく。
AIが作品の魅力を深く読み解いています
Now this opens with an impossible statement - and that works! For what we get over the next couple of hours is quite a plausible assessment by the man himself of just what made him tick. He explains in six, admittedly rather contrived, stages just what fuelled the creative processes as he assembled a body of work the like of which we shall never see again. Starting in the late 1920s, we are led on a tour of his styles, his inspirations, his techniques and it's a name-dropper's wet dream. His routine referrals to Cary (Carey, of course), Grace, Tippi, Kim, Jimmy - even "Hank" (Fonda) give the whole thing an added intimacy as he explains (and betrays) some of the secrets of his directing - and of their acting, too. Now it is too long, and after a while I was wondering just how it could string out for two hours, but the style of the narration remains friendly and engaging. He has a cheekiness, and the "don't you think?" or "wouldn't you?" style or response-inducing dialogue made me feel a bit more involved. There are no contributors at all - but the archive is extensively used and illustrates well the range of stories, the talent and the duration of this director's career before dying at a decent age in 1980. If you are a fan of cinema, or "Hitch" or with both, then this is well worth a watch. I'm not sure it needs to be in a cinema though, and actually it might work better as a two-part documentary on the television. It is certainly quite a captivating watch.
