This Friday we’re going to talk about the one of the greatest directors that ever said “Action!” The one and only Alfred Hitchcock. Unlike most fans, my first introduction to him wasn’t any of his films, but his television series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents. But once it came to movies, Psycho was definitely the one I remember as being one of the first, if not the first. But way before we were introduced to Norman and his domineering mother, Hitchcock gave us so many great titles, from The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934 and then remade in 1956), Lifeboat (1944), Rope (1948), I Confess (1953), Rear Window (1954), and so many more.
So for this Friday Favorites, let us hear what yours is from our friend Sir Alfred.
While there are a few books previously on Terence Fisher, from authors like Peter Hutchings, Paul Leggett, and Wheeler Winston Dixon, I think it is still not enough coverage on this director, who’s name should be right up there with the likes of Romero, Carpenter, Cronenberg, Bava, Argento, and the rest of the horror elite. Now hopefully with this new book by Tony Dalton, Terence Fisher: Master of Gothic Cinema, that will make the change.
Wow. This one is a bitch to accept. Yes, the Maestro was 91, but for the hours and hours that I, as well as millions of other film lovers, have been entranced by his music, it still hurts. Even if we just talked about the scores he did for horror and giallo genres, from Dario Argento’s first trilogy of films, Fulci’s A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin, Mario Caiano’s Nightmare Castle, Aldo Lado’s Short Night of Glass Dolls, to even John Carpenter’s The Thing, his scores always made an impact. That is not even getting into what he did for the western. Even if people didn’t know Morricone’s name or what movies he scored, if you started to play the opening theme from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, they would know it.
Stake Land
Ericka Blanc
