the more I am fascinated by her.  Loved her in Mann’s Public Enemies and as Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose.  I was even impressed by her Vanity Fair Psycho photoshoot (Marion Cotillard as Marion Crane, above).  She’s not just posing in these shots.  She’s giving a real performance — and a far more ... read more »

Having already submitted a list of ten to Movieman’s Movie Bookshelf meme, a “gathering of all the movie books that influenced, enlightened, and excited me, you, and everyone else,” I was delighted to read his master list of books submitted to him by all the bloggers who participated in the meme – not only delighted, ... read more »

Why Ten Days’ Wonder? I certainly wouldn’t call it one of Chabrol’s masterpieces. That’s a description I’d reserve for Les Bonnes Femmes, Le Boucher, Á Double Tour, La Rupture, The Cry of the Owl, Story of Women, La Cérémonie, or any one of a half dozen others. No, the reason I chose Ten Days’ Wonder ... read more »

The Alices in flight, those beautiful women alone in their cars on the run – Sylvia Kristel in Alice ou la Dernière Fugue, Candace Hilligoss in Carnival of Souls, and Inger Stevens in “The Hitch-Hiker” episode of The Twilight Zone – recall the most iconic of such women, Janet Leigh as Marion Crane on the ... read more »

God’s revenge? Seriously, I love the Universal back lot. I used to work there and would drive around it in one of those golf carts they use. Nothing beat the thrill of stepping inside the original Psycho house which (thankfully) was spared. To read the Los Angeles Times coverage of the fire, click here.

It’s official now. According to Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker, Bernard Herrmann’s score for Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo “belongs among the great musical works of the century.” And surely, if Herrmann’s Vertigo is among the great musical works of the last century, Herrmann’s highly influential, formally radical, strings-only score for Psycho is there ... read more »

According the U.K. Guardian (via GreenCine Daily): “Anthony Hopkins and Academy Award front-runner Helen Mirren are in talks to star in an upcoming drama about the life of Alfred Hitchcock. Alfred Hitchcock Presents chronicles the obstacles that the celebrated film-maker had to overcome while making Psycho. Mirren would play Hitchcock’s wife and artistic collaborator.” It ... read more »

Playwright. Screenwriter. Producer. Known primarily for two major achievments: (1) He wrote the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). (2) He was the producer and chief writer for the first season (1963-1964) of television’s groundbreaking sci-fi/gothic anthology series, The Outer Limits. And one cannot talk about Psycho without talking about Norman Bates. Bates is the ... read more »