All Movie Talk, Episode 45
Show contents, with start times:
- Top 6: Boat Movies (4:55)
- Trivia Question: Epic Expenditures (22:20)
- Director Spotlight: Alfred Hitchcock, Part 2 (25:03)
- How To: Use a Computer (45:12)
- Closing: Trivia Answer, Preview of Next Week (61:37)
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Show Notes:
Introduction
Did you spot them all? The answers: ................................................
Top 6: Boat Movies
See our separate Top 6 entry for more information about our picks.
Trivia Question: Epic Expenditures
This epic film ran way overbudget because it turns out that building a realistic Roman slave galley is pretty darn expensive.
Director Spotlight: Alfred Hitchcock, Part 2
Rather than trying to list all of the films by Alfred Hitchcock we discuss in this segment (we cover roughly half of his 66-film career), here are links to some highlights:
- His early career included a number of late silents, including classics like The Lodger (1927). His film Blackmail (1929) was one of the first British talkies and is renowned for its creative use of sounds.
- The Lady Vanishes (1938) is one of his most accomplished British films, another movie noted for its use of sound in service of mystery plot.
- In 1940 he moved to Hollywood and worked with famed producer David O. Selznick on Rebecca, his only film to win Best Picture at the Oscars. Hitchcock himself would never win Best Director.
- Hitchcock was productive under the studio system, directing 13 movies throughout the 1940s. Suspicion (1941) was his first collaboration with Cary Grant, one of his favorite actors.
- In 1943's Shadow of a Doubt, Hitchcock explored noir themes and style at the birth of the movement as he examined evil invading a small town.
- Lifeboat (1944), as loyal listeners know, has the smallest total movie set size on record. A gripping story about survivors on a lifeboat during World War II, and Hitchcock manages to sneak a cameo in.
- Hitchcock went with some virtuoso camera work (even more so than normal) with Rope (1948), a feature that is apparently done entirely in one shot. The cuts are hidden in creative ways, and it spices up an already tense story about murderers who hide a body in the same room in which they're hosting a dinner party.
Next week, we'll conclude our detailed examination of Hitchcock's career with a look at some of his most acclaimed films.
How To: Use a Computer
We're typing this right now at about 400 words per minute (it's slow because there's a light on somewhere outside, and it's messing up the computer's electronics). If you want to learn how to hack encryption and surf the Intertron using the 3D Max 9000 uber GUI, check out our latest How To segment. Just make sure you listen to it in the dark.
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