Magic Marmalade 3rd Mar 2023
| | Rated 8/10This is actually my favourite Alfred Hitchcock movie; Very short, very talky drama all played out in one room.
Of course, it draws attention in Hitchcock's filmography mainly due to the experimental elements:
The apparently "real-time" action taking place against a backdrop of a city skyline set, where, through the magic of lighting and set design, day gradually becomes night as the drama takes place in one apparently continuous shot (Actually there's one visible break - zooming into someone's back, before coming back out again, and also one switched camera angle) but still impressive none the less, not least because the actors had to keep this going perfectly individually, and as an ensemble for extended stretches.
This, being centred around a murder, which we see committed at the start, as an " artistic experiment" conducted by a perfectly depicted cold, charming, and detached psychopath and his old school chum...
(Who is actually the more interesting character in a way, as he is able to do this thing, but is very jittery and troubled - not evidently, because what he has done is wrong, but through fear of consequence to himself if discovered - would this make him more a sociopath?)
...Who then invite people over for a party while the body remains in a chest / box in the middle of the room, and from which they eventually eat supper from. - their knowing, in the face of other people's ignorance of the crime, and the presence of the body, right under their noses, providing the twisted thrill our chief psycho is looking for, to round out his "art".
The crucial error, being having invited James Stewart's old schoolmaster - their old teacher, who inspired this notion in them through his, only apparently, extreme, barmy, and tenuous philosophical views about superior persons who should be allowed to commit such crimes against the inferior persons in society - who then very quickly clues in to the fact that something is up, and begins to sleuth them out, all the while the party goes on around them.
It's very much a statement about the kind of thinking that led to Nazi atrocities in the second world war.
But the truly impressive thing about this, for me at least, is the - how should I call it? - screenplay choreography taking place here, to allow this extended take scenario to work; The shifting of focus of the camera to different groups of people allows some actors to go out of shot for a spell and others have a moment, before returning fluidly to the central characters, and the main story. It doesn't feel artificial, or forced - that is: "We need to give this actor a break now, so quick, shift to some characters", but rather just floats seamlessly around the characters at the party, without disturbing the flow, or rhythm of the movie.
It's the one film of Hitchcock's that although he has some incredible movies in his filmography, has stolen through the pack to become my favourite over time, mostly through the mesmeric quality of this stage like production, which give a more intimate and fascinating tale of suspense than usual.
(I think this is also why I like Rear Window as much, over say Vertigo, Psycho et al.)
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