Hitchcock introduces us to Mrs. Paradine.
His camera slowly revolves around her. He gives her a breathtaking close-up which brings us closer to her than personal decorum or propriety would allow. Alida Valli plays Mrs. Paradine, this cool, beautifully austere, unapproachable looking woman. And she is being charged with murder.
Do you know the movie: “NIGHT SONG”? You ought to check it out…it’s a very good romantic drama featuring Dana Andrews and Merle Oberon. He’s a blind pianist whom Merle Oberon falls in love with. In order to win him over, she pretends to be blind as well. Our two leads are very good. Dana is an angry blind guy and Merle is in love with him. A match made in movie heaven.
Heavens to Murgatroid…I’m no scholar. No aficionado. I have a passing knowledge of one…and am a groupie of the other. JOHN FORD and ALFRED HITCHCOCK are two of the most famous directors in the history of movies.
This time I wasn’t in Hollywood…at a film festival…with like-minded classic film fans. This time I wasn’t at the magnificent Graumann’s Chinese…with the star of the film introducing the movie; ( btw, a star I had met. A-hem! ) Nope, this time I was here in New York City.
“ O’ what a tangled web he weaves
When first we watch Hitchcock’s movies. ”
“I CONFESS” is gnarly. Yes I mean it in that surfer boy way of good, cool. (Do I have that right? I never dated a surfer). But I also mean gnarly in terms of messy, not smooth. That’s because the murderer weaves everything into a gnarled snarled mess.
CineMaven's ESSAYS from the COUCH 