Lizzie 1957

One for the ‘three faces of Eve’ gene

Elizabeth (Eleanor Parker, ‘The Sound of Music”) Is Just your Average Girl, From your neighborhood, shes works a dull job, she has a boyfriend and lives with her aunt, and shes in her early twenties , The trouble with Young miss Bess is that’s she continues to have reoccurring headaches and slight cases of insomnia , often sleeping in her on set of clothes and waking up in other set .
Almost overnight he starts to receive threatening letters left in places she will only know where to look signed by a ”Lizzie” , a name she is apparently not familiar with in her day to day life .Her Mental condition starts to wither away rapidly and her Aunt (Joan Blondell,”Grease”,Nightmare Alley “)decides to take her to a Dr. Wright (Richard Boone) who after seeing her decides to put her under hypnosis . Unknown to all, Deep in her subconscious,
Dr. Wright finds that Elizabeth carries three personalities around with her ,One is Elizabeth, the shy one that everyone knows,” Lizzie”, the wild ,tarty ,nymphonycal , sociopath .And three ,Beth, the good asexual moral guardian that Elizabeth feels she should have been. Dr. Wright must find a way of exorcising the other two personality’s and help create a dominant personality to help rule ,
This ones ”VERY” camp, in a 1950’s sort of way (which we Love) and lets face it, between Joan Blondell and the three personalities of Parker ,someones gonna choke from trying to chew up all the furniture, But on a serious note along with “three faces of Eve” strangely also released in 1957 and ‘Possessed” (1947) released a good ten years before is still one of the earliest films (aside from the Jekyll and Hyde franchise)that explores Multiple personality Disorders as a serious medical disorder.
Eleanor Parker , who is usually good at playing both side of the field, either self sacrificing wives (Above and Beyond 1952) , People with twigs up their ass (”Scaramouche” , the Baroness from ”The Sound of Music” ) , or people who are bordering on a Multiple Personality (See ”Woman in White” on this Blog), although considered to be in second place to Joanne Woowards portrayal in ‘Eve” its certainly worth a look ,its not a lesser film , it seems to fall in the shadow.

The Lodger 1926

At Age 27 after three films (two of which are lost, the other, which was ”The Pleasure Garden”) Hitchcock Culminated his first seminal quintessential film ,it was raised in the schools or Berlin and Was hailed as the Greatest British Picture Ever Made at the time, Its A theme He would Return to many years later in Frenzy made outside the golden age of his successes in Hollywood.

It was Hitchcock first major Success and one of two films in the 20’s (the other was ”Blackmail”) that gave him an enormous reputation , It offers a possible explanation for”Jack the Ripper” and shows the beginning of many Hitchcock trademarks such as the Wrong Man on the run, fetishistic sexuality and murder, Death and Pleasure,In the Dark Thick Fog, London is awash with fear and loathing over a serial sex murder known as “The Avenger” who targets Blond Woman in particular and leaves their warm corpse lying in the street ,He always strikes on a Tuesday, his Face is covered, and Leaves his calling card always tucked away in the victims pocket,

On a Tuesday night Daisy Bunting(June Tipp) a Model comes home to her little flat she shares with her family, her boyfriend(Malcolm Keen) the local chief of police is there boasting how he’s going to catch the”Avenger" killer while flipping a coin in the air, Suddenly the Gas meter switches off and while Daisys Father (Arthur Chesney) goes to insert another coin in the Meter , The house goes dark All of A sudden their is a knock on the Door and Mrs Bunting (Played beautifully by Marie Ault) Opens the Door to a pall faced Tall man with his face Covered (Ivor Novello) inquiring about the room for let upstairs,The Pale Antisocial Asexual Unnamed man begins his association with the family and starts More trouble than they can possibility imagine, especially when we seems to take Interest in Daisy who Just Happens to be Fair Haired.Suspicion Falls upon the odd Introvert and coincidence seems to follow fact as Tuesday Night Comes Around Again and another scream is heard in the Depths of the London Fog.

Fritz Langs film work work particularly “M” (a film about a child molester and Serial Murderer) made a profound impression on the Work of Hitchcock .It would be a strange coincidence that in his Last American Film Frtiz Lang Would Pay Homage to him in ”Beyond Reasonable Doubt”

This film has all the trademarks of the latter Hitchcock s films and is greatly enhanced by the great use of film montage of German Expressionist Films to which Hitchcock learned his trade and made a point of his style This Film has been Remade four times as recently as 2009 and the second even starred Novello himself however there’s is no comparison There are some who say Hitchcock was always a bit of a silent film director with his use of great lengthy scenes without dialogue, and if you watch this u can see why everything in the stories plot comes across clear as a bell its not a dodgy DW Griffith with too much montage to millions of Credit cards to Tell you whats happening, you can see exactly whats going on, you can tell when something horrible is going to happen to the sweet blond victim , and you are given that same ’suspend belief’ that’s in all the Great Hitchcock Films of his Golden Period .

Its a Silent film but as the voyeur you can still see everything that goes on you are looking through a crack in the floor of a second story apartment at a ”Killer” Passing above your head waiting to strike,

A Very Private affair 1962

This is a somewhat semi-autobiographical film about the life and rise to fame of actress Brigitte Bardot, the sexy French actress/bombshell of the 1960s,

It stars bardot as a version of herself (minus the racist mentality and the homophobia).

Eighteen-year-old Jill enjoys a comfortable upper-class existence with her widowed mother in Switzerland and develops a crush on Fabio, a friend's husband. She heads off to Paris to become a model and dancer. Soon, Jill is discovered by a film producer and made into a huge movie star. The pressures and annoyances of fame take their toll on her and she returns to Switzerland to recuperate. Jill has an affair with the now divorced Fabio, but the press continues to hound her, leading to more complications in her private life. the last shot is very self indulgent but quite beautiful

The Paradine Case- A Review

Disclaimer' Any relation to 'Body of Evidence' is purely coincidental… Highly successful London barrister Anthony Keane (Gregory Peck)takes on the case of Italian Maddalena Paradine (Alida Valli) who is accused of poisoning her blind military hero husband. Keane Starts by defending her but becomes increasingly bewitched by her, threatening both his marriage and his career. As as details in the case come to light ,Madame Paradines Veil begins to slip for all but her Champion , Her Lawyer We have at least two love triangles in this film, and they not as obvious as you may think.


This is the Final Collaboration between Hitchcock and meddlesome Producer David O Selznick Who Brought him to America and Helped Create his first major American Film Rebecca , After The contract Expired with Paradine Hitchcock gained Creative Freedom of shorts and went on to experiment with new styles of editing such as in 'Rope" and "under Capricorn"Hitchcock also pioneers the use of multiple cameras with live action almost a forerunner to what Television would do in Studios some Years later

Paradine was Considered in the "lesser Category" of the Cannon of Hitchcock However it does showcase his technique and the Entered of Louis Jordan is till one of the most startling is Cinema History. Gregory peck Plays Another Lawer, who's sexual frustration begins upon meeting the Beautiful Mrs Paradine Joan Tetzel Plays an Interesting role of the sudo lesbian Daughter of A Solicitor who dosn't wont the Market woman to hang as she "hates breaking pretty things" Louis Jordan Plays the Anti social Woman Hating Vallet of the Murdered Mr Paradine Ann Todd aka Mrs David Lean as the Long Suffering 'Good Wife' Perhaps the Suspended Belief that Gregory Peck would Sacrifice everything for a Woman he had not even kissed seems a little slim, However as a Vehicle Created for the Mystique of Greta Garbo (who was offered the role first ) it may be been slightly more believable She Turned it Down after another film role Famously saying "No Mommies No Murderesses" ,Alida Valli Stills holds the attention of the Audience as the Mysterious Manipulative Passive Aggressive Madame Paradine , if you ever wondered what 'Rececca' may have been like in the flesh and why she seems to capture the hearts of Woman and Men give Mrs Paradine a look.


As well as a resemble to Mrs Paradine Gorgeous Music of Franz Waxman which dominated the film of Rebecca Suffocated the Paradine case in wonder and Mystery


Its is to be appreciated for the things which Hitchcock alone brings to the film even in the little scenes that make this a very engaging film to watch