Quote of the Other Day

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Much to my shame and horror I missed posting on the occasion of what would've been Alfred Hitchcock's 110th birthday last Thursday. The shame. Thankfully there are people less scatter-minded than I like Kim Morgan at Sunset Gun who wrote up a lovely piece on The Master, and I would be a moron not to share this beautifully insightful take on Kim Novak's performance in Vertigo, which might just be my favorite performance in any Hitch film (not that I could really make such a list; I'd die first!):

"Hitchcock explored truly disturbed female protagonists in his early films, but none matched the wrenching melancholy displayed by Kim Novak in Vertigo. While Stewart was lauded for his flawless performance as the detective who becomes morbidly obsessed with resurrecting the image of his dead lover, Novak unjustly received criticism (at the time) for her uncomfortable portrayal of that lover. She presented a woman whose beauty bequeathed her a power she was ultimately unable to control, making Novak's Madeleine/Judy both wise and naive, hard and soft. Novak revealed the sadness that lurked beneath the smiling facades of bombshells like Marilyn Monroe or Rita Hayworth, by allowing that nervousness to bubble to the surface. It's all in the way she holds herself, talks or furtively moves her eyes. It's as if her mind seems ill-suited for her body, unhealthy almost, making her something of a sexual contradiction. It’s not merely that underneath the classy, gray-suited, sternly coiffed Madeline there's an even bustier, tight-sweatered and common Judy -- it’s that she, like the picture itself, embodies the irrationality of desire."

God that's well put. I couldn't agree more, I think Novak was a terrifically underrated actress and she gave a great performance in Vertigo. Maybe her greatest, although I'm not an expert on her films. Just even on simple terms, how distinct Madeline and Judy are from each other, and the degrees with which she starts to blur them... sure, a lot of that precision's obviously due to Hitch's firm hand, but Novak knocks it outta the park all the same. And to think he didn't want her for the role! He found her too earthy and liked his blondes a tad bit icier. It ended up being a perfect play of contradictions.

Anyway, to sorta make up for the disservice I did Mr. Hitch by forgetting the dead man's birthday, here are a bunch of belatedly random shots from a few of his films. Whee!

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