The Fourties

130 min., b/w.
Prod: David O. Selznick.
Scr: Robert Sherwood, Joan Harrison, Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan based on a novel by Daphne du Maurier.
Ca: George Barnes.
Mu: Franz Waxman.
Arc: Lyle Wheeler.
Cast: Laurence Olivier (Maxim de Winter), Joan Fontaine (Mrs. de Winter), Judith Anderson (Mrs. Danvers), George Sanders (Jack Favell), Nigel Bruce (the major), Gladys Cooper (Beatrice), Florence Bates (Mrs. van Hopper), Aubrey Smith (Colonel Julyan), Leo G. Carroll (the doctor).
Remark: The first movie in Hitchcock's American production. This movie really was an almost perfect start: the movie became an extraordinary success among the audience and the critics, in addition it won an Oscar as Best Movie - an award to the producer, David O. Selznick, not to Hitchcock, though. This film is one of the principal masterpieces of his career.

120 min., b/w.
Prod: Walter Wanger.
Scr: Charles Bennett, Joan Harrison, James Hilton and Robert Benchley based on "Personal History", the memoirs of Vincent Shean.
Ca: Rudolph Mate.
Mu: Alfred Newman.
Arc: Willian Cameron Mentzies and Alexander Golitzen.
Cast: Joel McCrea (Johnny), Laraine Day (Carol Fisher), Herbert Marshall (Stephen Fisher), Albert Basserman (van Meer), George Sanders (reporter).
Remark: The German Minister of Propaganda, Dr. Goebbels, admired this movie and called it "a first class movie, a criminological slap-bang movie that undoubtably will make an impression on the common people in the hostile nations"; he was, however, not at all enthusiastic about the "anti-German tendency" which made him warn the nations showing the movie, they might regret it. Being an apolitical director, the political background material was reduced to just another part of the environment, the true plot was a thriller telling a spy story, something he had done before on numerous occations.

95 min., b/w.
Prod: Harry Edington, RKO.
Scr: Norman Krasna.
Ca: Harry Stradling.
Mu: Roy Webb.
Arc: Van Nest Polglase.
Cast: Carole Lombard (Mrs. Smith), Robert Montgomery (Mr. Smith), Gene Raymond (Jeff).

99 min., b/w.
Prod: Harry Edington, RKO.
Scr: Samson Raphaelson, Joan Harrison and Alma Reville based on the novel "Before the Facts" by Francis Iles.
Ca: Harry Stradling.
Mu: Franz Waxman.
Arc: Van Nest Polglase.
Cast: Cary Grant (Johnny Aysgarth), Joan Fontaine (Lina McLaidlaw), Sir Cedric Hardwicke (General McLaidlaw), Dame May Whitty (Mrs. McLaidlaw), Nigel Bruce (Beaky).

108 min., b/w.
Prod: Frank Lloyd for Universal.
Scr: Peter Viertel, Joan Harrison and Dorothy Parker.
Ca: Joseph Valentine.
Mu: Frank Skinner.
Arc: Jack Ottersen and Robert Boyle.
Cast: Robert Cummings (Barry Kane), Priscilla Lane (Patricia Martin), Otto Kruger (Charles Tobin), Alma Kruger (Mrs. van Sutton), Norman Lloyd (Fry).

108 min., b/w.
Prod: Jack Skirball for Universal.
Scr: Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson and Alma Reville from an original story by Gordon McDonell.
Ca: Joseph Valentine.
Mu: Dimitri Tiomkin.
Arc: John Goodman and Robert Boyle.
Cast: Joseph Cotten (Uncle Charlie), Teresa Wright (Charlie Newton), Patricia Collinge (Emma Newton), Henry Travers (Joseph Newton), Hume Cronyn (Herbie), MacDonald Carey (the detective).

99 min., b/w.
Prod: Kenneth Macgowan for 20^th Century Fox.
Scr: Joe Swerling from an original story by John Steinbeck.
Ca: Glen MacWilliams.
Arc: James Basevi and Maurice Ransford.
Cast: Tallulah Bankhead (Constance Porter), John Hodiak (Kovac), William Bendix (Gus), Walter Slezak (Willie), Mary Anderson (Alice MacKenzie), Henry Hull (Charles Rittenhouse), Hume Cronyn (Stanley Garrett).

111 min., b/w.
Prod: David O. Selznick.
Scr: Ben Hecht based on the novel "The House of Dr. Edwardes" by Francis Beeding.
Ca: George Barnes.
Mu: Miklos Rosza.
Arc: James Basevi.
Cast: Ingrid Bergman (Dr. Constance), Gregory Peck (John B.), Leo G. Carroll (Dr. Murchison), Rhonda Fleming (Mary), Norman Lloyd (Garmes), Michael Chekov (Dr. Alex Brulow).

101 min., b/w.
Prod: Alfred Hitchcock for RKO.
AP: Barbara Keon.
Scr: Ben Hecht from an original story by Alfred Hitchcock.
Ca: Ted Tetzlaff.
Mu: Roy Webb.
Arc: Albert d'Agostino and Carroll Clark.
Co: Edith Head
Cast: Ingrid Bergman (Alicia), Cary Grant (Devlin), Claude Rains (Alex Sebastian), Leopoldine Konstantin (Mrs. Sebastian).
Remark: It was when doing research for this movie he got in trouble with the FBI - when he enquired some scientists to get some information about the possible nuclear bomb (for the movie's MacGuffin).

125 min., b/w.
Prod: David O. Selznick.
Scr: David O. Selznick based on a novel by Robert Hickens.
Ca: Lee Garmes.
Mu: Franz Waxman.
Arc: Joseph MacMillian Johnson and Thomas Morahan.
Cast: Alida Valli (Mrs. Paradine), Gregory Peck (Anthony Keane), Ann Todd (Mrs. Keane), Charles Laughton (Judge Horfield), Ethel Barrymore (Mrs. Horfield), Louis Jordan (Andre Latour).

80 min., colour.
Prod: Alfred Hitchcock and Sidney Bernstein for Transatlantic Pictures.
Scr: Hume Cronyon and Arthur Laurent based on a stage play by Patrick Hamilton.
Ca: Joseph Valentine and Willian Skall.
Mu: Francis Poulenc.
Arc: Perry Ferguson.
Cast: James Stewart (Rupert Cadell), Farley Granger (Philip), John Dall (Shaw Brandon), Sir Cedric Harwicke (Mr. Kenley), Constance Collier (Mrs. Atwater), Joan Chandler (Janet), Dick Hogan (David), Douglas Dick (Kenneth), Edith Evanson (Mrs. Wilson).
Remark: The stage play (and the movie) was based on a true murder case: the Leopold/Loeb couple killed a friend solely for the excitement and because they believed themselves to be morally superior.
This was a genuine experimental movie that differ from the fundamental assumption, that dictates the montage to be the Alpha and Omega of filmmaking. In this film he put an effort into filming in one uninterrupted take, without any visible cuts; he was, however, limited by the reels that had a duration of 10 minutes each, a problem he solved by letting the picture turn black for a moment (e.g., by allowing the camera to do a short close-up on a chair, coat or the like). In addition he made the exact opposite of the time shortening cuts normally used in a movie: the realtime og this movie is exactly the 80 minutes specified above, but the plot expands over an even longer period - this is visualized in the outdoor lighting, that can be seen when looking through the appartment window. There is, however, three visible cuts: these are placed exactly where the operator changed projector in the cinema - a slight hesitation would make a visible pause afterall, which made Hitch use these cuts.
This was the first movie produced by the British-American production company established by Hitch and his friend from the London years, Sidney Bernstein, to become a more independent filmmaker. This movie is one of his principal artworks and one of my personal favourites.

116 min., colour.
Prod: Alfred Hitchcock and Sidney Bernstein for Transatlantic Pictures.
Scr: James Bridie and Hume Cronyon based on a novel by Helen Simpson.
Ca: Jack Cardiff.
Mu: Richard Addinsell conducted by Louis Levy.
Arc: Tom Morahan.
Cast: Ingrid Bergman (Henrietta Flusky), Joseph Cotten (Sam Flusky), Michael Wilding (Charles Adare), Margaret Leighton (Millie), Cecil Parker (the govenor).
Remark: This was something very dissimilar from Hitchcock's normal production, a costume movie, something he didn't really like to make (see Waltzes from Vienna). Why he made a movie like that under his own production company is astonishing, but he probably wanted to make a movie especially for Ingrid Bergman - who he was hopelessly in love with.