On this day in movie and book history - The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927); The Lodger (1927)

The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog

directed by Alfred Hitchcock,

written by Eliot Stannard, Alfred Hitchcock and Marie Belloc Lowndes,

based on the novel The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes,

was released in the United Kingdom on January 17, 1927.

Music by Ashley Irwin (for the 1999 release).

 

Cast:

Marie Ault, Arthur Chesney, June Tripp, Malcolm Keen, Ivor Novello, Wallace Bosco, Daisy Campbell, Maudie Dunham, Reginald Gardiner, Eve Gray, Alfred Hitchcock, Alma Reville.

Recommended reading:

The Lodger

by Marie Belloc Lowndes.

Filmed as The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog, (1927), directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Published by Academy Chicago Publishers.

First published 1911, in the January edition of McClure's Magazine.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0897336046

ISBN-13: 978-0897336048

Description:

"One of the best suspense novels ever written." – The New York Times.

"This is a beautifully wrought novel of psychological suspense that should have a place on any mystery buff's shelf of classics." – Chicago Sun-Times.

This first class, highly-acclaimed thriller was published in 1914, more than two decades after the so-called Jack the Ripper murders, on which it is based, had occurred in Whitechapel, London. The murders – five in all – appeared to be the work of a woman-hating fanatic, someone who also must have had knowledge of anatomy, since the bodies were mutilated with surgical skill. 

Twenty years later, memories of these serial killings were still fresh in Londoners’ minds and the author brilliantly captures the sense of fear and horror which the murders evoked. Praise for this novel has withstood the test of time in England, America, and around the world. The Lodger has been adapted for the screen several times, most notably by Alfred Hitchcock in 1926, his first film.

On this day in movie history - Rope (1948)

Rope

directed by Alfred Hitchcock,

written by Arthur Laurents and Hume Cronyn, and based on the novel by Patrick Hamilton,

was released in the United States on September 25, 1948.

Music by David Buttolph, Francis Poulenc and Leo F. Forbstein.

Cast:

James Stewart, Dick Hogan, John Dall, Farley Granger, Edith Evanson, Douglas Dick, Joan Chandler, Cedric Hardwicke, Constance Collier, Alfred Hitchcock.

Born on this day – Alfred Hitchcock:

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE

Director

Known for Psycho, Vertigo, Notorious, Dial M for Murder, The Birds, and more.

August 13, 1899 – April 29, 1980

#AlfredHitchcock #Psycho #Vertigo #Notorious #DialMForMurder #TheBirds

On this day in movie history - Marnie (1964)

Marnie

directed by Alfred Hitchcock,

written by Jay Presson Allen,

based on the novel by Winston Graham,

was released in the United States on July 17, 1964.

Music by Bernard Herrmann.

Cast:

Tippi Hedren, Martin Gabel, Sean Connery, Louise Latham, Diane Baker, Alan Napier, Bob Sweeney, Milton Selzer, Henry Beckman, Edith Evanson, Mariette Hartley, Bruce Dern, S. John Launer, Meg Wyllie, Alfred Hitchcock.

Recommended reading – Psycho (novel & book of the movie):

 

Psycho

by Robert Bloch.

Filmed as Psycho (1960), directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Published by The Overlook Press.
First published 1959.

ISBN-10: 1590203356
ISBN-13: 9781590203354

Description:

"Psycho all came from Robert Bloch's book." – Alfred Hitchcock.
"Icily terrifying!" – The New York Times.
"Robert Bloch is one of the all-time masters." – Peter Straub.

Norman Bates loves his mother. She has been dead for the past 20 years, or so people think. Norman knows better, though.

Ever since leaving the hospital, he has lived with Mother in the old house up on the hill above the Bates Motel. One night, after a beautiful woman checks into the motel, Norman spies on her as she undresses. Norman can’t help but spy on her.

Mother is there, though. She is there to protect Norman from his filthy thoughts. She is there to protect him with her butcher knife.

If you love to be scared, or are a fan of classic movies, then you know the story of Norman Bates, his mother, and the dark and frightening Bates Motel. Alfred Hitchcock’s taut, shocking scare-fest starring Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh is a classic movie, as scary today as it was in 1960 when it was first released, and this is the 1959 novel upon which the movie is based.

It was here that the legend of the Bates Motel was born.

Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho
Edited by Richard J. Anobile.

The Film Classics Library.
Published by Universe Books.
First Edition.
Published 1974.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 0876631898
ISBN-13: 978-0876631898

Description:

The Film Classics Library present the most accurate and complete reconstruction of a film in book over 1,300 frame blow-up photos shown sequentially and coupled with the complete dialogue from the original soundtrack, allow you to recapture this film classic in its entirety – at your leisure.

On this day in movie history - Psycho (1960)

Psycho

directed by Alfred Hitchcock,

written by Joseph Stefano,

based on the novel by Robert Bloch,

was released in the United States, on June 16, 1960.

Music by Bernard Herrmann.

Inspired by the true 1957 Ed Gein murder case.

Cast:

Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, Janet Leigh, John Gavin, Martin Balsam, John McIntire, Simon Oakland, Frank Albertson, Pat Hitchcock, Vaughn Taylor, Lurene Tuttle, John Anderson, Mort Mills, Virginia Gregg, Paul Jasmin, Jeanette Nolan.

Recommended reading – Vertigo (novel & book of the movie)

D’entre les morts, translation: From Among the Dead

by Boileau-Narcejac (Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac).

Filmed as Vertigo (1958), directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Published by Pushkin Vertigo.
First published 1954.

ISBN-10: 1782279741
ISBN-13: 978-1782279747
 
Description:
 

In World War II-era Paris, a troubled-ex policeman is entangled in a web of deceit and lies when he investigates a woman’s strange behavior.

 

Flavières doesn’t really want to investigate his old’s friend’s wife, but he doesn’t feel he has much of a choice. Madeleine has been behaving strangely, and her husband wants answers – answers that she isn’t willing to give him.

 

As WWII rages around him, Flavières is drawn into an obsessive cat-and-mouse chase across Paris. Soon his intrigue is replaced by obsession and his dreams by nightmares, as he edges towards discovering a dark, terrible secret.

 

The most celebrated collaboration of a ground-breaking crime-writing duo, Vertigo is the timeless story of morality and revenge, and the inspiration for Hitchcock’s iconic film.

 

Vertigo

by Charles Barr.

Published by British Film Institute.
Published 2012.
2nd edition.

ISBN-10: 1844574989
ISBN-13: 9781844574988
 
Description:

Vertigo (1958) is widely regarded as not only one of Hitchcock's best films, but one of the greatest films of world cinema. Made at the time when the old studio system was breaking up, it functions both as an embodiment of the supremely seductive visual pleasures that 'classical Hollywood' could offer and – with the help of an elaborate plot twist – as a laying bare of their dangerous dark side. The film's core is a study in romantic obsession, as James Stewart's Scottie pursues Madeleine / Judy (Kim Novak) to her death in a remote Californian mission. Novak is ice cool but vulnerable, Stewart – in the darkest role of his career – genial on the surface but damaged within.

Although it can be seen as Hitchcock's most personal film, Charles Barr argues that, like Citizen Kane, Vertigo is at the same time a triumph not so much of individual authorship as of creative collaboration. He highlights the crucial role of screenwriters Alec Coppel and Samuel Taylor and, by a combination of textual and contextual analysis, explores the reasons why Vertigo continues to inspire such fascination.

In his foreword to this special edition, published to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the BFI Film Classics series, Barr looks afresh at Vertigo alongside the recently-rediscovered 'lost' silent The White Shadow (1924), scripted by Hitchcock, which also features the trope of the double, and at the acclaimed contemporary silent film The Artist (2011), which pays explicit homage to Vertigo in its soundtrack.

On this day in movie history - Vertigo (1958)

Vertigo

directed by Alfred Hitchcock,

written by Alec Coppel and Samuel Taylor,

based on the novel D’entre les morts,

translation: From Among the Dead, by Boileau-Narcejac (Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac),

was released in the United States on May 28, 1958.

Music by Bernard Herrmann.

Cast:

James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore, Henry Jones, Raymond Bailey, Ellen Corby, Konstantin Shayne, Lee Patrick, David Ahdar, Isabel Analla, Jack Ano, Margaret Bacon, John Benson, Danny Borzage, Margaret Brayton, Paul Bryar, Boyd Cabeen, Steve Conte, Jean Corbett, Bruno Della Santina, Roxann Delman, Harry Denny, Molly Dodd, Bess Flowers, Raoul Freeman, Joe Garcio, Joanne Genthon, Kenneth Gibson, Don Giovanni, Roland Gotti, Victor Gotti, Fred Graham, Robert Haines, Buck Harrington, Alfred Hitchcock, Jimmie Horan, Art Howard, Catherine Howard, June Jocelyn, Perk Lazelle, John Marlin, Miliza Milo, Lyle Moraine, Forbes Murray, Julian Petruzzi, Ezelle Poule, Kathy Reed, William Remick, Jack Richardson, Jeffrey Sayre, Nina Shipman, Dori Simmons, Ed Stevlingson, Sara Taft.