Foreign Correspondents: Deeper into Hitchcock

One courtyard to rule them all: join us for the robust discussion of "Rear Window" with our very, very special guest. Professor Sidney Gottlieb from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut is the editor of celebrated volumes "Hitchcock on Hitchcock" and the editor of "Hitchcock Annual" published by Columbia University Press. He is also a wonderful conversationalist and a generous supporter of our podcast. We simply adore "Rear Window" so our talk drifts from its form to themes, from ideas to small moments and to the pleasures we are constantly finding in this masterful comic thriller.

1954 was one of Hitchcock's best years: he released two films, "Dial M for Murder" and "Rear Window". Both were shot in color and both focused on husbands attempting to murder their wives and go unpunished. "Dial M for Murder" introduced Grace Kelly to the Hitchcock universe, boldly experimented with 3D photography and seamlessly translated the play to the screen without putting the camera outside of the couple's apartment. Join us as we explore this nasty and highly enjoyable gem with Joel Gunz, the inimitable Alfred Hitchcock Geek and the president of HitchCon Annual International Alfred Hitchcock Conference.

Note: the YouTube version features additional visual material discussed by Joel in this episode!

Hitchcock in Quebec! "I Confess" stars Method actor Montgomery Clift in one of his most restrained performances as a handsome, innocent priest accused of murder. The most overtly "Catholic" of Hitch's movies, "I Confess" is also one of the lesser appreciated gems in the director's stellar 1950s output. Join us as we explore the movie and its Holocaust undertones with our special guest James Bogdanski who teaches film at Long Beach City College and El Camino College in southern California.

Both breezy and unexpectedly weird, "Stage Fright" features the famous "false flashback" sequence and takes us on a ride through post-war London. Jane Wyman stars as a naive young actress who spies on a diva (Marlene Dietrich at her juiciest) to clear her friend's name. We explore this underappreciated gem directed by Alfred Hitchcock with our special guest, Darragh O'Donoghue – an archivist at Tate and a contributing writer for "Cineaste".

"Under Capricorn" is a true oddity: an old-fashioned Gothic melodrama which experiments with long takes; a movie set in Australia but visibly shot in a studio; a financial failure that is claimed by some to be one of the master's greatest works. Join us as we explore the film with our special guest Andrei Gorzo - one of Romania's most brilliant film critics and scholars, and a professor at the University of Theatre and Film in Bucharest. His newest book, co-authored with Veronica Lazăr and titled "Beyond the New Romanian Cinema: Romanian Culture, History, and the Films of Radu Jude", will be released this year.

Hitchcock's singular achievement – his first film in color, his first independently produced Hollywood picture and a narrative composed exclusively of long takes – is also his boldest adventure with homosexual themes (which appear, as is obvious for 1948, in a coded form). “Rope” continues to be a fascinating, taut thriller with many secrets, unforgettable lines and an atmosphere of postwar nihilism. It also features James Stewart in what was his debut in a Hitchcock film. Join us as we explore “Rope” and ask ourselves if we would rather live in Brandon & Philip’s apartment or in the studio from “Rear Window”?

Alfred Hitchcock's last collaboration with David O. Selznick was not fondly remembered by the most important parties involved (Gregory Peck reportedly hated the film), but it is still a fascinating example of the power dynamics in classical Hollywood, embodying the tensions between the director and the producer. "The Paradine Case" was an absurdly expensive venture with a budget which rivaled that of Selznick's epic "Gone with the Wind". Will we defend this troubled production? Tune in to find out!

One of Hitchcock's finest and most beloved works, "Notorious" has a timeless appeal and is undoubtedly one of the best – and most disturbing – classical Hollywood movies ever made. Cary Grant, Claude Rains and an utterly brilliant Ingrid Bergman star in this mature Gothic noir about Americans spying on Nazis in Brazil. Professor Patrick Keating, author of "The Dynamic Frame: Camera Movement in Classical Hollywood", is joining us for the discussion of the film.

You may be surprised but our podcast is not always simply Alfred Hitchcock Appreciation Society. We shower "Spellbound" with a fair share of criticism but we also tell stories of our first encounter with the movie and its famous dream sequence designed by Salvador Dalí. Hitch's bold venture into the secret world of Freudian psychoanalysis stars Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck. It also features a delirious score by Miklós Rózsa and is imbued with a mid-1940s zeitgeist: shades of noir, cryptic war traumas and empowered women all appear in this lavish David O. Selznick production. Join us as we explore this classic – and just a bit crazy! – Hitchcock thriller.