Search - TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Hitchcock Thrillers (Suspicion / Strangers on a Train / The Wrong Man / I Confess) on DVD

Not the best of Hitchcock, but the best that WHV owns

calvinnme | 08/08/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Hitchcock's three greatest films, IMHO, are "Rear Window", "Vertigo", and "Psycho". However, those are owned by Universal. The four films in this collection are very good films by general standards and pretty good films by Hitchcock standards.

"Suspicion" was made in the U.S., but has the look and feel of Hitchcock's British films. Joan Fontaine plays a woman who marries a charming man (Cary Grant) and doesn't realize until after their marriage that he is a perpetual adolescent - and pathological liar. But could he also be a killer? If you don't know the answer until the end, that is because Hitchcock didn't know either.

"Strangers on a Train" has a pro tennis player (Farley Granger) wanting to divorce his cheating wife so he can marry someone else. However, the cheating wife is expecting and thinks her current husband will be a great provider even if he isn't the father - divorce is out of the question. Our hero makes the mistake of discussing his problems with a sociopath on the train ride home. The sociopath (Robert Walker) suggests they perform each other's murder. You see, Walker's character comes from a wealthy family and wants his father done away with since his father has cut him off financially until he stops wasting his life. Unfortunately, Walker's character goes ahead with his end of the non-existent bargain, making everyone think that the tennis player has killed his estranged wife.

"I Confess" concerns a priest who hears the confession of a murder for which he is suspected. The priest could clear himself two ways - either by breaking his vow and revealing the killer to the police, or he could reveal his alibi - he spent the afternoon in question with a woman with whom he was involved before he became a priest. Either way out is unacceptable to the priest. Seldom seen, this has always been one of my favorites.

"The Wrong Man" has Henry Fonda as a under-capitalized musician accused of a crime. He fits the description of the robber, has no alibi, and has no money - which gives him a motive for the robbery of which he is accused. Nobody in law enforcement will believe him. This is probably the weakest film of the four although it is still pretty good.

All four of these films are in the more deluxe The Alfred Hitchcock Signature Collection (Strangers on a Train Two-Disc Edition / North by Northwest / Dial M for Murder / Foreign Correspondent / Suspicion / The Wrong Man / Stage Fright / I Confess / Mr. and Mrs. Smith). That set is full of extra-features, featurettes, and commentary. If you have any real interest in Hitchcock I suggest you save your pennies and buy that set. You won't regret it."

THE WRONG MAN: An unpleasant but riveting experience

William F. Flanigan Jr. | North Potomac, MD USA | 01/31/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"A sad film based on a sad true story. It's another entry from Hitchcock's dark, sinister, gloomy, and forbidding period with a favorite theme used as the film's title. Screen play (co-authored by playwright Maxwell Anderson), acting ( Henry Fonda is The Man and Vera Miles is his wife), photography (especially inside the old Stork Club and around New York City), sound, and the film's score are all A-list quality! Includes several typical Hitchcock film tricks with the most remarkable being when the camera seems to pass through a narrow peep-hole slit in a jail cell door.

Although finally cleared, Fonda's character's life is destroyed with his wife relegated to an insane asylum. As apparently happened in real life

Hitchcock gets in his trademark cameo appearance by introducing the film. It's a serious one. Bernard Herrmann's score is unnervingly excellent (as usual!). A major contribution to the "look and feel" of the film.

A poignant statement from the 1950's that remains (unfortunately) poignant today.

WILLIAM FLANIGAN, Ph.D."

TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Hitchcock Thrillers

Manny M. Agah | 01/16/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"All four films in this box set are excellent. The DVDs are all of very fine quality."