Category: Hitchcock’s Women
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HITCHCOCK’S WOMEN: A Secret on Young Shoulders – Charlie Newton in SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943)
Rebecca McCallum returns with a new essay in her series on Hitchcock’s Women, this time zeroing in on a tale of domestic terror which was Hitch’s favourite of his own films… Made in the height of WWII, Hitchcock’s takedown of the American family offers a bleak and brooding tale, reflective of the paranoia and nihilism…
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HITCHCOCK’S WOMEN: Breaking Silence With A Song – Jo McKenna in THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1956)
Rebecca McCallum continues her essay series exploring the representation of women in the films of Alfred Hitchcock… Ever his own harshest critic, in 1956 Hitchcock sought to remake his 1934 film The Man Who Knew Too Much. He condemned the original as ‘the work of a talented amateur’ but he was clearly pleased with the results…
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HITCHCOCK’S WOMEN: A Woman Who Knows Her Own Mind – Frances Stevens in TO CATCH A THIEF (1955)
After a short break over the summer senior contributor Rebecca McCallum is back with the next instalment of her essay series exploring the representations of women in the films of Alfred Hitchcock… In her final outing with Hitchcock, Grace Kelly – who the previous year positively glistened in what is arguably her finest performance in Rear…
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HITCHCOCK’S WOMEN: Strangled into Silence – Margot Wendice in DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954) – PART II
Rebecca McCallum concludes her analysis of Grace Kelly’s performance in Dial M For Murder… The Murdered Becomes the Murderer If we map out Margot’s journey, it reveals nothing but mistreatment time and again. To begin with she is stalked and blackmailed by her husband Tony, who we hear admitting has thoughts of ‘killing her’. What makes this doubly…
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HITCHCOCK’S WOMEN: Strangled into Silence – Margot Wendice in DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954) – PART I
Rebecca McCallum continues her Hitchcock’s Women series with a tale of murder, mystery and a woman who fights back… A tightly wound mystery set in a confined space, in Dial M for Murder Hitchcock takes a traditional whodunnit blueprint and adds his trademark touches of love, murder, and suspense. Set almost exclusively in the Wendice residence, situated in…
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HITCHCOCK’S WOMEN: Hearts and Minds – Constance Petersen in SPELLBOUND (1945) – PART II
Rebecca McCallum concludes her analysis of Ingrid Bergman’s performance in Spellbound… I’ve Been Watching You It is not merely her colleagues who objectify and demean Constance, as throughout Spellbound she is underestimated and threatened by men occupying supposed positions of authority. There are several occurrences where she is questioned by or finds herself in the same room…
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HITCHCOCK’S WOMEN: Hearts and Minds – Constance Petersen in SPELLBOUND (1945) – PART I
Rebecca McCallum continues her Hitchcock’s Women series, here looking at a character who risks everything for love… A figure sits behind a desk authoritatively. She wears glasses, a long white coat and is smoking whilst engrossed in work. In our first encounter with Spellbounds’ protagonist, Hitchcock codes Constance Petersen (Ingrid Bergman) as masculine, mysterious and with multiple…
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HITCHCOCK’S WOMEN: “Mother’s Here” – Freud, Motherhood and Feminism in VERTIGO (1958)
As co-writer of the Hitchcockian Broadcast Signal Intrusion, Phil Drinkwater knows a thing or two about layered, cyclic mysteries. Here in a special guest essay for our Hitchcock’s Women series he tumbles through the dizzying dualism of gender in Hitch’s Vertigo… Many of the filmmakers of the 40s and 50s might be described as Freudians,…
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HITCHCOCK’S WOMEN: A Woman in Danger – Eve Kendall in NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959) – PART II
Rebecca McCallum concludes her analysis of North By Northwest, part of her Hitchcock’s Women series. Degrees of Deception Themes of reality and pretence pervade North by Northwest with Eve (Eva Marie Sant) herself leading multiple lives of the secret agent, a kept woman of Vandamm (James Mason) and the love interest to Roger (Cary Grant). Both Eve and Roger have…
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HITCHCOCK’S WOMEN: A Woman in Danger – Eve Kendall in NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959) – PART I
Conflict, control and coolness: Rebecca McCallum continues her regular series examining gender in the films of Alfred Hitchcock, focusing this month on his seminal spy thriller… A secret agent, an accomplice to a gang of kidnappers, or a woman falling in love with an advertising executive? Throughout what is often referred to as the most…
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