Transcript: Exploring Hitchcock's Masterpieces on Christian Film

It's time now for the Classic Cinema Rewind with Pastor Jay. I'll see you back at the hut. Oh boy. Hey, doggie. Now join Pastor Jay as we rewind the tape. And enjoy some Classic Cinema. Greetings, Classic Cinema fans. Thanks for joining us today on the Classic Cinema Rewind. Of course, this is Pastor Jay here with you. And today we're talking about Alfred Hitchcock. Probably many people only really think of Alfred Hitchcock and they basically think of that silhouette and the character walking into it and then introducing these interesting shows from back in the day. Maybe that's what most people remember Hitchcock for, but Hitchcock was much more than that. Now, these interesting shows are amazing, of course. This is going to be our first topic, is the shows, and then we'll jump into what Hitchcock is really known for. Hitchcock did two different shows. He did the Alfred Hitchcock Presents and the Alfred Hitchcock Hour. Alfred Hitchcock Presents was a half-hour program and had these little short episodes of interesting mysteries or horror or adventure or whatever. And they were so iconic that what really people would tune in for was for Hitchcock. Because he had that dry wit. He had that really dry wit, that funniness about him that it made you laugh. But beyond that was once you got the intro, then you jumped into the show. And the show was really awesome. It had a lot of really good, I mean, they were very, very good shows. and we want to pick those up. But of course, as many of you know, we're what is called a picker and we kind of wait for the deals. We just don't go out and just spend $200 for something. I ain't going to do that. I'm just not going to do that. Part of the fun for me is waiting it out, finding it, and finding it for cheap. so we have some of the Alfred Hitchcock present shows that we have recorded from TV like many of you probably do you get the DVD recorders or some of you VHS there are still some out there that use VHS tapes but anyway that's going to be very difficult in the times to come but if you can still do that hey have at it but sometimes you can get the DVD recorders You hook them up to your TV and you can record the episodes. And that's what we've done. So we've recorded several seasons. I think we're up to season five, I think. I think we got up to season five of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, which is really, really cool. So we've got the first five seasons of Alfred Hitchcock Presents on made DVDs that we made. But the interesting thing that we do have is this. We have this, and these are really cool. This is the complete series of the Alfred Hitchcock Hour. Now, I have done research, and this is where I'm going to reach out to you, our listeners here. I'm not exactly sure. I have not found these. I don't know if these are available in America. I have not found these on Region 1. If they are on Region 1, leave us a comment. And send us a message on social media on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at TheRealPastorJ. Let me know. But anyway, these ones that we have are from Madman. And it is a Region 4, which is okay because we're region free at Classic Cinema Magazine. So it doesn't really matter for us. We can watch them that way. But these were given to us for review from Madman Entertainment, the complete Alfred Hitchcock hour, which is so cool. The first season has the iconic Alfred Hitchcock with the noose, and you got the red background. Very cool. And then the second season is the same picture, but it is with the blue-black background. And then the third season is the same picture with the purple background. And these are very cool. This series here was where it turned to a full hour of entertainment. And still had Alfred Hitchcock intro and outro each episode, but they were just more entertainment because they got a full hour of programming. Sort of what they did with what they tried to do with the Twilight Zone. Twilight Zone, that happened for about one season, then it went back to the hour or the half hour format again. But Hitchcock decided to do this, and the TV company says, hey, go ahead. So they went to a full hour, which was really cool. Eventually, one of these days, I want to pick up the Alfred Hitchcock Presents rather than just having them on made DVDs that I have done from getting them off of TV. But one of these days, we'll do that. These are very, very good stuff. And the Hitchcock show showed us Hitchcock's, as we said, his dry wit, his comedic side. And that's what really made those shows so, so cool. Now, beyond that, Hitchcock did something that maybe a lot of people don't, well, I'm sure pretty much everybody knows, but Hitchcock did amazing films. And we want to jump into the film releases, and then we're going to go to the main event. And it is something that we got this Christmas season and we're so excited about. But first we want to talk about some of the releases that we have in our collection. of Hitchcock And we going to jump into these So if you watching on video you can see we trying to grab everything here Okay if you listening to the podcast you can see that But anyway we going to start off with the first one that we have is kind of old Hitchcock This is one we picked up for only a dollar. It was their public domain, but hey, you know, it's okay with me. I don't care. A dollar. This is The Man Who Knew Too Much and 39 Steps. These are kind of like mystery spy films, and they're very, very well done. These were iconic for Hitchcock. I believe, if I'm not mistaken, these had fallen into public domain. but if I'm not mistaken and I could be I think what has happened is that the copyright loss has changed and so now all these old films are now still under copyright so that's kind of an iffy situation so I don't know how that works out but anyway you probably are going to find a lot of these public domain versions of these films going down off of the internet. So, yeah, because that has changed. From what I've understood, the Hitchcock films are now going to be, the public domain ones will be given their copyright back, I think, until 2070, I believe I read. I could be mistaken on that. But anyway, we did pick this up a few years ago, and so, you know, hey, it is what it is, what can you do? The Man Who Knew Too Much is the first version of that iconic film. We'll talk about that in a little bit. And then that, of course, has Peter Lorre in it, and we loved that little bug-eyed Peter Lorre. I love him. He's just amazing in anything he does. And then, of course, The 39 Steps, a masterpiece of Hitchcock, and definitely these two films are definitely worth checking out. All right, so we got that for a buck, so that was not bad. All right, something that I did want to just tell you about was a release from Legend Films. This is Alfred Hitchcock, The Master of Suspense. This is basically behind-the-scenes stuff. You get your trailers and you get behind-the-scenes kind of stuff about Hitchcock, some times where he's just talking and talking about his upcoming films and all. And it's really kind of cool. I did want to shout that out. If you're just a fan of the trailers and stuff like that and you like to have all the trailers and stuff and some of those unique things and promos and stuff that he did, this is a great little set from Legend Films. So definitely check that one out if you're a fan of those. All right. this collection the slip cover is a little messed up this is Turner Classic Movies Murder Mysteries collection the slip cover is a little dinged up that was really kind of bad because I don't know what happened there but the actual foil came off of that so I don't know how that happened but anyway that's the slip cover But anyway, the actual release is what we're talking about. This is four films. Now, there are great films here. Postman Always Rings Twice is a great film. The Big Sleep with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall and the Maltese Falcon with Humphrey Bogart. But that's not what we're talking about today. We're talking about the fourth film on there, which is Dial M for Murder. That is the Hitchcock film, Dial M for Murder. And this is a really cool collection. but that's why we got this is because you get the Hitchcock film but you also get two Humphrey Bogart films plus Boseman always wins twice that's pretty amazing and Dial M for Murder is another amazing Hitchcock film and we're not going into great detail with these we're just showing you what's in our collection for the simple reason that we don't have time to go through every single film and tell you everything about it but Dial M for Murder is definitely one you should check out anything Hitchcock did, you should check out. This one was another Turner Classic movies. This is an Alfred Hitchcock double feature. This is, I love this gold foil. This one, the slip cover is okay for some reason. I don't know why, what that happened with that one. But anyway, this is a very, very cool gold slip cover. And on this, you get Strangers on a Train and North by Northwest. North by Northwest, Cary Grant. Now see, Hitchcock had a kind of unique way about him. He liked to reuse actors in different roles throughout his career. He would reuse some of the actors. We'll talk about that in a little bit as well. But Cary Grant starred in several Hitchcock films, and this is probably one of his best, is North by Northwest. That iconic scene of Cary Grant running in the plane flying and chasing him down is amazing and still pulse pounding to this day. But the one that's on here that I really love is Strangers on a Train. Now, very interesting story with this is the fact that Strangers on a Train, I watched this film on Turner Classic Movies. I didn't really love it that much. Then later on down the line, I saw it for $3 and I was like, I'm going to try it again. So I picked it up and I watched it again. I wasn't that much in love with it, so I sold it. That was a mistake because what ended up happening was there came upon a time when it was kind of a boring day, a boring evening. And Strangers on a Train was on, on TCM, and I was like, eh. So it was like about 10 minutes into it. I knew the plot. I knew all about it. So I was like, eh, just watch it because I've got nothing else to do. So I turned it on and just kind of watched it. And I began to watch it from my filmmaker's eye instead of just watching the film like a film lover. And I began to watch Hitchcock, the way he did things and the way he shot things. And it really was amazing to me. And it gave me a whole different perspective on this film. And then I began to really get into it. And now I really love Strangers on a Train because of those iconic scenes that he used through photography and stuff is amazing So yeah that why you don go with just your first or second viewing of something You've got to watch it a couple times because you never know. You may hate it the first time or the second time, but if you watch it a third time or something, you may fall in love with it. So you've got to be very careful about that. But this is a great collection here, and I love that, Strangers on a Train. Definitely, it inspired Throw Mama from the Train, too, which was really cool. All right. We got probably one of Hitchcock's best horror films right up there, The Birds. I love this film, The Birds, Tippi Hedren. And I love this release here for the simple reason that it's got that pop art. Very, very cool. If you're watching on the video, you can see the pop art. If you're listening to the podcast, you can't see that. But it is very cool. The pop art cover is really awesome. Birds in all different colors and Tippi Hedren screaming. It just has that really awesome look to it. I love that. And that film is so amazing. It is definitely, if you've never seen The Birds, I have to say, where have you been? This is a great film. Great film. I love to watch that every Halloween because it is so amazing. All right. Speaking of films where Hitchcock liked to use characters in the same over and over, we're going to talk about two of them here. This is James Stewart in Rear Window and Vertigo. These were very special releases we got last year for Christmas time, and it's very cool. Slipcover, shattered glass-looking slipcover on Vertigo and on Rear Window. Love these. These are so iconic, just great films. And I love this. Vertigo gives you that, you really feel the sense of vertigo when you watch that film, which is amazing. And then Rear Window is so cool because of that scene of Raymond Burr. Amazing. Hitchcock built this whole apartment complex-like thing. Well, he didn't build it, but he had it built. But anyway, and to where you could look right into each of the rooms. And it was so cool. And that scene where Stewart is looking and kind of spying on the neighbors, and that iconic scene when Raymond Burr's character turns and stares right into Jimmy Stewart's room and sees him still chilling to this day. Amazing film. Great film. That's why I love Rear Window so much. All right, we got a couple Blu-rays here that are very cool, too. We got this one, which is Spellbound. This one we picked up for, I think, $3, I think it was. Very, very good release. It is another one that Hitchcock liked to use was Gregory Peck. Gregory Peck was in The Paradigm Case, a film we also have from one that we recorded from TCM. But also this one is Spellbound, but another really good film and kind of unique photography as well. Hitchcock was amazing when it came to that type of stuff. And then finally, the one we got here is The Iconic Psycho on Blu-ray. What can you say that hasn't been said about Psycho? There's really nothing you can say except that this is a tremendous Hitchcock film. It should be everybody's viewing at least once in your life. You need to watch this film. Just to say you've watched it, it is necessary. This part's gone a little longer. We'll talk about our newest release, our newest find right after this. Free movies and TV produced by Pastor Jay at classiccinemamagazine.blogspot.com or at youtube.com slash therealpastorjay. All right, thanks for staying with us here on the Classic Cinema Rewind. and this year we got some Christmas money. We got Christmas bonuses. We got money from family and friends and stuff. And so this one I had to pick up with some of the Christmas money that I got. I love this. When I saw this, I was like, I've got to pick this up. This is the ultimate Hitchcock collection. Look at that. This is unbelievable. Now, we have this DVD box set. See, very hard case is so amazing. We've done a check on Amazon because we wanted to see if we got a good deal here. And currently on Amazon, as we're recording this, this box set here is going for $51.96. $51.96 for this. Now, want to take a guess what we got this for? $15. Brand new. Yeah, I say we got a home run there. Yeah. This amazing box set comes with the booklet. Very, very cool. And you get all kinds of awesome stuff in it. Stuff about Edith Head, who was an amazing costume designer. title designer Saul Bass which those amazing title sequences are amazing and give you some idea about that some of the films stuff about the films and all in this collection just really amazing things the master of suspense talking about Hitchcock himself love that picture of Hitchcock so cool It has that scowl, like you always seem to have. Just some really good pictures of Hitchcock. I like it. So this booklet is really awesome. But beyond that, you get the box set, right? This big, thick box set, but what you get is a digibook. This is called a digibook. Now, the digibook is literally like a book, okay? And in this we have many great films First you got Saboteur which is it features Bob Cummings or Robert Cummings as the case may be And as a really good murder film, really, really iconic. Shadow of a Doubt is another great Hitchcock film, old black and white film. Very cool film. Joseph Cotton is starring in that one and really, really worthwhile. So Hitchcock loved Jimmy Stewart, and this iconic film, Rope, is definitely one for watching because Hitchcock wanted to see if he could produce a film basically in one take. And so he did like 15, 20 minutes of stretches of shooting a film, and then, you know, that's great filmmaking because, I mean, it's very, very difficult, but you could get everything done and then you just piece it together real fast. I mean, that's really amazing. And he did a great job with Rope. Rope is a very good film. And of course, anytime you got James Stewart in the film and also Farley Granger is in that. Farley Granger is known for another time when he worked with Hitchcock, which was Strangers on a Train. Very cool. In this, you get Rear Window. Now, I know we already have Weir Window, but there's many that we already have that are in this collection, but it's just too good not to have. Trouble with Harry. The Trouble with Harry gave us kind of the funny side of Hitchcock in filmmaking, which I love. And this one has Edmund Gwynne, who was Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street. And this also has Shirley MacLaine, John Forsythe. and we also get Jerry Mathers, a very young Jerry Mathers. The Man Who Knew Too Much. This is the remake of the iconic older film that Hitchcock produced in England, but this is with James Stewart and Doris Day. Probably a little better of a production, but the first one's still pretty good too. but this is probably a little bit better because Hitchcock had a bigger budget. So probably a little better film. Vertigo, again, one we have. Also, North by Northwest, one we also have. Psycho, one we have on Blu-ray. The Birds, one we have with the pop art. This one, Marnie, is with Tippi Hedren. Tippi Hedren played on The Birds. again, another thing that Hitchcock liked to do was reuse some of the actresses as well. Torn Curtain, this is Paul Newman and Julie Andrews, a very good spy, Cold War type film. Topaz, John Forsythe there, John Forsythe was another actor that Hitchcock used many times. So anyway, Topaz, eh, okay. Not my favorite, but okay. Frenzy, this is where Hitchcock got a little more into the adult themes of stuff. And I wasn't as much into this as much as I was his classic stuff. It's okay, but it's not my favorite. Family Plot, another one where Hitchcock went a little bit into more of the adult stuff. So I'm not a big fan of that. Then you got seven episodes, one episode from each season of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Very nice. And then Alfred Hitchcock Hour, an episode from each of those series, which we don't need because we have the whole series. But anyway, but this is a really cool digi book, and that's why we had to pick that up. Okay. So that is one of our newest finds that we got. And I think we did really spectacular on that because we got that for only $15. And that thing cost $52 on Amazon. So I would say we did a really good job there. Got a really good deal. All right, we'll be right back after this with Final Thought. Read reviews of the latest DVDs, Blu-rays, TV shows, and so much more at classiccinemamagazine.blogspot.com. All right, this episode has gone a little bit longer than normal, but that's okay. We wanted to talk to you a little bit about Hitchcock and our love for Hitchcock films. You can see we love Hitchcock films and the Hitchcock TV series because we got so many of them. But Hitchcock really is a master of cinematic experiences. and even in his TV shows, he was amazing. So definitely, if you've never seen anything Hitchcock, I say, where have you been? You've got to check out something Hitchcock. All right, but definitely, definitely do that. We want to remind you to go to classiccinemamagazine.blogspot.com every single day. We put up entertainment news, reviews, articles, podcasts, videos, all kinds of stuff every single day at classiccinemamagazine.blogspot.com. Also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at TheRealPastorJay. That's our accounts for all things social media. We put all kinds of interesting things up there, so follow us there. Until we see you next time right here on the Classic Cinema Rewind, this is Pastor Jay reminding you, if you want to see a great film, check out a classic. We will see you next week here for Classic Cinema Rewind. Time for some Hitchcock. Thanks for joining us here on Classic Cinema Rewind. We want to thank our sponsors. Also a very special thank you to our great musician, Kevin McClough, for the great royalty-free music. Check out more of his amazing work at www.incompetech.com. Come here! Hey! Oh, no, you don't. No, you don't. No, stay right there. Hey, George! There he is! Join us next time for more classic cinema on the classic Cinema Rewind with Pastor Jay. .