I may be done with the internet, news and big tech!

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Psycho, North by Northwest, and The Birds are my top 3 Hitchcock films. Dial M for Murder is an honorable mention. I really think the late 50s and early 60s was Hitchcock at his absolute best!! Starting with Marnie things went downhill I'm afraid. Though Frenzy from 1972 was pretty good.

Psycho is the pinnacle in my opinion. I would replace The Birds with Vertigo on your list, which is in that timeframe though. I also really like Rear Window from slightly earlier. I’m a Jimmy Stewart fan too. The Birds would be in my top ten, but I like Strangers on a Train more, I think. That’s almost a list!

This is the best I can do:
1. Psycho
2. Vertigo
2. North by Northwest
2. Rear Window
5. Strangers in a Train
6. The Birds

That's a good list! Vertigo is an interesting one because it certainly is a very good movie and is drenched with Hitchcockian atmosphere (the cinematography, Herrmann's score, lovely but ill-fated Kim Novak, the surreal feel, the great twist) but it's not one that I would return to very often. In fact I only saw it once many years ago. I get more repeat satisfaction from his other films. The twist (which is a real jolting eye-opener when you first see it) is the best thing about the film, but once you know it then on repeat viewings you're really just watching the film for the atmosphere. It's a more slow moving film than many of the others from the "master of suspense".

Eagle, Ivan, Pahonu,
It's hard to argue with any of your choices. I was lucky enough to see Rear Window, Vetigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Rope and The Trouble With Harry on movie screens in the early 80's
after Hitchcock died, as he owned all of them and had kept them out of circulation for years. Rear Window and Vertigo are meant to be seen on the big screen. It's a whole
different experience watching Rear Window's Jimmy Stewart viewing the entire huge apartment set from his window, you can see what all the occupants are doing all at once, the effect sucks you into
that world - as Hitch planned and shot - , as opposed to your local station showing one apartment or panning over to maybe one or two others.
I know it sounds dumb but I always get a kick out of trying to spot Hitch's cameo at the start of each movie.
Happy Fourth of July to everybody.

[eagle]

I always look for the Hitchcock cameo as well, but I usually don't see it, so I have to look up cheats online so I know what time segment to look for him -- then I see it.

[Pahonu]

Psycho, North by Northwest, and The Birds are my top 3 Hitchcock films. Dial M for Murder is an honorable mention. I really think the late 50s and early 60s was Hitchcock at his absolute best!! Starting with Marnie things went downhill I'm afraid. Though Frenzy from 1972 was pretty good.

Psycho is the pinnacle in my opinion. I would replace The Birds with Vertigo on your list, which is in that timeframe though. I also really like Rear Window from slightly earlier. I’m a Jimmy Stewart fan too. The Birds would be in my top ten, but I like Strangers on a Train more, I think. That’s almost a list!

This is the best I can do:
1. Psycho
2. Vertigo
2. North by Northwest
2. Rear Window
5. Strangers in a Train
6. The Birds

That's a good list! Vertigo is an interesting one because it certainly is a very good movie and is drenched with Hitchcockian atmosphere (the cinematography, Herrmann's score, lovely but ill-fated Kim Novak, the surreal feel, the great twist) but it's not one that I would return to very often. In fact I only saw it once many years ago. I get more repeat satisfaction from his other films. The twist (which is a real jolting eye-opener when you first see it) is the best thing about the film, but once you know it then on repeat viewings you're really just watching the film for the atmosphere. It's a more slow moving film than many of the others from the "master of suspense".

Eagle, Ivan, Pahonu,
It's hard to argue with any of your choices. I was lucky enough to see Rear Window, Vetigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Rope and The Trouble With Harry on movie screens in the early 80's
after Hitchcock died, as he owned all of them and had kept them out of circulation for years. Rear Window and Vertigo are meant to be seen on the big screen. It's a whole
different experience watching Rear Window's Jimmy Stewart viewing the entire huge apartment set from his window, you can see what all the occupants are doing all at once, the effect sucks you into
that world - as Hitch planned and shot - , as opposed to your local station showing one apartment or panning over to maybe one or two others.
I know it sounds dumb but I always get a kick out of trying to spot Hitch's cameo at the start of each movie.
Happy Fourth of July to everybody.
your local TV station just focusing on one apartment.

Hey Dobie, I’m assuming you saw The Man Who Knew Too Much with Jimmy Stewart. Have you ever seen Hitch’s first filming of it from the 30’s? I’ve been waiting for it to show up on TCM for years after I learned the well known Hollywood version was a remake. So far no luck, though I’m sure it’s probably streaming somewhere. It has Peter Lorre.

I totally agree with you about seeing these films on the big screen. I had the opportunity to see the restored David Lean classics The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. This was in the early 90’s and it was just amazing! They absolutely composed those incredible shots for the big screen. The TV pan and scan method is a poor substitute, though the letterbox is quite common now. I don’t have a giant TV though so it’s still not close.

My wife and I used to go to the historic Bay Theatre in nearby Seal Beach to see old films. It’s been closed for renovations for several years but it’s still there so we’re hopeful. One Christmas we saw It’s a Wonderful Life in its original square format. We saw Jaws, Planet of the Apes, and Rear Window. Seeing Vertigo on the big screen is still on my list.

We have another historic theater nearby here in Long Beach called The Art. We saw many great films there too, but they’ve shifted to showing more independent films in the last few years, which is great, but allows fewer opportunities to see the classics. I just saw an excellent new surfing documentary there a couple of weeks ago called Wade in the Water: A Journey into Black Surfing and Aquatic Culture. We saw Step into Liquid there many years ago, another good surfing doc.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Psycho is the pinnacle in my opinion. I would replace The Birds with Vertigo on your list, which is in that timeframe though. I also really like Rear Window from slightly earlier. I’m a Jimmy Stewart fan too. The Birds would be in my top ten, but I like Strangers on a Train more, I think. That’s almost a list!

This is the best I can do:
1. Psycho
2. Vertigo
2. North by Northwest
2. Rear Window
5. Strangers in a Train
6. The Birds

That's a good list! Vertigo is an interesting one because it certainly is a very good movie and is drenched with Hitchcockian atmosphere (the cinematography, Herrmann's score, lovely but ill-fated Kim Novak, the surreal feel, the great twist) but it's not one that I would return to very often. In fact I only saw it once many years ago. I get more repeat satisfaction from his other films. The twist (which is a real jolting eye-opener when you first see it) is the best thing about the film, but once you know it then on repeat viewings you're really just watching the film for the atmosphere. It's a more slow moving film than many of the others from the "master of suspense".

Eagle, Ivan, Pahonu,
It's hard to argue with any of your choices. I was lucky enough to see Rear Window, Vetigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Rope and The Trouble With Harry on movie screens in the early 80's
after Hitchcock died, as he owned all of them and had kept them out of circulation for years. Rear Window and Vertigo are meant to be seen on the big screen. It's a whole
different experience watching Rear Window's Jimmy Stewart viewing the entire huge apartment set from his window, you can see what all the occupants are doing all at once, the effect sucks you into
that world - as Hitch planned and shot - , as opposed to your local station showing one apartment or panning over to maybe one or two others.
I know it sounds dumb but I always get a kick out of trying to spot Hitch's cameo at the start of each movie.
Happy Fourth of July to everybody.

Hey Dobie, I’m assuming you saw The Man Who Knew Too Much with Jimmy Stewart. Have you ever seen Hitch’s first filming of it from the 30’s? I’ve been waiting for it to show up on TCM for years after I learned the well known Hollywood version was a remake. So far no luck, though I’m sure it’s probably streaming somewhere. It has Peter Lorre.

I totally agree with you about seeing these films on the big screen. I had the opportunity to see the restored David Lean classics The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. This was in the early 90’s and it was just amazing! They absolutely composed those incredible shots for the big screen. The TV pan and scan method is a poor substitute, though the letterbox is quite common now. I don’t have a giant TV though so it’s still not close.

My wife and I used to go to the historic Bay Theatre in nearby Seal Beach to see old films. It’s been closed for renovations for several years but it’s still there so we’re hopeful. One Christmas we saw It’s a Wonderful Life in its original square format. We saw Jaws, Planet of the Apes, and Rear Window. Seeing Vertigo on the big screen is still on my list.

We have another historic theater nearby here in Long Beach called The Art. We saw many great films there too, but they’ve shifted to showing more independent films in the last few years, which is great, but allows fewer opportunities to see the classics. I just saw an excellent new surfing documentary there a couple of weeks ago called Wade in the Water: A Journey into Black Surfing and Aquatic Culture. We saw Step into Liquid there many years ago, another good surfing doc.

Hi Pahonu,
I am sooo envious that you live in an area that sports theaters like The Art and hopefully a reopened Bay Theater one day. Regarding the 1934 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much, I think it
is superior to the Jimmy Stewart remake and Peter Lorre is a awesome bad guy. It is definitely a "veddy" British flick, maybe Hitch remade it as a more "Americanized" version with US stars thinking it
would be more viable at the box office. I have seen it many times on the NYC channel 13 - PBS - station over the years, late on Saturday night.
I am surprised TCM doesn't run it, but it is worth searching out, I think you and the Mrs. will like it.
You mentioned Long Beach?
I caught some Baywatch reruns lately on the H & I network - it's since been dropped - and it was better than I remembered. Going by the many shots of the Queen Mary in the background I assume
it was filmed there. My gosh, the women, even all the female extras were comely. I wonder how many people in foreign climes assumed all American women look like that. And the men as well.
The two part episode Baywatch Down Under showed off Sydney to good effect and also had Simmone "McLeod's Daughters" Mackinnon on, she is one snappy number.
Wow, sorry to detour to Baywatch when we were on the elevated plane of Hitchcock classics, but Simmone Mackinnon in a bathing suit is not exactly chopped liver.

[Pahonu]

That's a good list! Vertigo is an interesting one because it certainly is a very good movie and is drenched with Hitchcockian atmosphere (the cinematography, Herrmann's score, lovely but ill-fated Kim Novak, the surreal feel, the great twist) but it's not one that I would return to very often. In fact I only saw it once many years ago. I get more repeat satisfaction from his other films. The twist (which is a real jolting eye-opener when you first see it) is the best thing about the film, but once you know it then on repeat viewings you're really just watching the film for the atmosphere. It's a more slow moving film than many of the others from the "master of suspense".

Eagle, Ivan, Pahonu,
It's hard to argue with any of your choices. I was lucky enough to see Rear Window, Vetigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Rope and The Trouble With Harry on movie screens in the early 80's
after Hitchcock died, as he owned all of them and had kept them out of circulation for years. Rear Window and Vertigo are meant to be seen on the big screen. It's a whole
different experience watching Rear Window's Jimmy Stewart viewing the entire huge apartment set from his window, you can see what all the occupants are doing all at once, the effect sucks you into
that world - as Hitch planned and shot - , as opposed to your local station showing one apartment or panning over to maybe one or two others.
I know it sounds dumb but I always get a kick out of trying to spot Hitch's cameo at the start of each movie.
Happy Fourth of July to everybody.

Hey Dobie, I’m assuming you saw The Man Who Knew Too Much with Jimmy Stewart. Have you ever seen Hitch’s first filming of it from the 30’s? I’ve been waiting for it to show up on TCM for years after I learned the well known Hollywood version was a remake. So far no luck, though I’m sure it’s probably streaming somewhere. It has Peter Lorre.

I totally agree with you about seeing these films on the big screen. I had the opportunity to see the restored David Lean classics The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. This was in the early 90’s and it was just amazing! They absolutely composed those incredible shots for the big screen. The TV pan and scan method is a poor substitute, though the letterbox is quite common now. I don’t have a giant TV though so it’s still not close.

My wife and I used to go to the historic Bay Theatre in nearby Seal Beach to see old films. It’s been closed for renovations for several years but it’s still there so we’re hopeful. One Christmas we saw It’s a Wonderful Life in its original square format. We saw Jaws, Planet of the Apes, and Rear Window. Seeing Vertigo on the big screen is still on my list.

We have another historic theater nearby here in Long Beach called The Art. We saw many great films there too, but they’ve shifted to showing more independent films in the last few years, which is great, but allows fewer opportunities to see the classics. I just saw an excellent new surfing documentary there a couple of weeks ago called Wade in the Water: A Journey into Black Surfing and Aquatic Culture. We saw Step into Liquid there many years ago, another good surfing doc.

Hi Pahonu,
I am sooo envious that you live in an area that sports theaters like The Art and hopefully a reopened Bay Theater one day. Regarding the 1934 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much, I think it
is superior to the Jimmy Stewart remake and Peter Lorre is a awesome bad guy. It is definitely a "veddy" British flick, maybe Hitch remade it as a more "Americanized" version with US stars thinking it
would be more viable at the box office. I have seen it many times on the NYC channel 13 - PBS - station over the years, late on Saturday night.
I am surprised TCM doesn't run it, but it is worth searching out, I think you and the Mrs. will like it.
You mentioned Long Beach?
I caught some Baywatch reruns lately on the H & I network - it's since been dropped - and it was better than I remembered. Going by the many shots of the Queen Mary in the background I assume
it was filmed there. My gosh, the women, even all the female extras were comely. I wonder how many people in foreign climes assumed all American women look like that. And the men as well.
The two part episode Baywatch Down Under showed off Sydney to good effect and also had Simmone "McLeod's Daughters" Mackinnon on, she is one snappy number.
Wow, sorry to detour to Baywatch when we were on the elevated plane of Hitchcock classics, but Simmone Mackinnon in a bathing suit is not exactly chopped liver.

Hey Dobie,

I’ll make a point of trying to find the original version with Peter Lorre after your review! Thanks.

The LA area in general has a pretty good number of theaters that play older and independent films. They’re almost always old single theaters that have been restored. Some were once great theaters, like the Egyptian in Hollywood, while many were just the local theaters of the early years of the film industry. They can’t complete with multiplexes today, but they have found their niche. There’s obviously a lot of people around who work in the industry and appreciate films at that level. There would likely be a much smaller audience in most places. I do feel lucky to have such opportunities and sometimes forget that many don’t. Still, many have been torn down over the decades, even here.

Did you bring up Baywatch completely by chance? To answer your question, no it wasn’t based in Long Beach, though it occasionally filmed there and in many places along the coast within the TMZ. The soundstage with interiors and a dive tank was in Venice Beach on Beethoven Street. Much of the beach filming happened at Will Rogers State Beach north of Santa Monica at a lifeguard station near Temescal Canyon Road on PCH. They built a lifeguard set above the LA County building that stored the trucks and other equipment for that stretch of coastline.

How do I know all this? I worked as a PA, among other things, on the series from 1993-95. This was seasons 4 and 5, after it was dropped by the network and early after it went into first run syndication. I’ve posted about it here a few times in various threads. Perhaps you missed them. I don’t even know the names you mentioned as it ran for quite a few seasons with an ever rotating cast, I recall. Anyway, if you have any questions, I have that small window into the production and may be able to answer them… and yes, the female extras were not bad to look at while you worked, nor were the location views to be honest.

Hitchcock and Baywatch aren’t on a different plane. They’re in entirely separate universes!

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Eagle, Ivan, Pahonu,
It's hard to argue with any of your choices. I was lucky enough to see Rear Window, Vetigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Rope and The Trouble With Harry on movie screens in the early 80's
after Hitchcock died, as he owned all of them and had kept them out of circulation for years. Rear Window and Vertigo are meant to be seen on the big screen. It's a whole
different experience watching Rear Window's Jimmy Stewart viewing the entire huge apartment set from his window, you can see what all the occupants are doing all at once, the effect sucks you into
that world - as Hitch planned and shot - , as opposed to your local station showing one apartment or panning over to maybe one or two others.
I know it sounds dumb but I always get a kick out of trying to spot Hitch's cameo at the start of each movie.
Happy Fourth of July to everybody.

Hey Dobie, I’m assuming you saw The Man Who Knew Too Much with Jimmy Stewart. Have you ever seen Hitch’s first filming of it from the 30’s? I’ve been waiting for it to show up on TCM for years after I learned the well known Hollywood version was a remake. So far no luck, though I’m sure it’s probably streaming somewhere. It has Peter Lorre.

I totally agree with you about seeing these films on the big screen. I had the opportunity to see the restored David Lean classics The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. This was in the early 90’s and it was just amazing! They absolutely composed those incredible shots for the big screen. The TV pan and scan method is a poor substitute, though the letterbox is quite common now. I don’t have a giant TV though so it’s still not close.

My wife and I used to go to the historic Bay Theatre in nearby Seal Beach to see old films. It’s been closed for renovations for several years but it’s still there so we’re hopeful. One Christmas we saw It’s a Wonderful Life in its original square format. We saw Jaws, Planet of the Apes, and Rear Window. Seeing Vertigo on the big screen is still on my list.

We have another historic theater nearby here in Long Beach called The Art. We saw many great films there too, but they’ve shifted to showing more independent films in the last few years, which is great, but allows fewer opportunities to see the classics. I just saw an excellent new surfing documentary there a couple of weeks ago called Wade in the Water: A Journey into Black Surfing and Aquatic Culture. We saw Step into Liquid there many years ago, another good surfing doc.

Hi Pahonu,
I am sooo envious that you live in an area that sports theaters like The Art and hopefully a reopened Bay Theater one day. Regarding the 1934 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much, I think it
is superior to the Jimmy Stewart remake and Peter Lorre is a awesome bad guy. It is definitely a "veddy" British flick, maybe Hitch remade it as a more "Americanized" version with US stars thinking it
would be more viable at the box office. I have seen it many times on the NYC channel 13 - PBS - station over the years, late on Saturday night.
I am surprised TCM doesn't run it, but it is worth searching out, I think you and the Mrs. will like it.
You mentioned Long Beach?
I caught some Baywatch reruns lately on the H & I network - it's since been dropped - and it was better than I remembered. Going by the many shots of the Queen Mary in the background I assume
it was filmed there. My gosh, the women, even all the female extras were comely. I wonder how many people in foreign climes assumed all American women look like that. And the men as well.
The two part episode Baywatch Down Under showed off Sydney to good effect and also had Simmone "McLeod's Daughters" Mackinnon on, she is one snappy number.
Wow, sorry to detour to Baywatch when we were on the elevated plane of Hitchcock classics, but Simmone Mackinnon in a bathing suit is not exactly chopped liver.

Hey Dobie,

I’ll make a point of trying to find the original version with Peter Lorre after your review! Thanks.

The LA area in general has a pretty good number of theaters that play older and independent films. They’re almost always old single theaters that have been restored. Some were once great theaters, like the Egyptian in Hollywood, while many were just the local theaters of the early years of the film industry. They can’t complete with multiplexes today, but they have found their niche. There’s obviously a lot of people around who work in the industry and appreciate films at that level. There would likely be a much smaller audience in most places. I do feel lucky to have such opportunities and sometimes forget that many don’t. Still, many have been torn down over the decades, even here.

Did you bring up Baywatch completely by chance? To answer your question, no it wasn’t based in Long Beach, though it occasionally filmed there and in many places along the coast within the TMZ. The soundstage with interiors and a dive tank was in Venice Beach on Beethoven Street. Much of the beach filming happened at Will Rogers State Beach north of Santa Monica at a lifeguard station near Temescal Canyon Road on PCH. They built a lifeguard set above the LA County building that stored the trucks and other equipment for that stretch of coastline.

How do I know all this? I worked as a PA, among other things, on the series from 1993-95. This was seasons 4 and 5, after it was dropped by the network and early after it went into first run syndication. I’ve posted about it here a few times in various threads. Perhaps you missed them. I don’t even know the names you mentioned as it ran for quite a few seasons with an ever rotating cast, I recall. Anyway, if you have any questions, I have that small window into the production and may be able to answer them… and yes, the female extras were not bad to look at while you worked, nor were the location views to be honest.

Hitchcock and Baywatch aren’t on a different plane. They’re in entirely separate universes!

Pahonu,
Yes, I remembered you mentioning that you worked on the show, I should have written my post better to reflect that. I was curious about the Long Beach angle as I visited both The Spruce Goose
and the Queen Mary back in 1988. I got a big kick out seeing the Queen Mary in Kolchak:The Night Stalker and Gumball Rally. Plus seeing old newsreels - TCM used to run them - with the cream of
Hollywood drinking at it's main bar, because I hoisted a few there as well while thinking about Laurel & Hardy doing the same.
As regards Baywatch I realize what it is, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I wonder if the producers, like Irwin "Lost In Space" Allen and Sherwood "Gilligan's Island" Schwartz actually
believed in and thought their product was good stuff, which might be part of the reason these series are still going strong, they were dedicated to them.
I found David Hasselhoff likable and he did try to put the material over even when it was dumb.
Pahonu, what did you think of Hasselhoff, and were any of the cast particularly nice people? Any of them entitled monsters?
Also, what is the deal with Larry King's, Walt Disney's and other star's frozen heads, is that real or Hollywood legend, maybe you heard something? I can't help recalling the Boardwalk game down
the shore where ten nodding heads are lined up in a row and you try to use a squirt gun to shoot into their mouths and win a prize.