Star Pick with Kurt Angle

Opening in a way only a Buster Keaton short film seems to be able to, an accidental confrontation between a mailman and the main character (leading to a letter, by chance, falling into the hands of the man, as well as a broken pane of glass as a result of the postal worker’s anger), followed by another clash between the always in the wrong place protagonist and a bullish woman – who assumes the diminutive man must have done the damage to the window. . . then throw in a Polish priest (who doesn’t speak English) making his own assumptions, and somehow, Keaton becomes Husband, and this woman, played by Kate Price, becomes Wife, in 1922's My Wife’s Relations, written and directed by both Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline.

If you didn't know and were asked to guess Alfred Hitchcock's favourite movie from his own filmography, I would think most people would probably select something from his Golden Age - ranging from the 50s and into the early 60s (think Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, and The Birds), or you might pick one of his two most iconic British films - The 39 Steps or The Lady Vanishes, then again, his first film in the United States (Rebecca) was his only Best Picture win at the Academy Awards. . . or maybe it was his long awaited return to the UK after thirty-two years away - making the under seen Frenzy your selection. Perhaps it was one of his technical marvels. . . Lifeboat, set entirely in the film's titular object, or Rope, which was shot to look like one long take (and was itself set in a singular location). By now, you've probably guessed that it is none of these films, but rather, the 1943 motion picture Shadow of a Doubt - in part, due to the fact that he loved the idea of bringing menace to a small town. Funnily enough, I experienced this film's loose remake, Chan-wook Park's English language debut - Stoker, prior to this original version (which is something rare for me). And I must say, I appreciate both even more-so now. . . for it is a revelation to see a remake that is not just a carbon copy of the original. A story of the 'double', teenager Charlie Newton (Teresa Wright) lives a normal life with her family on the west coast. . . her father, Joseph (Henry Travers - everyone's favourite guardian angel from It's a Wonderful Life), is a banker, her mother, Emma (Patricia Collinge), a homemaker, her younger sister, Ann (Edna May Wonacott - absolutely endearing in the role), a fervid reader, and even younger brother, Roger (Charles Bates), is just as sharp as his two older siblings. . . very unlike her beloved Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten), a mysteriously wealthy east coast living businessman.

Alfred Hitchcock was always looking for a good challenge – a way to test the boundaries of film, as well as wow his audiences. In 1944, he built a gripping thriller set in the smallest of locations. . . on a Lifeboat. Four years later he challenged himself to shoot murder mystery Rope (again in one location) to look like a single continuous take – due to limitations of the time, it was actually done in ten lengthy takes. In 1954, he tried his hand at 3D. . . though many think of this as a modern day thing, Dial M for Murder fits right within this kitschy novelty’s golden age (1952-54). Then, to get past censors, he reverted to black and white for 1960's Psycho. Yet one of his biggest challenges came with 1963's The Birds (a story loosely based upon Daphne du Maurier’s novel of the same name) – not simply because it would be a complicated film to make, but because it was made without any music (actually, it was his longtime musical collaborator Bernard Herrmann who suggested this). After lengthy years of working under the Motion Picture Production Code (aka, the Hays Code), its grip was finally starting to waver – though it would last until 1968, Hitchcock finally had a little more freedom to amp up the edginess.

It Happened One Night. . . what, you must be wondering? Well, on February 27th, 1935, at the 7th Academy Awards, the aforementioned film became the first ever to win the so-called ‘Big Five’ – Best Picture, Best Director (Frank Capra – his first of three wins for this category in the decade), Best Actor (Clark Gable), Best Actress (Claudette Colbert), and Best Screenplay – in this case, Adapted (Robert Riskin – based on the short story “Night Bus”). . . a rare feat that has only been replicated twice more (with 1975's One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and 1991's The Silence of the Lambs). Often referred to as the first great romantic comedy as well as the first screwball comedy, all of this success and glory was not guaranteed. Capra, a director at Columbia Studios. . . a name that, at the time, equated to ‘Poverty Row’, was not known as a major studio.