Most people have heard of the director Alfred Hitchcock and seen (or at least seen referenced) his films Psycho (1960), Rear Window (1954), and Vertigo (1958). Hitchcock’s prime was definitely the late 50s/early 60s, but he made some pretty great movies in the 1940s, as well. This month the 909 Flats Blog has five Hitchcock films from the 1940s that you need to see this fall.
Rebecca (1940)
The new Mrs. de Winter (Joan Fontaine) is intimidated by her new role as mistress of Manderley, her husband Maxim’s (Laurence Olivier) estate. The shadow of her husband’s first wife, Rebecca, looms large over the estate. The obsessive housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) tortures the new Mrs. de Winter with tales of Rebecca’s beauty, grace, and charm.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941)
Ann (Carole Lombard) and David Smith (Robert Montgomery) are a mostly-happy married couple living together in New York City. When the pair discover that their marriage license is, because of technicality, not valid, Ann expects David to re-propose. He doesn’t. Ann and David spar, lose each other and find each other again in Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
Suspicion (1941)
Lina McLaidlaw (Joan Fontaine) marries the charming Johnnie Aysgarth (Cary Grant) on a whim. She soon grows to regret her decision. Johnnie is in deep debt, has a terrible work ethic, and is planning on living off money borrowed from his wealthy father-in-law. As Johnnie becomes more and more desperate for money, Lina grows worried that he’d do anything—even murder—to get what he wants.
Notorious (1946)
Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman) goes undercover in Notorious. Alicia, because of her father’s past as a Nazi spy, has been tapped to find information on Nazis living in Brazil. She marries Nazi Alex Sebastian (Claude Rains) despite her love for American agent T.R. Devlin (Cary Grant), in order to pump more information out of her husband and his friends. Trouble comes when Sebastian begins to suspect her duplicity.
Rope (1948)
Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and Phillip Morgan (Farley Granger) have committed the perfect murder. They’ve killed their school friend, David (Dick Hogan), and invited his friends and family to have dinner over a trunk concealing David’s body to celebrate. Among the guests are David’s fiancee (Joan Chandler), father (Sir Cedric Hardwicke), and the teacher who inspired the murder, Rupert Cadwell (Jimmy Stewart). As the guests wonder where David is, guilt begins to get the best of one of the murderers and their teacher, Rupert, begins to suspect the boys know more than they’re letting on.
Watch these movies this month or save them for a stormy October night. We hope that you have a great month here in Nashville. Have you seen any of these films before? Which was your favorite? Let us know in the comments!