By coincidence, I was recently driving on a short errand and a CBC Radio documentary happened to come on about that exact novel. I didn’t have a chance to listen to most of it but for the curious, the whole podcast can be heard at the link below. The Hitchcock film is definitely in the queue for my personal Hitchcock festival, but not a high priority just because I’ve seen it at least twice, though not for many years. Some of Hitchcock’s other brilliant works I’m seeing for the first time.
Shadow of a Doubt (1943). More vintage Hitchcock. This might be lesser known than some of his other films, but it was said to be Hitchcock’s personal favourite. One delightful aspect of it is the vividly authentic contemporaneous setting of 1943 small-town America, a world that seems so far away now.
Uncle Charlie, the mother’s beloved brother, comes to visit a small-town family. They have three children, the oldest of which is a girl also named Charlie, after the uncle. Charlie begins to suspect that the uncle has a deeply sinister past, and the suspense builds quickly. Joseph Cotten plays the uncle, and the girl Charlie is charmingly portrayed by Teresa Wright, who garnered three career Oscar nominations (and won one) and won Best Actress from the National Board of Review for this film. The film itself was Oscar-nominated for Best Writing.
Watched National Champion$ on Netflix.
Follows star quarterback who ignites a players strike hours before the biggest game of the year in order to fight for fair compensation, equality and respect for the student-athletes.
Not sure what I was expecting, but I liked it much more than I thought I would.
J.K Simmons is excellent, as he always is. Small but good roles for Timothy Olyphant and Jeffery Donovan.
I’ve seen it before, but I re-watched Scott Pilgrim vs the World again. Still one of the most fun movies I own.
The du Maurier book Rebecca is terrific, but I thought Hitchcock’s movie was disappointing. A far better version IMHO is the 1979 TV miniseries with Jeremy Brett and Joanna David.
My latest five movies:
The League
Very interesting, upbeat baseball documentary about the Negro Leagues. I really enjoyed it.
Robert Monster
A terrible, just terrible 1953 low-budget sf movie. The alien is played by a guy in a gorilla suit with a fishbowl helmet. It’s not even so bad it’s good, it’s just bad. There. Now I can say I’ve seen it, and never, ever have to see it again, thank God.
She Said
Tense, well-crafted drama about two NYT reporters breaking down the Hollywood wall of silence and exposing Harvey Weinstein as a serial sex offender. Its tone reminded me quite a bit of All the President’s Men and Spotlight, and although I’d say it’s not quite as good as them, it’s still worth a look.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
A worthy sequel to the original Ghostbusters, bringing the story into the present day, with lots of in-jokes and nods to the first movie. Carrie Coon and Paul Rudd are both hilarious. Be sure to wait for the two stingers at the end!
Amadeus
Saw it yet again (at least my fourth time), but with the score performed live by the Cleveland Orchestra. Glorious. This has long been one of my favorite historical dramas; F. Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce are terrific as Salieri and Mozart. Great music, script, costumes, sets, etc.
Santa Rosa, CA. I also like this movie a lot. Hume Cronyn was much needed comic relief.
I’m curious what you thought was disappointing about it. After it ended I just felt it had been breathtaking. It was nominated for 11 Oscars in 1941, including all the major ones, and won Best Picture and Best Cinematography.
ROBERT Monster?
From now on, that’s my favorite Pet Name for Robot Monster
By the way, you haven’t REALLY seen Robot Monster until you’ve seen it in 3D.
No joke – it was filmed in anaglyphic 3D (that’s the one with red-and-green or blue glasses. It’s the reason they have that ridiculous segment with the bubble machine – Bubbles make a cheap and almost tangible 3D effect.
Also by the way – Elmer Bernstein wrote the music. He’s the guy who scored The Magnificent Seven (which was later used ad nauseum in TV ads for Marlboro cigarettes) and for The Ten Commandments, among a great many others. He was apparently on the HUAC blacklist when he did Robot Monster and Catwomen on the Moon.
You mean Robot Monster don’t you?
And if you want to pair it with another awful movie, for a short festival, try Teenagers From Outer Space. I think it may be the worst movie I ever saw.
D’oh! Robot Monster. 
And yes, I saw it in 3D. That only made it terrible in three dimensions.
Hitchcock’s Rebecca just seemed oddly flat and unmoving to me. Obviously YMMV, wolfpup.
Knights of Badassdom
Not recommended.
I have heard the director hates the released edit of this movie and wants to put back together his edit and released it. I agree with him. This movie is bad and I would definitely skip it unless he gets to edit it again and release his version.
An unfunny comedy. Ouch, one of the worst things you can see. Not. One. Laugh.
I understand there’s dinosaur stock footage; is that in 3-D, too?
Yes, and it only prolongs the suck.
You say that like it’s a Bad Thing.
Disney copyrighted it 60 million years ago, so it’s not in the public domain yet.
Notorious (1946). Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, directed by Hitchcock. Spies! Intrigue! Romance! Rio de Janeiro! What’s not to like?
In the immediate aftermath of World War II, which was both the setting and the real-life timing of the actual filming, a group associated with the German conglomerate I.G. Farben have settled in Rio, engaged in some kind of sinister Nazi plot. Bergman’s character is dispatched to infiltrate the ring by starting a romantic relationship with its leader (Rains). Cary Grant is an American agent who is her handler, and with whom she falls in love.
Thoroughly enjoyable, classic Hollywood and classic Hitchcock, and marks the first time that Hitchcock was producer as well as director. In a fortuitous turn of events, the heavy-handed David O. Selznick who owned the production was forced by financial pressures to sell it to RKO, where Hitchcock had a lot more independence and was able, among other things, to make key casting decisions. Selznick had wanted Joseph Cotten for the role in which Hitchcock ultimately cast Cary Grant.
When I watched Rear Window a few weeks ago, they mentioned in the intro that Hitchcock cast Raymond Burr as the sinister neighbor because he looked a lot (when in makeup) like Selznick.
Thanks for that! The funny thing was that when we get to see the character close up for the first time at the end of the movie, it crossed my mind that he looked an awful lot like Raymond Burr except with white hair, but I didn’t realize it actually was him. Sometimes I don’t pay enough attention to the credits!
Having just read some more background about Notorious, it turns out this was Ingrid Bergman’s second appearance for Hitchcock and she was still quite nervous on set. Cary Grant, who was known for being moody and sometimes aloof, took her under his wing and reassured her and coached her and they became good friends. Now I want to see her first Hitchcock film, Spellbound (1945), which is apparently pretty good (though not his best) and has what sounds like an intriguing plot.
Catching up since the last time I posted, just the worthwhile ones, the ones that in about a year, someone will be touting as a discovery in this thread. 
Between Two Worlds
A fairly by-the-book tale of a (successful) writer going undercover among the minimum wage earners and the fallout when her true identity is revealed. But…it’s Juliette Binoche, which automatically raises it to very watchable and emotionally resonant.
Bottoms
There’s a thread on movies that couldn’t be remade these days, including famous raunch comedies of the 70’s and 89’s. I’d advise watching this hilarious, raunchy, violent comedy before confidently declaring what “can’t be made today”. Currently 93% on Rotten Tomatoes (89% audience score).
Love Life
Another quiet Japanese film that devastates the audience. It is a movie that points out that the results of bad decisions in life doesn’t mean life doesn’t go on. The lead performance by Fumino Kimura holds the center of the narrative throughout. And a bonus if you are a devotee of the game Othello.
The Creator
I saw this one in IMAX. It’s received mixed reviews, but I quite enjoyed the AI dystopia film, anchored by strong performances by John David Washington and the child actor Madeline Yuna Voyles. It may not break new ground in science fiction, but when you find yourself emotionally moved by the destruction of anonymous robots, you can’t help but admire how well put together the film is.
Flora and Son
This year’s Wild Rose (2018), a film about the growth in a poor Irish family when the mother finds a beat-up guitar in the trash and decides to learn how to play, with the help of an online tutor in Los Angeles (Joseph Gordon Leavitt). Much like Jessie Buckley in Wild Rose, watch for Eve Hewson to be much discussed this year, especially with respect to the Independent Spirt Awards.
It’s not as good, in my mind, as Notorious, but it’s entertaining enough. Lots of 1940s era psychobabble theory.