“Dial H for Hitchcock” is the best documentary on Hitchcock that I’ve found (I’ve examined 14 of them) .
Four elite directors (Wes Craven, Brian De Palma, Jonathan Demme, Roger Altman) give their take on Hitch.
It’s full of interviews with Hitchcock himself as well as with his daughter and a couple of actresses from his movies.
Trailer for “Dial H for Hitchcock”
Watch “Dial H for Hitchcock”
You can stream it for free on YouTube here:
….or on Archive.org here:
Where else to stream it? I’ve never seen the doc listed on Netflix or for rent on the major streamers.
Ratings:
- My Rating: 7.9/100
- IMDB Rating: 96/10 (IMDB refers to the documentary as “Hitchcock: Shadow of a Genius”)
- Rotten Tomatoes Ratings: na
Review of “Dial H for Hitchcock”
Some of my favorite parts of “Dial H for Hitchcock”:
- If you ever wonder how good a curator of movies The Academy Awards is, consider this: Hitchcock never won one. Not for The Birds, Pyscho, North by Northwest, Rear Window.
- Hitchcock did 23 movies over 14 years before landing a “Hollywood” deal.
- Shadow of a Doubt was Hitchcock’s favorite film, his daughter says.
- Hitchcock popularized the term “McGuffin” (a term to describe something characters chase, but whic is not key to the audience. Hitchcock’s favorite McGuffin was “government secrets” (e.g. in North by Northwest)
- Hitchcock bucks all trends by doing a TV series: Alfred Hitchcock Presents. It’s a tremendous success. It helps Hitchcock become the first combo movie artist and star.
- Brian De Palma on Vertigo: “It’s a flawless movie…there’s not a missed note in the movie”.
Thanks for reading!
Rob Kelly, Chief Maniac, Daily Doc