Frenzy [DVD]

Hitchcock returns home to his native London for his penultimate, and last great film. It lacks the depth and complexity of the masterpieces Vertigo and Rear Window but mixes the black comedy of The Trouble with Harry, without the whimsey, and the graphic violence of Psych and is a superb summing up of a career and a return to the wrong man entertainments of the 39 Steps. This is Hitchcock’s love letter to London, to the market where his greengrocer father carried out business and the city of Jack the Ripper.It is cast by a troupe of fine British stage actors, lead by Jon Finch as the Richard Hanney figure and Barry Foster as the, outwardly normal psychopath, but as always Hitchcock is the real star.A special mention for Barbara Leigh Hunt who proved herself to be a real trooper going well beyond the call of duty in her murder scene.The great Vivian Merchant, the first Mrs Harold Pinter, steals the show, as she did in Alfie, as the detective Alec McCowan’s cordon bleu chef wife. And less it be said that Hitchcock is a misogenist, she analyses the case far more perceptibly than her blinkered husband, neatly reversing the Holmes and Watson relationship.I would suggest that her character is an affectionate portrait of Hitchcock’s wife and adviser, Alma Reville.Anna Massey is good, as the trusting lamb to the slaughter. A decade earlier she was in Michael Powell’s derided masterpiece Peeping Tom which secured her place in cinema history.Billie Whitelaw, Barbara Leigh Hunt, Bernard Cribbins and Clive Swift ad Jean Marsh all add class to the proceedings.The author of the source novel, Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square, Arthur La Bern was dissatisfied with the adaptation, even writing a letter of complaint to the Times, mainly due to the updating from the late forties to the present day and change of point of view, but also the chagrin of Hitchcock having bought the rights anonymously at a rock bottom price. But Hitchcock, who had no qualms about altering Conrad’s The Secret Agent, wasn’t concerned about hurting La Bern’s feelings.It is perfectly true that the central character, a washed-up squadron leader, traumatised by the bombing of Dresden, makes more sense in a late forties setting, but Hitchcock had no desire, or budget for that matter, to make a period piece. Hitchcock was returning to London twenty-years after filming Stage Fright and the film exists in a curious time warp between the 1971 present and the fondly remembered city of his youth.There are three extraordinary shots that demonstrate that he was still fully in control of his filmic faculties.The unbroken title shot is a tracking helicopter shot down the Thames that ends going underneath Tower Bridge, just as a choreographed steam tug boat puffs leisurely across the frame. Masterly. And all with no drones and computer animation.After the first gruesome and explicit murder, after the murderer has left the office and Blaney has turned up, failed to gain entry and then left, the secretary returs from lunch and the camera remains stationary in the alleyway for a audaciously long time waiting for the discovery of the crime and the inevitable scream. Hitchcock plays with the viewer, knowing what to show and what to leave to the imagination.I the third example, Babs, Blaey’s barmaid friend, and Rusk go up the stairs to his flat at 3 Henrietta Street and instead of following them into the flat, the camera retreats back down the stairs and back out into the bustle of the street. The invisible transition from studio to location (flat and street) masked by a porter with a sack of potatoes on his shoulder crossing the frame.The blu ray edition shows off the superb technical achievements of the British crew, under the master’s baton. Like all his work, it has the construction of a fine swiss watch and is a joy to behold

This was Hitchcock's penultimate film and my favourite of his later films. It's set in London, and has many of his famous stylistic trademarks. The policeman's wife's cooking being a comedy highlight There are plenty of darker comic moments as well. This being an early 70s film, Hitchcock took advantage of the more lenient censorship laws, so the main murder is much more explicit than anything we'd seen before from him.I've seen the film twice in the last year, and it certainly holds up to repeated viewings. The ending is great.The bluray looks really good. I already owned a DVD, which wasn't bad, but this is much better. If I could have given it 4.5 stars I would have. Highly recommended.

Some graphic scenes in this Hitchcock suspense film, with Barry Foster excellent as the very dangerous but smooth psychopath and the hapless hero trying to prove his innocence, A far cry from his earlier classics such as Psycho, North by North West etc, but entertaining in it's own right. Could see it as more like a Hammer production with having to move on with the times, but there is the bonus of seeing life in 1970's London. Worth seeing again

gripping 70's thriller- very well done, quite slow, though by today's standards, but it keeps you engaged, (even the humour re The Inspector & his wife's dreadful cooking). Nice to spot the old London locales. Jon Finch is excellent as the wronged man, as is his so called mate, Rusk , played by Barry Foster, who is the serial killer. Bernard Cribbins is great ,too as is Barbara Leigh and has a very unpleasant death at Rusk's hands. sordid & seedy but intelligent & well crafted , as you'd expect from the master of suspense.

A rigorously constructed thriller in the vein of Dial M for Murder, Frenzy adds a helping of sex and violence which may surprise those raised on Hitchcock's earlier films. It's funny to think he spent so much time obscuring knife wounds and Janet Leigh's breasts in Psycho, then near the end of his life made a film like this. It's grittier than his other work, taking place in shabby markets and cheap rooms. If nothing else, it proves Hitchcock's dedication to surprising his audience, and not just going on autopilot once he'd earned his legacy. Frenzy's not deep or groundbreaking - it shares more with video nasties than subtler films like Psycho - but it's a smart, disturbing shocker with world-class direction. The murders are upsetting in different ways, and the killer's such a slimy, heartless, immature cretin that I felt outrage whenever he escaped. You can see why Michael Caine turned down this role, claiming repulsion.London fruit seller Bob Rusk (Barry Foster) rapes and strangles women with neckties. His innocent friend Richard Blaney (Jon Finch), a down-on-his-luck barman, is framed for the crimes through a series of unlucky chances, and he's soon running from the law.Sitcom interludes about Chief Inspector Oxford (Alex McCowan) and his gourmet wife (Vivien Merchant) juxtapose weirdly against Rusk's scenes, but they're used for exposition so they're not egregious. The best comic moments involve characters' morbid enthusiasm for the killings. It should encourage tourism, one speculates. The performances are all good. My favourites were Foster's and Anna Massey's as Blaney's lover. She's kind, sincere and funny and may be the most sympathetic female character. Foster, on the other hand, is unutterably vile. Beneath his surface charm he seems deeply childish, which I suppose psychopaths do when in heat. Barbara Leigh Hunt's also good as a Miss Lonelyhearts and Blaney's ex-wife. Finch's okay, though his character's deliberately shallow. Blaney grieves more for himself than Rusk's victims, yet we sympathise with his predicament. The main appeal of Frenzy is seeing its narrative noose tighten around Blaney's neck, much the same way Rusk offs his victims. Hitchcock and writer Anthony Shaffer weave a very tangled web, leaving no loose ends.