Frenzy 4K UHD (1972)

[BobSimms]

If anyone can please find and post the back cover art here, I’d greatly appreciate it.

[ij72]

Originally Posted by BobSimms

If anyone can please find and post the back cover art here, I’d greatly appreciate it.

[Show spoiler]

[PowellPressburger]

They really hate JON FINCH he barely even makes the back cover art!

[Hammerlover]

I'll never forget what my late mother said while watching this: "I've never seen a movie with so many unattractive actors in my life!"

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by Hammerlover

I'll never forget what my late mother said while watching this: "I've never seen a movie with so many unattractive actors in my life!"

She had a point. Even the women have sideburns.

[Markgway]

Luvverly!!

[fredoviola]

Cannot wait!!! This is definitely one of my favorite Hitchcock films. It’s so brilliantly written by Anthony Shaffer, who also wrote The Wicker Man and Sleuth. I do wish a 4K UHD would be released for Strangers on a Train, North by Northwest and To Catch a Thief. But, again, i instantly preordered this one and have been waiting and hoping it would get the same marvelous treatment that Vertigo, Rear Window and even Family Plot got!

[jjhlh]

Just received my copy.

[asmodeux21]

"Frenzy" is top notch Hitchcock with great camerawork. I can't wait to receive the 4k UHD. Any thoughts on the transfer?

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by asmodeux21

"Frenzy" is top notch Hitchcock with great camerawork. I can't wait to receive the 4k UHD. Any thoughts on the transfer?

I thought it looked like a stunning revelation, like pretty much all of these UHDs.

Overall, I'm not as big a fan of the film as some, but I definitely enjoy certain scenes and certain shots. It's Hitchcock, so there's greatness throughout that makes it worth studying.

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

They really hate JON FINCH he barely even makes the back cover art!

Understandable. I never liked him either. I really wish they'd cast someone else.

[BobSimms]

Got my copy tonight from Amazon, finally, and I haven’t watched it yet but I know I’m gonna need some new custom art for this one.

[PowellPressburger]

Originally Posted by Markgway

Understandable. I never liked him either. I really wish they'd cast someone else.

I've reported your post.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Markgway

Understandable. I never liked him either. I really wish they'd cast someone else.

I completely agree. Finch really leans into the smarmy, unpleasant, downright mean aspects of the character.

The character, as written, doesn't have many moments where he's sympathetic, where he's ever kind to anyone, where he seems vulnerable. An actor would have needed to create those moments with their own energy, and Finch doesn't have that at all.

There are other actors who could have played the character and brought a bit of charm and humanity and warmth to the role.

Albert Finney would have been my first choice. He'd have been sexy, funny, warm, likable, yet with a truly dangerous, unpredictable edge.

Wikipedia mentions David Hemmings was considered for the role, and his boyishness and softness would have made the character less harsh. On the other hand, I don't believe him as someone who was ever an RAF commander.

Richard Harris could have been great. Or Peter O'Toole (who had already played a great psychopath in The Night of the Generals). Or maybe Tom Courtenay (his Night of the Generals co-star).

Obviously, second-guessing the filmmakers all these decades later isn't really going to change anything, but it's fun to imagine alternate versions.

Wikipedia says Hitchcock wanted Michael Caine for the villain, and the actor he cast looks a great deal like him. I can see why Caine turned the role down though, because the character is just so irredeemably nasty.

Apparently, Vanessa Redgrave turned down the role of the ex-wife. She'd have been amazing, and it would have been a Psycho-level coup to cast such a huge star and kill her 30 minutes in. The ex-wife is a fairly thankless role though, so I can see why Redgrave turned it down too.

There are SO many things I really do love about this film, especially all the stuff with the cop and his wife.

That said, I really am not a fan of much of the casting, but I think they got who they got partly based on the fact that a lot of the characters are kind of thinly sketched out, at least in my opinion.

[PowellPressburger]

Jon Finch is amazing, and never got his due.

Anymore bad mouthing of Mr Finch will result in an instantaneous and permanent BAN!


Seriously though, he only had the material he see had for FRENZY, and I’m sure if Hitchcock didn’t like his performance he would have corrected it during filming.

I do think they have him overacting in a mean childish manner early on because they want you

[Show spoiler]to believe he is the killer.

So if anything hurts his performance it’s what they were asking of him.

He is amazing in Macbeth.

[James Luckard]

Another element of the film I have a huge problem with is the iconic potato truck scene.

SPOILERS AHEAD, OBVIOUSLY

I get what Hitchcock was going for. He wanted to recreate the vibe of The Trouble with Harry in a single scene.

However, there's a MASSIVE difference between Frenzy and The Trouble with Harry.

In TTWH, we don't get to know the corpse as a character for 90 minutes before the comedic elements with the cadaver begin. In addition, we soon learn that he was a nasty, abusive husband, so we have no sympathy for him.

In Frenzy, Babs is a sweet, naive, likable person, who is then brutally raped and murdered. It's truly appalling to see the body of that sympathetic character subjected to the potato truck scene, and I can never enjoy the intended humor in it, because it's just so repellent.

I kind of think Hitchcock realized this, because he cast an actress with exaggerated, somewhat comical features, and a grating voice, and directed her to act in a fairly broad way. I think he was trying not to make Babs TOO sympathetic.

Even just having her be killed, as the second woman we've gotten to know well in the film to suffer such a horrific fate, is profoundly unpleasant, and makes the protagonist feel totally helpless, because both of the women he cares about are made to suffer so much.

[Show spoiler]At least Babs's death is not right in front of our eyes, like Brenda's, and I do think the shot pulling out of Rusk's apartment onto the street as Babs dies offscreen is absolutely masterful, the work of a generational genius at the top of his game.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

Jon Finch is amazing, and never got his due.

Anymore bad mouthing of Mr Finch will result in an instantaneous and permanent BAN!


Seriously though, he only had the material he see had for FRENZY, and I’m sure if Hitchcock didn’t like his performance he would have corrected it during filming.

I do think they have him overacting in a mean childish manner early on because they want you

[Show spoiler]to believe he is the killer.

So if anything hurts his performance it’s what they were asking of him.

He is amazing in Macbeth.

I agree, I love him in Macbeth, but he doesn't ever really need to be vulnerable there.

This character needs vulnerability desperately, but has none.

I don't think the misdirect in the first portion, that

[Show spoiler]Blaney might be the killer, really works. The film doesn't really care about it, because it's discarded as soon as the first killing happens, which we see onscreen, knowing who did it. I think the misdirect in the first thirty minutes just serves to distance us from the lead character for the remainder of the film.

Even after we know who the killer is, Blaney is still is kind of a brutish lout, he's never scared or emotionally open, not even with Babs.

I don't think Finch is in any way a bad actor, I just think he's miscast.

[Hammerlover]

I always love seeing Benny Hill regular Rita Webb as Rusk's mum. Now THAT'S perfect casting!

[BobSimms]

Just finished having a watch of this tonight. It is an immaculate presentation of the film. It’s jarring, actually, to see it looking so good, after having been so used to the VHS for years, and then the DVD. And that awful (but not as awful as Family Plot) Blu-ray. Found myself distracted at times by how perfect it looks—grain intact of course. So many background (and foreground) details are visible and legible now, clear and finely rendered, even individual beard and pubic hairs.

The only disappointment on the disc is the shockingly low quality of the extras, which have not been upgraded since the DVD. And they all come from either low-resolution digital or videotape sources, including the cropped theatrical trailer. The documentary is at least still informative, but cripes it looks like hell. On the whole, the extras feel very, very cheap and lazily slapped on, compared to the brilliant presentation of the film.

As for the film itself, what can I say except it’s highly entertaining and often hilarious (there’s a rather sudden thing McCowen does at dinner in one scene that I’d forgotten about which made me spit out my beverage). I disagree with its detractors and think of it as another example of prime Hitchcock.

It’s hard to believe we finally live in a world where the egregious sins of the Blu-rays of this and Family Plot have been atoned for. I expect I’ll pick up the other discs in this volume one or two at a time. I still want to design my own artwork (80s MCA Videocassette art) for them all.

[jpilla415]

DISC INFO:

Disc Title:     Frenzy (1972)
Disc Size:      65,219,721,216 bytes
Protection:     AACS2
Extras:         Ultra HD, BD-Java
BDInfo:         0.7.6.1

PLAYLIST REPORT:

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