Hitchcock

The Hitchcock post is going to be a superficial one. His work from the 1950s and 60s seems horribly dated. Not because of the setting or characters (I actually found that to be captivating); but because of the cinematic techniques which he used in his films of this era. You see it in the dream scenes from Vertigo, and the flashbulb scene from Rear Window. Did Mr. Hitchcock think that technicolor cellophane light filters would look cool? The floating heads? The mannequin silohuiettes? The floral bouquet in the following clip is reminiscent of what (I imagine, of course) an acid trip would look like. After the clip from The Birds was played, the cheap theatrics was a common critique of that film. Why would you take what would otherwise be flawless films and do that to them? Editing fifty years ago was invariably harder, but I have seen it done very successfully by many other directors. Damnit Alfred.