Surprise Movie From The Master

Rating: 10/10 (25 June 2007)

Sir Alfred Hitchcock plays his audience like a fine instrument in this movie. He surprises at every turn. He layers some of the greatest suspense he ever put on film. This film will always have a place amongst the classic films.
Despite it's greatness, this is the most humble of films. When Hitchcock made this film, he actually did it on the cheap. He used the summer vacation from his TV series & used his regular TV crew to film this. The cast agreed to work for little money.
The genius in this movie is all Alfred Hitchcock. All he did was take an ordinary summer vacation, applied his genius to it, and produced an all time classic film. Hitch looked at this as a challenge. He wanted to prove it didn't take a bunch of money & a lot of studio smoke & mirrors to produce a great film. He succeeded beyond anyones wildest dreams.
Janet Leigh & Anthony Perkins will never be forgotten for their parts in this masterpiece. Nor should they be, for their performances sparkle. Janet only had to work a portion of that summer. Perkins summer performance would last the rest of his life.
This is one of the first films to actually use a throne (toilet) in the film. Until Psycho, movies had never shown a toilet on screen & it is eerie how this throne comes on screen relating to the famous shower sequence. The 5 minute movie trailer with Alfred Hitchcock showing you around the Bates Motel set is a classic trailer for any film.
Regardless, it is Sir Alfred who really brought all this into a great film. No one else could have done it better. This film proves it doesn't take money to make a classic, just genius. We just don't find much of that around these days.