First of all, do yourself a favor and only watch the newly restored version of this film!! Frequent complaints about how dead and colorless it looks are only due to the bad video transfer of a deteriorated copy. The restored version shows full wide-screen (letterbox), and is sumptuously colorful, in the best Hitchcock tradition.
I think this makes a huge difference in how the viewer enjoys the movie.
**warning: I've tried to be careful about plot spoilers, but there are some mentions -- only in the most general terms, though, and nothing crucial.**
The pacing is masterful. Others find it boring, but if you put yourself in the master's lap and let him tell the story to you, it's amazingly well done, with numerous set-pieces that have been commented on before here:
--the playfully sexual opening scene, which, without showing anything but the lovers' faces, is remarkably sensuous and one of the only realistic depictions of lovers in bed in movie history -- and by the way, give Julie Andrews a chance: she shines in this movie and in this scene especially, but many don't want her to move beyond their preconceptions of her.
--the unhurried yet nervy chase through a museum, in which the only sound is the clacking of the men's shoes.
--the tense murder scene, with its classic Hitchcocky looming camera angles, and again no music or sound at all except for the grunting of the struggling characters.
--the marvelous use of dramatic concealment, in which we are as in the dark as Andrews's character is for the entire first part of the movie.
--the depiction of behind-the-iron-curtain tenseness, which Hitchcock got spot-on, both in the behavior of Westerners and East Germans -- it brought back painful and amusing memories of my time there during that period.
--the excruciating bus escape, which feels like it's filmed in real time.
--the scene in the theater, in which Newman and Andrews become visibly claustrophobic as cops stack up all around. The scene of mayhem (in which Newman yells "Fire," which in German is "Feuer" and sounds very similar) is genuinely troubling as we see Andrews and Newman getting propelled through the human surf.
This film is a real treat, especially as most of us *haven't* seen it a thousand times, like other Hitchcock films. Get hold of a good video of it, and enjoy!
I think this makes a huge difference in how the viewer enjoys the movie.
**warning: I've tried to be careful about plot spoilers, but there are some mentions -- only in the most general terms, though, and nothing crucial.**
The pacing is masterful. Others find it boring, but if you put yourself in the master's lap and let him tell the story to you, it's amazingly well done, with numerous set-pieces that have been commented on before here:
--the playfully sexual opening scene, which, without showing anything but the lovers' faces, is remarkably sensuous and one of the only realistic depictions of lovers in bed in movie history -- and by the way, give Julie Andrews a chance: she shines in this movie and in this scene especially, but many don't want her to move beyond their preconceptions of her.
--the unhurried yet nervy chase through a museum, in which the only sound is the clacking of the men's shoes.
--the tense murder scene, with its classic Hitchcocky looming camera angles, and again no music or sound at all except for the grunting of the struggling characters.
--the marvelous use of dramatic concealment, in which we are as in the dark as Andrews's character is for the entire first part of the movie.
--the depiction of behind-the-iron-curtain tenseness, which Hitchcock got spot-on, both in the behavior of Westerners and East Germans -- it brought back painful and amusing memories of my time there during that period.
--the excruciating bus escape, which feels like it's filmed in real time.
--the scene in the theater, in which Newman and Andrews become visibly claustrophobic as cops stack up all around. The scene of mayhem (in which Newman yells "Fire," which in German is "Feuer" and sounds very similar) is genuinely troubling as we see Andrews and Newman getting propelled through the human surf.
This film is a real treat, especially as most of us *haven't* seen it a thousand times, like other Hitchcock films. Get hold of a good video of it, and enjoy!