Frénésie

Frenzy follows the misadventures of ex-RAF man Jon Finch, who is framed for a particularly nasty series of 'necktie' murders for which his hot-temper and self-pity do not help..

The more one sees this film, the more holes appear or seem to appear. Finch is supposed to be an ex-squadron-leader with a fine record, but is too young to have done anything in WWII. The original novel came out in 1949 or thereabouts, so a little tweaking should have been in order. The first murder / assault shown seems to be done in rather too much detail and is possibly too lurid. In addition, there doesn't seem to be anything to tie him up with the previous murders.

These grumbles aside (and one could pick a few more holes if required), Frenzy held my attention reasonably well, and although at times it doesn't look too Hitchcockian, there are enough bits to make one aware of his presence. He is ably served by his cast of Barry Foster, Clive Swift (a fellow RAF man, but 'under the thumb'), the late Billie Whitelaw as Swift's acid-tongued wife, Barbara Leigh-Hunt as Finch's successful ex-wife, Anna Massey and Bernard Cribbins, to name a few.

The police are represented by Alec McCowen and Michael Bates, together with a series of running jokes on the frightful dishes McCowen's wife (Vivien Merchant) is serving up as a result of a gourmet course she is attending. This was Hitchcock's first British film in about twenty years, and had a mixed reception. The years have been kind to it, though, and it seems to have become more generally accepted, and there is enough action in it to keep one interested.

In London, a serial-killer is raping women and then strangling them with a necktie. When the reckless and low-class with bad temper bartender Richard Blaney (Jon Finch) is fired from the pub Global Public House by the manager Felix Forsythe (Bernard Cribbins), he decides to visit his ex-wife Brenda (Barbara Leigh-Hunt), who owns a successful marriage agency. Her secretary Miss Barling (Jean Marsh) overhears an argument of the couple, and Brenda invites Richard to have dinner with her in a fancy restaurant. Then she puts some money in his overcoat and does not tell him to avoid his embarrassment with the situation. Meanwhile Richard's friend Bob Rusk (Barry Foster) visits Brenda in her office, rapes her and kills her with his necktie. When Richard finds the money in his pocket, he visits Brenda but finds the agency closed; then he goes with his girlfriend Babs Milligan (Anna Massey) to an expensive hotel. Miss Barling sees Richard leaving the building and finds her boss strangled; she calls the New Scotland Yard and Richard becomes the prime suspect. When Bob kills Babs, he frames Richard that is arrested and sentenced to life. But the Chief Inspector Oxford (Alec McCowen) that was in charge of the investigation is not absolutely sure that Richard is the serial-killer.

"Frenzy" is a dark thriller of Alfred Hitchcock about an impotent man that strangles women after raping them. There are powerful moments, like for example the rape and murder of Brenda, blended with funny sequences, like the dinners of Inspector Oxford with his wife, who is intuitive and aspirant chef, or the speech of a politician in the very beginning, or Bob in trouble with the corpse in the truck transporting potatoes. The acting is excellent, and the camera work is wonderful, with long shots, like for example when Babs enters in Bob's apartment, associated to a disturbing silence. This time, the cameo of Alfred Hitchcock is in the crowd twice at the beginning of the film wearing a hat. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Frenesi" ("Frenzy")

Note: On 19 November 2024, I saw this film again.

On the surface, Alfred Hitchcock's FRENZY seems to be a compelling thriller about a serial killer stalking young London girls. It almost is a horror film about film. Jon Finch is a London Bartender caught stealing DRINKS, and is fired. His best pal, Rusk (where are you, Barry Foster?) a GREEN-GROCER, offers him FOOD and encouragment. Meanwhile Scotland Yard is seeking a serial killer who rapes and strangles his victims. The head detective on the case has to endure his wife's HIDEOUS GOURMET COOKING while tracing clues such as a body found in a POTATO SACK, or the half eaten APPLE at a murder site. Also the food refernces abound in the dialog "Don't squeeze the goods till they are yours" the killer tells his victim, or the cop saying "We have to catch him before his appetite is wetted again."

All this makes FRENZY a rich, creepy classic thriller. The food refrences aren't overdone. They are cooked just perfect. Delicious!

Hitchcock did one hell of a job! I was planning on watching this movie just for about 30 minutes before going to sleep and was gonna finish watching it the next day, but instead I was so engaged that I couldn't stop watching and stayed awake the whole 2 hours. I loved the irony of the actual rapist having no clues pointing to him and the innocent man having all clues pointing to him. The scene involving the rapist in the back of the truck, rummaging through a sack of potatoes (and that's all I'll reveal) is classic suspense. I also loved how Hitchcock left the rape scenes (excluding the first one) up to the imagination. There is a great shot where one of the victims is being raped and we don't even hear any off-screen yells or screams. The camera simply tracks backwards down a staircase and out the front door, where people walk by minding their own business, ignorant to the evil that's being committed a floor above. Any amateurish director would've went for true shock value and showed all the rape scenes in explicit detail. We don't call Hitchcock the master of suspense for nothing. The scene is still quite haunting. In horror and suspense, what you don't see can be a lot more frightening than what you do see, since the imagination is a powerful thing. The last line of the movie should go down in history. It had me bawling with laughter! Just that one line gave perfect closure to this wonderful film.

My score: 8 (out of 10)

After 30 years in the USA and after the disappointments of "Torn Curtain" (1966) and "Topaz" (1969), Alfred Hitchcock came back to his native Britain for this film -written by Anthony Shaffer from a novel by Arthur La Bern.

"Frenzy" is his penultimate movie, certainly the best one of his last period. The way the Master films is very classic -deliberately old fashioned; at the same time all the charachters are very modern -they belong to a more and more decadent and neurotic London.

Almost from the beginning we know who the criminal is, and Hitchcock enjoys himself in showing how the man tries to escape and how he betrays people. Director's trademarks are also back in force: suspense (a lot!) and humour -more sarcastic and sharper than ever.

For "Frenzy" the Master doesn't get movie stars, instead he chooses local stage actors. In my opinion he does this because, first, he wants the film to be very English. Furthermore, he wants this time more ordinary faces for making the story more shocking (with famous actors in the main roles, the plot -in a certain way- could be identified mostly with them and loose strength, instead Hitchcock avoids that "paradox"...).

Maybe "Frenzy" is not an unforgettable masterpiece like "Psycho", "Vertigo", "Birds" or many other works. But it is a great movie indeed.