There's a necktie murderer running around London. He attempts to rape women (he can't he's impotent) and, in his rage, strangles them with his ties. A "nice" guy named Rusk (Barry Foster) is the killer but his best friend Richard (Jon Finch) is the one accused of it...
Hitchcock's first (and last) film in London since the 1950 "Stage Fright". Something about London seemed to rejuvenate him--his two movies before this ("Topaz" and "Torn Curtain") were slow, uninvolving and deadly dull. This moves quickly, has a good script and large doses of VERY black humor--much blacker than Hitchcock had ever attempted before. The film was also Hitchcock's first to get an R rating for a pretty explicit rape/strangulation and flashes of female nudity. To be honest, it's pretty tame by today's standards but still disturbing. It's kind of surprising that Hitchcock would get so vicious...but "Psycho"s shower stabbing was considered shocking for its time as was the scissors killing in "Dial M for Murder".
The acting varies wildly. Mostly everybody is very good--especially Foster, Jean Marsh (in a amusing small role) and Anna Massey. But Finch, as the main character, is terrible. He is handsome but his character is brutal, obnoxious and his acting is just horrendous. That drags the movie down as I didn't care for him at all.
The movie also contains many incredibly-directed sequences--especially the potato truck sequence and a reverse shot sequence. Also it has an infamous--and very funny--final line.
Bad acting from Finch aside this is a good movie and worth catching. I give it an 8.
Hitchcock's first (and last) film in London since the 1950 "Stage Fright". Something about London seemed to rejuvenate him--his two movies before this ("Topaz" and "Torn Curtain") were slow, uninvolving and deadly dull. This moves quickly, has a good script and large doses of VERY black humor--much blacker than Hitchcock had ever attempted before. The film was also Hitchcock's first to get an R rating for a pretty explicit rape/strangulation and flashes of female nudity. To be honest, it's pretty tame by today's standards but still disturbing. It's kind of surprising that Hitchcock would get so vicious...but "Psycho"s shower stabbing was considered shocking for its time as was the scissors killing in "Dial M for Murder".
The acting varies wildly. Mostly everybody is very good--especially Foster, Jean Marsh (in a amusing small role) and Anna Massey. But Finch, as the main character, is terrible. He is handsome but his character is brutal, obnoxious and his acting is just horrendous. That drags the movie down as I didn't care for him at all.
The movie also contains many incredibly-directed sequences--especially the potato truck sequence and a reverse shot sequence. Also it has an infamous--and very funny--final line.
Bad acting from Finch aside this is a good movie and worth catching. I give it an 8.