We went and saw the Hitchcock classic yesterday, in its original 3D, at Film Forum. It is one of the things I'll miss about NYC, Film Forum. Rachel and I have made a bucket list. We're going to do some of the things we never did while we've lived here, or things we have done that became our favorites along the way. Today it's The Cloisters and then dinner tonight at Il Buco. The first of which we have never done the second we have.
Dial M had a few scenes that were designed for, and made much more funny by, the 3D process. It was a minor eye opener for me. 3D at the time this film was made was in its primitive form. There literally are 3 layers of depth. All things exist on the same plane in either the foreground, the mid-ground, or the background. There is no sense of continuous depth the way that there is in animated 3D features now.
Grace Kelly was good but the movie centers around Ray Milland's character. His devious and plotting wit, which ultimately fails him, though only by chance. Grace Kelly does well as the unfaithful victim. As with most of Hitchcock's films her best scene is the attempted murder scene. It is all true, the things they say about Hitchcock, the blondes, of course. No other filmmaker exhibits the "reverence to rape" theme greater or with more impact and urgency.
Ok, out of time already today, shopping for houses in Sonoma online.... pray for us.
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