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[everydazejournal]

It was the third class of my Alfred Hitchcock course last night. This week we were analysing "The 39 Steps", which was released in 1935, and based on the novel by John Buchan. Robert Donat stars as Richard Hannay, a Canadian man in London, whose evening at a Music Hall is spoiled by a gunshot. As everyone is fleeing the theatre he meets a woman, who asks him to take her back to his flat, which he happily does. Once there, she reveals that she is a spy and is trying to prevent a vital military secret leaving the country, however she is murdered by enemy spies and Hannay is accused of the murder and goes ont he run to Scotland to try to break the spy ring and prove his innocence, all the while being chased by the police and ruthless enemy agents. It's basically just pure entertainment, filled with adventure, comedy, and action. The most famous sequence is when Robert Donat escapes across the Highland moors while handcuffed to reluctant fugitive, Madeleine Carroll. Another memorable sequence comes when the hero seeks aid from a sinister crofter (played by John Laurie, best known for his role in the popular comedy series "Dad's Army"). The scenes with him and his wife certainly darken the tone of what is generally a very light adventure. It's certainly far from flawless, but it's good fun and great old-fashioned entertainment.
This time we watched the film all the way through, uninterrupted, before dissecting it. It was all pretty interesting though. The real in-depth analysis of the films really makes you see them in a whole new way.

Today was fairly dull at work, as usual. It's never particularly quiet on Friday afternoons when a lot of people start acting like excitable chimpanzees. All the screaming and carrying on was really giving me a headache when I was trying to concentrate so I could finish and just go home!

On my way home I picked up a copy of Empire magazine, where it had a list of the 201 greatest films of all time as voted for by the readers. Number one was "The Shawshank Redemption", which is certainly a great film, but the greatest ever? I don't think so. I did find some of the choices very strange. Perenniel critics favourite "Citizen Kane" only got to number twenty six.

Comments

[impdujour.livejournal.com]

I never really agree with the greatest films of all time list. Then again I guess it has to do with peoples tastes and maybe my taste is too different than others.

[breakon87.livejournal.com]

Neither do I usually. It just is personal taste and it's so difficult to say what is the best film of all time.

[lizaah.livejournal.com]

Is there a link to the list on-line? I do agree that Shawshank is a great film but not the greatest of all time.

[breakon87.livejournal.com]

I don't think the list is on-line yet, but the official site for the magazine is www.empireonline.com

[lizaah.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much!

[trav-bickle.livejournal.com]

I just read a book, which of course had Kane as the greatest movie ever made. My ex wants to rent the top 10 and relax one weekend while catching up on them.

[breakon87.livejournal.com]

"Citizen Kane" always seems to be classed as the greatest film. Trouble is that it's so hard to judge, really.