FilmJerk Favorites

A group of unique directors and the essential works that you've got to see.

||| Alfred Hitchcock |||
Alfred Hitchcock

This is perhaps an obvious choice, however, most people tend to overlook the Master of Suspense’s early work as well as the relevancy of his last film as a key element in the continuing transition and development of the genre he defined.

One of Hitchcock's early triumphs, this predecessor to the mistaken identity man on the run scenario Hitchcock turned to time and again, stars Robert Donat as the innocent wrongly accused of murder and pursued by both the police and enemy spies. This is the first example of Hitchcock’s mastery over the suspense tale, giving us a glimpse of the greatness to come.

Considered to be one of Alfred Hitchcock's greatest works, this story of two men who meet by chance on a train and frivolously discuss swapping murders is a prime example of a common Hitchcock theme of the man who suddenly finds himself within a nightmare world over which he has no control. You can easily see how this film lays the ground work for the more popular “North by Northwest”.

Alfred Hitchcock's final film is a light-hearted thriller involving phony psychics, kidnappers and organized religion, all of which cross paths in the search for a missing heir and a fortune in jewels. Here, Hitchcock has brilliantly developed his signature form to include the now common, and often overused, device of plot twist, after plot twist, after plot twist. Widescreen!

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'The Wind Done Gone''

By EdwardHavens

April 27th, 2001

Writer Alice Randall has what I think is a great idea... retelling Gone With The Wind from the viewpoint of a slave. However, the estate of Margaret Mitchell disagreed. Despite Randall's protests that her novel was parody protected by the First Amendment, US District Judge Charles Pannell blocked publication of the novel.


Thankfully, Randall and her publisher, Houghton Mifflin, were granted an expedited appeal of Pannell's ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A hearing date has yet to be set. Enterprising readers who received advance copies of the book found the time to head over to EBay, commanding as much as $485 before the site pulled all copies from bidding.