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||| 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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"Eye" spies a reshoot

By EdwardHavens

August 2nd, 2007

Last week at Comic-Con, Jessica Alba made sure to talk up how great an experience it was working with French directors David Moreau and Xavier Palud on their English-language remake of the Pang Brothers' "The Eye." Maybe this is because Alba is about to begin two plus weeks of additional shoots on the film next week, with a new director at the helm.

According to an anonymous source, the film, which stars Alba as a blind violinist who finds she is seeing far more than she should after an experimental surgery restores her sight, will start twelve to fourteen days of shooting in Vancouver starting next Thursday, August 9. (The original shoot occurred mostly in and around Albuquerque in February and March of this year, and we all know how much Albuquerque and Vancouver look exactly alike.)

The reshoots will be directed by Patrick Lussier, longtime film editor who also directed "Dracula 2000" and its sequels. It is not known why Moreau and Palud will not be participating in the shoot. The additional shooting does not appear to be making any radical changes to the film (unlike the Wachowski-led reshoots of "The Invasion" earlier this year), and are likely to be a few additional short scenes to amp up the supernatural aspects of the storyline.

"The Eye" is expected in movie theatres February 1, 2008