I've been watching and rewatching this film for over 50 years. Along with Psycho and Dial M for Murder, it's one of my favourites.
The cast are excellent, the plot is clever and the direction is top notch. The cinematography makes creative use of shadows and the music expertly reflects what is happening in each scene.
Yes, it's a little dated now and the romance is rather corny at times. But the key scenes stand up well to scrutiny. As examples:
1. The murder is ruthless but economical. Seeing it in the reflection of Miriam's glasses is pure genius by Hitchcock.
2. The admission by Bruno that he committed the murder demonstrates the calmness of one character against the hysteria of another.
3. The fight on the merry go round is just incredible. Amazing stunts and clever use of backgrounds.
4. The dropped lighter v the tennis match. Brilliant contrast of tempo. One slow, one fast and with matching music.
5. Seeing just the men's shoes at the beginning. So clever. Builds up the characters beautifully.
My only criticisms are: 1. The line "When does it get dark around here?" Bit strange because the answer is of course, when the sun sets! Duh!
2. The police were tracking Haines to see what he was going to do next, so why shoot him in the middle of a fairground, hitting the merry go round operator by accident? Kinda stupid!
3. Why is the merry go round designed in such a way that it is capable of such high speeds? Wouldn't that be dangerous?
4. Haines punches Bruno at the dinner party then says "Pull yourself together" and fixes his tie. Eh? Isn't that an odd contradiction?
5. Just before Bruno dies, Haines asks the detective if they can go through his pockets to which the detective aggressively replies "Of course not! Anyway he says he hasn't got it" Ten seconds later the nasty detective sees the lighter, turns all soft as says that Haines was right. Strange police behaviour!
But....these flaws do not spoil a great, great movie. I will continue to enjoy SOAT for many more years and I do hope that young, promising directors will study films like this. They could learn a lot about the craft of film making.
The cast are excellent, the plot is clever and the direction is top notch. The cinematography makes creative use of shadows and the music expertly reflects what is happening in each scene.
Yes, it's a little dated now and the romance is rather corny at times. But the key scenes stand up well to scrutiny. As examples:
1. The murder is ruthless but economical. Seeing it in the reflection of Miriam's glasses is pure genius by Hitchcock.
2. The admission by Bruno that he committed the murder demonstrates the calmness of one character against the hysteria of another.
3. The fight on the merry go round is just incredible. Amazing stunts and clever use of backgrounds.
4. The dropped lighter v the tennis match. Brilliant contrast of tempo. One slow, one fast and with matching music.
5. Seeing just the men's shoes at the beginning. So clever. Builds up the characters beautifully.
My only criticisms are: 1. The line "When does it get dark around here?" Bit strange because the answer is of course, when the sun sets! Duh!
2. The police were tracking Haines to see what he was going to do next, so why shoot him in the middle of a fairground, hitting the merry go round operator by accident? Kinda stupid!
3. Why is the merry go round designed in such a way that it is capable of such high speeds? Wouldn't that be dangerous?
4. Haines punches Bruno at the dinner party then says "Pull yourself together" and fixes his tie. Eh? Isn't that an odd contradiction?
5. Just before Bruno dies, Haines asks the detective if they can go through his pockets to which the detective aggressively replies "Of course not! Anyway he says he hasn't got it" Ten seconds later the nasty detective sees the lighter, turns all soft as says that Haines was right. Strange police behaviour!
But....these flaws do not spoil a great, great movie. I will continue to enjoy SOAT for many more years and I do hope that young, promising directors will study films like this. They could learn a lot about the craft of film making.