FILM 1634: FAMILY PLOT

TRIVIA: This is Alfred Hitchcock's final film and its final shot was of a woman breaking the fourth wall by looking straight into the camera and winking at the audience. This was arguably a fitting coda to his career exemplifying the black humor that was prevalent in his movies.

At one point during filming, Bruce Dern questioned Alfred Hitchcock about why he was cast in the movie. Hitchcock replied, "Because Mr. Packinow wanted a million dollars, and Hitch doesn't pay a million dollars." It took Dern a while to realize that "Mr. Packinow" was Al Pacino.

The final shot in the movie, a wink by the Barbara Harris character was a jokey reference that was not planned but Alfred Hitchcock decided to leave in.

This is the only Alfred Hitchcock film with a score composed by John Williams.

DIRECTOR CAMEO: Alfred Hitchcock: in silhouette 45 minutes into the film behind the door at the registrar of births and deaths.

FILM 1630: I CONFESS

TRIVIA: In his interview with François Truffaut, Alfred Hitchcock said he was so impressed with the performance of Anita Björk in Miss Julie (1951) that he hired her for this movie. However, when she arrived in Hollywood, Bjork brought her lover, writer Stig Dagerman, and their baby daughter. Since they were not married, Warner Bros. insisted that Hitchcock find another actress for the role of Ruth Grandfort, in this case Anne Baxter.

Alfred Hitchcock, as was his custom, created detailed storyboards for each scene. He could not understand Montgomery Clift's Method acting technique and quickly became frustrated with Clift when he blew take after take for failing to follow Hitchcock's instructions.

In an interview in which Alfred Hitchcock discussed his difficulty with Method actors, he was asked if he had difficulty with Montgomery Clift, Hitchcock said: "Well, yes. I was shooting a scene in Quebec. And he was playing a part of a priest who had just been acquitted of a murder but was being, sort of, booed and stoned outside of the courthouse. And then the action of the film was to go across the street into the Le Chateau Frontenac Hotel."

"Well, I wanted him to look up ... to the crowd and up to the people leaning out of the window. Well, I had also put on the facade of the building the big, gold letters of the word "Hotel" so the audience would know where they were going, into a hotel. And he said, "I don't think I would look up." And I said, "Well, you better look up or else!"

DIRECTOR CAMEO: Alfred Hitchcock: crossing the top of a staircase during the opening sequence.

FILM 1604: DIAL M FOR MURDER

TRIVIA: Warner Brothers insisted on shooting the movie in 3-D although the craze was fading and Alfred Hitchcock was sure the movie would be released flat. The director wanted the first shot to be that of a close-up of a finger dialing the letter M on a rotary dial telephone, but the 3-D camera would not be able to focus such a close-up correctly. Hitchcock ordered a giant finger made from wood with a proportionally large dial built in order to achieve the effect.

During the attack scene according to the script, Grace Kelly was to get out of bed, put her robe on, and answer the phone when it rang. Grace Kelly contended that no woman, being at home, would put a robe on to answer the phone. Alfred Hitchcock agreed, and so the scene was shot with her in her nightgown.

Alfred Hitchcock wanted Cary Grant to star, but Warner Bros felt that he would be miscast as a villain.

Filmed in 3-D, which explains the prevalence of low-angle shots with lamps and other objects between the audience and the cast members. There was only a brief original release in 3-D, followed by a conventional, "flat" release; The New York Times review mentioned it opened with the "flat" release at the Paramount in New York. The 3-D version was re-issued in 1980.

At their first meeting, the untrustworthy Captain Swann is wearing a tie the colors of a Guards regimental tie. However this is not a genuine tie, as the diagonal stripes run in the American direction, opposite to British style. This is a contemporary detail, used by spivs.* The tie resembles the trustworthy Guards tie well enough to fool most, but gives an excuse if a genuine Guardsman queries one's service record. (*"Spiv" is a Britishism for "a man who lives by his wits without regular employment" [Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, eleventh edition].)

Ranked #9 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Mystery" in June 2008.

Warner Brothers forced Alfred Hitchcock to make the movie to fulfill his contract - such was his disinterest that he claimed he could have phoned in his direction, and that the action wouldn't have been any less interesting if he'd staged it in a phone booth.

CAMEO: Alfred Hitchcock: about 13 minutes into the film, Hitchcock can be seen on the left side of the reunion photograph. As he is only seen in a photo, this is the final Hitchcock film in which he does not appear in person.