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Jon Finch plays a man areused of a series of murders in Alfred Hitchcock's “Frenzy.”in “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and Homan Polanski’s “Macbeth” — is cast in the lead as Richard Blaney, a protagonist of a typical Hitchcock nature.LIKE OTHER leads in Hitchcock films, Blaney is anything but a charming hero. He is gruff, bad-mannered and hot-tempered. Yet we sympathize with him all the same when heCritics have called it “vintage Hitchcock.”Most of them have referred to it (gratefully) as a return to the gems of suspense Alfred Hitchcock hatched before his lapse into such dreadful films as “Marnie,” “Torn Curtain” and “Topaz.”His new film is “Frenzy,” andW wthe critics are. if anything, understating its greatness. It is a superlative movie, an almost flawless tale that is as amusing as it is gripping.MUCH LIKE “Psycho,” the film has a rather grisly theme — women strangled by a necktie nut — but if anyone can direct murder tastefully without sacrificing impact it’s Hitchcock, who earns his reputation as “the master.”Unlike “Psycho,” however, this film won’t become a catalyst for nightmares. There are women who saw “Psycho” who to this very day refuse to take ashower.Hitchcock assembled an all-British cast for his new movie, shying away from the generally accepted theory that only with a big-name cast will a film click at the box office.Jon Finch, an obscure but not unknown actor — he had rolesis turned into a fugitive fromjustice, after all the evidencepoints to him (another Hitchcockian device j as the killer.Still another of Alfred theFRENZYA Universal release directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Rated R.Great’s favorite methods, casting suspicion on the hero for along spell, is put to use inTHE CASTJon F inchBarry FosterBarbara Le*qh Hung Anna Massey Alec Me Cower.Vivien MerchantB'aneyRuskBrendaBabsInspectorMrs Or ford“Frenzy, but the clever man-ner in which it takes shape is intriguing enough to capture an audience's fancy.If it sounds too much like aYard, expecially in the film’s dramatic conclusion.BESIDES those from FinchHitchcock film of another day, and McCowen, an outstandingit is, in many ways. Maybe the reason it is so appealing, actually could be accrued to the long absence of a film from Hitchcock of this nature.performance is delivered byBarry Foster as Blaney’s “uncle,” (heh, heh). BarbaraLeigh-Hunt also is very good asNevertheless, there are dozens of new' touches that make“Frenzy far better than otherHitchcock vehicles, and somecan be appreciated more easilythan they can be explained.For instance, there is no possible way to portray the brilliant interplay between the inspector in charge of Blaney’scase, Oxford, and his flitty wife,who keeps her husband continually repulsed by meals thatresult from a gourmet cookingclass she is taking. Both of the principals, particularly AlecMcCowen as Inspector Oxford, are delightful, and Oxford is no less so in his work for ScotlandBlaney’s ex-wife Brenda and Anna Massey, daughter of Raymond, is equally good as Blaney’s girlfriend Babs.“Frenzy” also regales in little Hitchcock touches that separate the master from the pretenders. Odd closeups, curious periods of silence, delayed screams . . . ingenious little vehicles that depart from the cliched means of suspense-making.“Frenzy” is derived from a novel, “Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell I Leicester Square” by Arthur LaBern, the title of v nich is explanatory only tothose who have read it. The titlefilmcribes its events, it describesthe state in which the audience is often left.IaBern also authored the hitplay, “Sleuth.”ALTHOUGH Hitchcock didretain several of his oft-usedtechniques, the little differences help make the film great. Some of them will prevent, or delay, its appearance on television. It is more than a littlegruesome in spots, but one suspects that rather than keeping up with the violence of thetimes, Hitchcock is merely doing scenes the way he would have done them 30 years ago had censorship permitted.It is our fortune that he is stillaround to do so.MIKE DOWNEY*HARVEST HOIDIXIE SQUARE SHOPPIIThe red carfyour diningFEATURED EVI
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Orland Park Star Tribune
Orland Park, Illinois, US
Thu, Oct 05, 1972
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