Foreign Correspondents: Deeper into Hitchcock

Hitchcock's only "true story" is a sombre New York rhapsody about an innocent man wrongly accused, with a touch of neorealism and the overwhelming paranoia. "The Wrong Man" boasts fantastic performances by Henry Fonda and Vera Miles and finds the director working with a material that seems both personal and deeply immersed in Catholic values. Join us as we explore the film's meanings, style, and atmosphere.

Hitchcock’s sumptuous remake of his own “The Man Who Knew Too Much” is a VistaVision spectacular with great cast (Doris Day & James Stewart!) and equally wonderful locations (Marrakesh and London). An American couple on holidays find themselves in a perilous situation: their son gets kidnapped by unknown criminals. To find him, they would travel to Europe and finally reach the Royal Albert Hall – right in the middle of the symphonic concert. Join us as we explore this 1956 classic which both embodies and questions the American contentment of the Fifties as well as mixes thriller with family melodrama.

An odd entry in Alfred Hitchcock's 1950s canon, "The Trouble with Harry" continues to puzzle and amuse - well, at least it amuses some of us... Join us as we explore this quirky, old-fashioned, lovingly crafted black comedy with our special guest, translator and cinephile Jan Dzierzgowski.

Shot in glorious Technicolor and in panoramic VistaVision, "To Catch a Thief" remains one of Hitchcock's most elegantly crafted cosmopolitan delights. Côte d'Azur gets the full "touristy" treatment in the story of John Robie "The Cat" (Cary Grant): an ex-thief who needs to find a real jewelry thief prowling on the rooftops of Southern France. Featuring two of the director's favorite actresses, Grace Kelly and Jessie Royce Landis, "To Catch a Thief" is Hitchcock at his most escapist. Join us as we explore both the film's pleasures and its maddening incongruities.

One courtyard to rule them all: join us for the robust discussion of "Rear Window" with our very, very special guest. Professor Sidney Gottlieb from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut is the editor of celebrated volumes "Hitchcock on Hitchcock" and the editor of "Hitchcock Annual" published by Columbia University Press. He is also a wonderful conversationalist and a generous supporter of our podcast. We simply adore "Rear Window" so our talk drifts from its form to themes, from ideas to small moments and to the pleasures we are constantly finding in this masterful comic thriller.

1954 was one of Hitchcock's best years: he released two films, "Dial M for Murder" and "Rear Window". Both were shot in color and both focused on husbands attempting to murder their wives and go unpunished. "Dial M for Murder" introduced Grace Kelly to the Hitchcock universe, boldly experimented with 3D photography and seamlessly translated the play to the screen without putting the camera outside of the couple's apartment. Join us as we explore this nasty and highly enjoyable gem with Joel Gunz, the inimitable Alfred Hitchcock Geek and the president of HitchCon Annual International Alfred Hitchcock Conference. Note: the YouTube version features additional visual material discussed by Joel in this episode!

Hitchcock in Quebec! "I Confess" stars Method actor Montgomery Clift in one of his most restrained performances as a handsome, innocent priest accused of murder. The most overtly "Catholic" of Hitch's movies, "I Confess" is also one of the lesser appreciated gems in the director's stellar 1950s output. Join us as we explore the movie and its Holocaust undertones with our special guest James Bogdanski who teaches film at Long Beach City College and El Camino College in southern California.

Patricia Highsmith, Raymond Chandler, Robert Walker and Robert Burks: these are only several of the extremely talented people who contributed to Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train," a film which officially opens the master's most glorious and successful decade. At once taut and dreamlike, cruel and perversely sensual, the movie begins with a chance encounter that leads to nightmarish consequences. Join us as we explore one of the most famous and cherished of Hitchcock's films: a genuine cult classic, and a queer one at that.

Both breezy and unexpectedly weird, "Stage Fright" features the famous "false flashback" sequence and takes us on a ride through post-war London. Jane Wyman stars as a naive young actress who spies on a diva (Marlene Dietrich at her juiciest) to clear her friend's name. We explore this underappreciated gem directed by Alfred Hitchcock with our special guest, Darragh O'Donoghue – an archivist at Tate and a contributing writer for "Cineaste".

"Under Capricorn" is a true oddity: an old-fashioned Gothic melodrama which experiments with long takes; a movie set in Australia but visibly shot in a studio; a financial failure that is claimed by some to be one of the master's greatest works. Join us as we explore the film with our special guest Andrei Gorzo - one of Romania's most brilliant film critics and scholars, and a professor at the University of Theatre and Film in Bucharest. His newest book, co-authored with Veronica Lazăr and titled "Beyond the New Romanian Cinema: Romanian Culture, History, and the Films of Radu Jude", will be released this year.