50 years of Hitchcock

Well, it's more like over 90 years since Alfred Hitchock's earliest movies came out, but his career spanned just about 50 years from the silent movies in England through to Family Plot in 1976. This month's TCM Spotlight is on the films of Hitchcock, and will run every Wednesday and Friday in prime time, presented by documentary filmmaker Alexandre O. Philippe, who has apparently made a documentary about Psycho. I don't see if the TCM blurb says he'll be hosting alone or sitting down with Ben Mankiewicz to discuss the movies.

For me, the highlight would be tonight's lineup, which includes five of Hitchcock's silents. I think I have all of them on the cheap Mill Creek box set, although I haven't gotten around to watching most of them yet. People who aren't that familiar with early Hitchcock would probably do best to watch The Lodger overnight at 1:45 AM. (And then watch the Laird Cregar remake.) Early Thursday morning, and then Friday in prime time, will have a bunch of the 1930s British movies.

Having said that, I note that once again The Secret Agent doesn't seem to be on the TCM lineup. I've seen the channel run one Hitchcock retrospective after another, and none of them ever seem to have The Secret Agent. I've never been able to figure out why.