Ascenseur pour l’échafaud (Elevator to the Gallows, 1958) Directed by Louis Malle. 91 mins. "I was split between my tremendous admiration for Robert Bresson and the temptation to make a Hitchcock-like film" – Louis Malle Plot Ex-paratrooper Julien Tavernier (Maurice Ronet) and his lover Florence (Jeanne Moreau) devise a plan to murder her husband Simon … Continue reading Elevator to the Scaffold →

James Stewart and Kim Novak in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo When, in September 2012, Sight and Sound magazine announced that Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1957) had been voted the greatest film of all time in its poll of critics, it caused an immediate media response. Newspapers, trade magazines and websites all reported that for the first time … Continue reading From Master of Suspense to Auteur: The Battle for Hitchcock’s Reputation →

Introduction                        For many decades, Maclean Rogers’ Hammer the Toff (1952) staring John Bentley was a lost film. Unlike some others of its era, it had not been completely forgotten. For years it appeared on the BFI’s 75 Most Wanted List of lost films. Contemporary audiences, by all accounts, had loved it.  One review called it … Continue reading Buried Treasure: Rediscovering Britain’s Film and Television Past →