Vincent Malloy, a lonely young boy, dreams of becoming horror actor Vincent Price. Instead of just being a good boy, he would so much prefer living with bats, invent horrible zombie dogs, and bury his wife alive. If only his mother did not always get in the way!

“Vincent Malloy is seven years old, / He’s always polite and does what he’s told. / For a boy his age he’s considerate and nice, / But he wants to be just like Vincent Price.”

Vincent is poetically narrated by horror movie actor Vincent Price himself (House of Wax, The Fly, The Raven……), one of Tim Burton’s idols. This short movie alternates almost seemlessly between Vincent’s ordinary life and his fantasized impersonation of Vincent Price’s most horrific cinematic doings. Burton uses black-and-white photography to produce dramatic Expressionist effects through strong contrasts. He also intertwines Vincent’s real life and dreamed existence through a rhyming narration that bridges incessantly between the worlds of normality and of horror.

Unter the darkly benevolent shadow of Edgar Allan Poe, on whose work many of Vincent Price’s movies were based, Vincent is a precursor of Burton’s later movies, such as The Nightmare Before Christmas, which used the same stop motion technique of ‘claymation’, and shares the same esthetics as Corpse Bride or Beetlejuice.

Less than 6 minutes long, a shot of Tim Burton’s early genius to drink bottomless!

The post Vincent first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

You could say it’s like being the highest peak below 2000 meters in the French Alps. You could also say that it’s a very good movie if not an outstanding one. As for myself, I prefer to see my glass of Champagne half full.

So you’ll have to grant a suspension of disbelief (for the many Coleridge fans out there) or accept a few inconsistencies in the scenario: spies everywhere, an ever-escaping hero, etc.

If that’s not too much to ask, you’ll be rewarded with a thrilling, palpitating, entertaining spy movie, especially if you’re into one of the following items:

• Innocent men on the run (usually because they know too much);
• Woman spies who get stabbed in your bedroom;
• Being handcuffed to someone else while trying to escape from killers or the police;
• Impromptu political speeches;
• Trains and Scottish landscapes;
• Hitchcock cameo spotting (twice in this movie).

Any subsequent need to rebalance the quintessential image of the ‘Hitchcock blonde’ with something less patriarchal can be fulfilled by watching the excellent His Girl Friday.

If you’re planning on escaping from something in the near future, watch that movie.

The post The 39 Steps first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

One of the French masters of suspense (The Wages of Fear, Le Corbeau…), Clouzot signs here one of his best psychological thrillers. Served by outstanding actors (a determined Simone SIgnoret, a sensitive Véro Clouzot and a sullen Paul Meurisse) and a perfect sense of photography and tempo, Les Diaboliques is on par with the best Hitchcock movies.

As Hitchcock himself was asked “Sir, After seeing ‘Les Diaboliques’, my daughter was afraid to take a bath. Now she has seen your ‘Psycho’ and is afraid to take a shower. What should I do with her?”, he reportedly replied: “Send her to the dry cleaners.”

Halfway between a thriller, a film noir, and a horror film, Les Diaboliques will scare you to death.

I haven’t been able to find subtitles for English; the above video is in French with Spanish subtitles; if you find a version with English subtitles let me know!

The post Les Diaboliques first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

Most last around 25 minutes and, though many of them involve a murder, they all have a deeper common point: perfect structure of the storytelling, attention to detail, and a taste for the unexpected, for reversals of situations, for the inattendu.

They deal with revenge, psychology, murder, suicide, accidents, women, men, death insurance, cheating, guns, social classes, alibis, young chicks, old bores, love, hate, surprise, and so much more.

If you like Hemingway novels, it’s like reading Hemingway’s short stories. Well, if you like Hitchcock movies your know what to do.

The post Hitchcock Presents first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

Fashion photographer Bruce Weber draws an atmospheric black-and-white portrait of the life and contradictions of Chet Baker: the greatest ‘cool jazz’ trumpet player, an angel face, but also an ugly little drug addict.

The post Let’s Get Lost first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

For the snobs out there, it’s one of the best screwball comedies ever made, with Cary Grant and Rosaling Russell on an equal footing of wit and energy.

For those who like a good laugh, it’s a maelstrom of one-liners, a satire of love story, a witty and fast-paced battle of the sexes, a 90mph ping pong game between Russell and Grant.

For those versed in sociology, it’s an acid portrait of a newspaper in the 1940s, with politics, cynicism and manipulation aplenty.

Intense, theatrical, cruel and funny: all is fair in love and journalism!

The post His Girl Friday first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.