Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Daffy Duck/Porky Pig Looney Tunes cartoon, the 1951 Drip-Along Daffy, directed by Chuck Jones.
The cartoon includes an original song (sung by Porky) The Flower of Gower Gulch, a parody of sentimental cowboy-style love songs, Gower Gulch being an intersection in Hollywood known as a gathering spot for would-be actors in early Westerns.
The staff of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour would like to take a few moments to remember Tony Bennett :
The likes of him will not come this way again
We've picked another entry from the excellent reference book, 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die by Steven Jay Schneider. Today's film is the 1964 psycho-sexual thriller, Marnie , directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Tippi Hedren, and Sean Connery. Marnie was only mildly successful when it first opened. After four consecutive widely beloved films that are often considered masterworks (Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, and The Birds), Marnie, couldn't help but pale in comparison. Critics now view the film as one of Hitchcock's most personal films, mirroring his own off-screen obsession with the film's star, Tippi Hedren.
There have been rumors, recently conformed by Tippi Hedren, that Hitchcock acted inappropriately with Hedren throughout their professional relationship. Hitchcock and Hedren had a major falling out during the filming and there was a rumor that by the end he directed her through intermediaries. Although Hedren admits the she and Hitchcock's friendship ended during shooting, she denies the rumor that he didn't finish directing the film. Marnie is unique for being the last of its kind. It was the last Hitchcock film to feature a blonde heroine, the last to feature a music score by frequent collaborator Bernard Herrmann, and the last time Hitchcock would work with cinematographer Robert Burks. So please join us here at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour and sit back, get comfortable and enjoy watching this visually stunning work, Marnie.
Alfred Hitchcock, following his usual practice, bid for the movie rights to Winston Graham's novel anonymously, so as to keep the price down. However, in this instance, the scheme backfired; the anonymity of the purchaser made Graham suspicious, although he regarded the amount of money on offer as extremely generous. He instructed his agent to ask for twice as much. Hitchcock agreed, on condition that the deal be closed immediately. When Graham discovered who it was who had bought the rights, he said he would have given them away free for the honor of having one of his stories filmed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Demand Euphoria!
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