Cinema Basement's Alfred Hitchcock special: Silent era to 1949

We now arrive at the director's coverage I have been looking forward to the most. For the months of November and December we will be looking at the career of arguably the greatest director of all time, Alfred Hitchcock. Yes he was a problematic guy and his actions towards some of his female stars left a lot to be desired. But film would not be what it is without Hitchcock. He is the master of suspense and for the month of November we will be looking at his work from the silent era all the way up to 1949. This will encompass his work in the British film industry and his transition over to the studio system of Hollywood. His major masterpieces come post 1949 but there's a lot of great stuff before that. So welcome to the silent era to 1949 of Cinema Basement's Alfred Hitchcock special. As always we will be jumping around so none of what we cover are in chronological order but we'll give some history as each film is posted.

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Forgotten Film Friday: Absolute Power

Clint Eastwood stars as Luther Whitney, a jewel thief who works in the Washington DC area. One night while he is stealing from a mansion he is forced to hide in a secret compartment with a two way mirror. From there he observes a sexual rezendevous with the wife of a powerful man and the President of the United States Alan Richmond (Gene Hackman) Suddenly the president gets aggressive and while defending herself the woman is shot to death by two Secret Service agents. Luther manages to get away with a letter opener the woman stabbed the president with. At first Luther plans to flee the country. But when he is disgusted by a statement the president makes, Luther decides to expose the crime. I miss these kind of films. The nineties was a great time for thrillers exactly like this. They are not the flashiest films but they are also not obsessed with big action scenes. It's all plot and character with them. Sure this plot might be a little out there but Eastwood makes it work. He's...

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