A phony psychic/con artist and her taxi driver/private investigator boyfriend encounter a pair of serial kidnappers while trailing a missing heir in California.
A French Intelligence Agent becomes embroiled in the Cold War politics first with uncovering the events leading up to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and then back to France to break up an international Russian spy ring.
Director:
Alfred Hitchcock
Stars:
Frederick Stafford,
Dany Robin,
John Vernon
An American scientist publicly defects to East Germany as part of a cloak and dagger mission to find the solution for a formula resin before planning an escape back to the West.
A wealthy San Francisco socialite pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people.
London is terrorized by a vicious sex killer known as The Necktie Murderer. Following the brutal slaying of his ex-wife, down-on-his-luck Richard Blaney is suspected by the police of being the killer. He goes on the run, determined to prove his innocence.Written by
Col Needham <col@imdb.com>
Henry Mancini was originally hired to score this movie. According to accounts, upon hearing the proposed score, Sir Alfred Hitchcock yelled at Mancini: "If I had wanted Bernard Herrmann, I would have hired him!" Mancini was fired from the project. His recording of his main title to this movie is available on one of his compilation of movie music excerpts, and can also be heard on the "Making of" documentary on the Frenzy DVD. See more »
Goofs
Mrs. Blaney's secretary (Jean Marsh) when giving a description of Richard Blaney clearly says 'blue' but the audio is re-dubbed to 'green' eyes. Either this was shot prior to casting the actor or the script was not corrected at the time of shooting and had to be amended in post production. See more »
Quotes
Richard Blaney:
[announcing himself to his wife's receptionist]
You can inform Mrs. Blaney that one of her less successful exercises in matrimony has come to see her.
Monica Barling:
And who shall I say is calling?
Richard Blaney:
Mr. Blaney.
See more »
Crazy Credits
The Universal Pictures logo does not appear on this film. See more »
Alternate Versions
The main titles were completely redone for the 2012 Blu-Ray release. This includes a completely different font, and quite a few typos were accidentally left in. See more »
After 30 years in the USA and after the disappointments of "Torn Curtain" (1966) and "Topaz" (1969), Alfred Hitchcock came back to his native Britain for this film -written by Anthony Shaffer from a novel by Arthur La Bern.
"Frenzy" is his penultimate movie, certainly the best one of his last period. The way the Master films is very classic -deliberately old fashioned; at the same time all the charachters are very modern -they belong to a more and more decadent and neurotic London.
Almost from the beginning we know who the criminal is, and Hitchcock enjoys himself in showing how the man tries to escape and how he betrays people. Director's trademarks are also back in force: suspense (a lot!) and humour -more sarcastic and sharper than ever.
For "Frenzy" the Master doesn't get movie stars, instead he chooses local stage actors. In my opinion he does this because, first, he wants the film to be very English. Furthermore, he wants this time more ordinary faces for making the story more shocking (with famous actors in the main roles, the plot -in a certain way- could be identified mostly with them and loose strength, instead Hitchcock avoids that "paradox"...).
Maybe "Frenzy" is not an unforgettable masterpiece like "Psycho", "Vertigo", "Birds" or many other works. But it is a great movie indeed.
102 of 121 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
After 30 years in the USA and after the disappointments of "Torn Curtain" (1966) and "Topaz" (1969), Alfred Hitchcock came back to his native Britain for this film -written by Anthony Shaffer from a novel by Arthur La Bern.
"Frenzy" is his penultimate movie, certainly the best one of his last period. The way the Master films is very classic -deliberately old fashioned; at the same time all the charachters are very modern -they belong to a more and more decadent and neurotic London.
Almost from the beginning we know who the criminal is, and Hitchcock enjoys himself in showing how the man tries to escape and how he betrays people. Director's trademarks are also back in force: suspense (a lot!) and humour -more sarcastic and sharper than ever.
For "Frenzy" the Master doesn't get movie stars, instead he chooses local stage actors. In my opinion he does this because, first, he wants the film to be very English. Furthermore, he wants this time more ordinary faces for making the story more shocking (with famous actors in the main roles, the plot -in a certain way- could be identified mostly with them and loose strength, instead Hitchcock avoids that "paradox"...).
Maybe "Frenzy" is not an unforgettable masterpiece like "Psycho", "Vertigo", "Birds" or many other works. But it is a great movie indeed.