Becoming Hitchcock: The Legacy of Blackmail (2024)

2024-10-181h 19m

Narrated by historian, critic and filmmaker Elvis Mitchell, this documentary reflects the development of the iconic filmmaker's signature style, through the making of one of his benchmark films, Blackmail. The documentary highlights the birth of the "Hitchcock Touch" at a period when talking pictures first emerged and explores his trademark themes, like such as murder, suspense and cool blondes. While focusing on Blackmail, the documentary reveals how this film also foreshadows the director's later masterpieces, from Psycho to North by Northwest and from The Birds to Frenzy.

Related Movies

1004915-thumbnail

The March on Rome (2022)

The fascinating story of the rise to power of dictator Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) in Italy in 1922 and how fascism marked the fate of the entire world in the dark years to come.

1004929-thumbnail

Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy (2023)

This is not a documentary about the making of Midnight Cowboy. It is about a humane and groundbreaking masterpiece and the flawed but gifted people who made it. It is about a troubled era of cultural ferment, social and political change, about broken dreams and strivers, then and now. It is about an era that made a movie and a movie that made an era.

438595-thumbnail

Bricks in Motion (2016)

BRICKS IN MOTION is a feature length documentary that explores the lives of individuals involved in the hobby of creating stop-motion animated films with LEGO® bricks and other building toys. Filmed in five countries around the world, the film is a journey through the creative life and struggles of a diverse community of storytellers as they bring their spectacular visions to life.

262236-thumbnail

John Ford Goes to War (2002)

When World War II broke out, John Ford, in his forties, commissioned in the Naval Reserve, was put in charge of the Field Photographic Unit by Bill Donavan, director of the soon-to-be-OSS. During the war, Field Photo made at least 87 documentaries, many with Ford's signature attention to heroism and loss, and many from the point of view of the fighting soldier and sailor. Talking heads discuss Ford's life and personality, the ways that the war gave him fulfillment, and the ways that his war films embodied the same values and conflicts that his Hollywood films did. Among the films profiled are "Battle of Midway," "Torpedo Squadron," "Sexual Hygiene," and "December 7."

1174775-thumbnail

Good Chemistry: The Story of Elemental (2023)

Pixar director Peter Sohn takes viewers on a humorous personal journey through the inspiration behind Disney and Pixar’s feature film “Elemental.” “Good Chemistry: The Story of Elemental” traces his parents’ voyage from Korea to New York, explores his dad’s former grocery shop in the heart of the Bronx, and delves into his choice of a career in animation, rather than the family business.

1180705-thumbnail

Documentary for the Recently Deceased: The Making of Beetlejuice (NaN)

A documentary about Tim Burton's iconic 1988 fantasy comedy Beetlejuice, covering all the aspects of production: from filming in East Corinth, Vermont, to the stop-motion and special effects work, as well as a series of exclusive interviews and rare behind the scenes archives.

991280-thumbnail

A Bunch of Amateurs (2022)

A bunch of British working class amateur filmmakers with nothing left to lose tackle one of Hollywood's greatest musicals in order to save their beloved Club. Britain’s oldest amateur filmmaking club struggles to survive, as its members grow old amid flickering memories and hardships. In the northern industrial town of Bradford, England, a handful of diehard amateur filmmakers desperately cling to their dreams, and to each other, in this warm and funny look at shared artistic folly that speaks to the delusional dreamer in us all.

619880-thumbnail

The Making of Double Impact, Parts 1 & 2 (2019)

Jean-Claude van Damme, Sheldon Lettich and more discuss the 1991 film "Double Impact" from inception to reception.

801110-thumbnail

The Nansen Passport (2016)

On July 5th, 1922, Norwegian explorer, scientist and diplomat Fridtjof Nansen creates a passport with which, between 1922 and 1945, he managed to protect the fundamental human rights as citizens of the world of thousands of people, famous and anonymous, who became stateless due to the tragic events that devastated Europe in the first quarter of the 20th century.

1359804-thumbnail

A Day in the Life of French Cinema (2002)

Documentary showing one day of work of over 90 actors and filmmakers from French cinema on the same day. On 27 March 2002, 27 teams filmed actors, directors, producers and technicians at work, from Hawaii to Paris and from New York to Lisbon.

1359826-thumbnail

Homo Cinematographicus (1998)

Homo Cinematographicus is a human species whose unit of measurement and point of reference is the cinema and its derivative, television. Filmed at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, the film offers an unspecified number of statements, talking about memories and a thousand fragments of stories, titles and film scenes, the warp of a gigantic collective Chanson de geste.

459414-thumbnail

Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki (2017)

A look at legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki following his retirement in 2013.

638273-thumbnail

Micro-Budget Marauders (2019)

What is a Micro-Budget film? How are they made? Where can you find them? Do they actually make any money? Six micro-budget filmmakers take us through the arduous process of making movies with little-to-no money. They shed light on the physical, financial and moral complexities of this unusual side of Hollywood.

455963-thumbnail

A Gray State (2017)

In 2010 David Crowley, an Iraq veteran, aspiring filmmaker and charismatic up-and-coming voice in fringe politics, began production on his film Gray State. Set in a dystopian near-future where civil liberties are trampled by an unrestrained federal government, the film’s crowd funded trailer was enthusiastically received by the burgeoning online community of libertarians, Tea Party activists and members of the nascent alt-right. In January of 2015, Crowley was found dead with his family in their suburban Minnesota home. Their shocking deaths quickly become a cause célèbre for conspiracy theorists who speculate that Crowley was assassinated by a shadowy government concerned about a film and filmmaker that was getting too close to the truth about their aims.

828554-thumbnail

Un été à la Garoupe (2020)

La Garoupe, a beach in Antibes, in 1937. For one summer, the painter and photographer Man Ray films his friends Pablo Picasso, Dora Maar, Paul Eluard and his wife Nusch, as well as Lee Miller. During these few weeks, love, friendship, poetry, photography and painting are still mixed in the carefree and the creativity specific to the artistic movements of the interwar period.

465621-thumbnail

Horror Movie: A Low Budget Nightmare (2017)

A filmmaker's lifelong dream quickly becomes his worst nightmare when he attempts to make a low budget horror film about an aborted fetus that seeks revenge on its family.

272189-thumbnail

Dinosaur Movies (1993)

Dinosaurs Vs. Apes: DINOSAUR MOVIES and HOLLYWOOD GOES APE! have been hailed as the definitive documentaries on the prehistoric and anthropoid creatures that have appeared on the silver screen. Filled with rare movie clips, behind-the-scenes footage and interviews.

16070-thumbnail

This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006)

Kirby Dick's provocative documentary investigates the secretive and inconsistent process by which the Motion Picture Association of America rates films, revealing the organization's underhanded efforts to control culture. Dick questions whether certain studios get preferential treatment and exposes the discrepancies in how the MPAA views sex and violence.

15004-thumbnail

His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th (2010)

A retrospective documentary about the groundbreaking horror series, Friday the 13th, featuring interviews with cast and crew from the twelve films spanning 3 decades.

13611-thumbnail

Heckler (2007)

HECKLER is a comedic feature documentary exploring the increasingly critical world we live in. After starring in a film that was critically bashed, Jamie Kennedy takes on hecklers and critics and ask some interesting questions of people such as George Lucas, Bill Maher, Mike Ditka, Rob Zombie, Howie Mandel and many more. This fast moving, hilarious documentary pulls no punches as you see an uncensored look at just how nasty and mean the fight is between those in the spotlight and those in the dark.