GRAPHIC NOVELS: AYAKO by OSAMU TEZUKA (VERTICAL, 2011, serialised JAPAN 1972-3))

The following review was written by Jeff Alford and appeared here:  http://contemporarylit.about.com/od/graphicnovels/fr/Ayako-Osamu-Tezuka.htm 

I haven't been able to contact him to ask his permission to reprint it, so my apologies for this lapse. I wouldn't have done so had I been able to write a review even half as good of this book.

If you're completely unfamiliar with Tezuka, please read my review of The Art of Osamu Tezuka by Helen McCarthy which is reviewed elsewhere in this blog. He is (or rather, sadly, was) one of the very greatest creators of graphic novels of the 20th century. As a writer/artist he is simply without peer; a creator of graphic stories for children and adults, he possessed a vividly fertile imagination and very strong sense of morality. One of these days, I'll write a proper appreciation of his genius in this this blog.




How long does a war really last, and how does a society become "post-war" after the smoke finally clears? Set in rural Japan, Osamu Tezuka's Ayako follows the deeply troubled Tenge clan as their household (and country) attempts to regain its footing after World War II. Spanning twenty-five years and seven hundred pages, Ayako unfolds like a Victorian novel by way of Alfred Hitchcock: dark family secrets collide with political espionage and create one of the most layered and nuanced graphic novels to ever reach our shores.

The drama in Ayako is pulled between two opposing forces, one of family honor and one of political onus. The end of World War II drew a line between these two themes, and the characters in Ayako struggle to decide which entity's protection is a more honorable cause. The novel begins with Jiro Tenge's return home from the war, who learns very quickly the despicable practices that his family had fallen into during the past five years. Jiro is surprised to see a new child in the Tenge household. Four-year-old Ayako is revealed to be the offspring of Jiro's father and his sister-in-law, a sexual arrangement made by Jiro's brother in an attempt to secure the Tenge inheritance.Jiro's political background is similarly murky, and although the war is over he is still working for the 
GHQ, aiding in assassination plots against local leftist party members. After a particularly bloody task of evidence tampering (disposing a corpse on nearby train tracks), Jiro is seen by Ayako and the family maid trying to secretly clean bloodstains from his clothing. Soon after, the Tenge's maid mysteriously drowns. Although Jiro is suspected to be involved in both deaths, the Tenges are more concerned with their family's incest going public with the looming shadow of police investigations. After painful deliberations, it is decided that Jiro flee the village and Ayako be "taken off the books" and permanently sequestered in the building's basement.

Ayako finally escapes after twenty years and journeys to Tokyo in search of Jiro. Due to the absence of any social interaction during her upbringing, Ayako has grown into a relentlessly uninhibited woman and clashes with the social mores of contemporary Japan. Tezuka masterfully presents a country that has evolved faster in twenty years than Ayako herself has matured. Although newly independent, Ayako's existence is so tightly connected to pre-war Japan that she's unable to fit in to a world so desperately trying to move on.

Ayako is an exquisitely composed novel, furiously balanced between the personal and political. However, this may not be one of the rare crossover graphic novels that will pull in new readers from the realm of contemporary literature. Despite the thematic density of the book, the actual dialogue of Ayako at times deflates the mature themes into a gentler, comic-like tone. The members of the Tenge clan all speak in a rural dialect that is often difficult to take with the appropriate gravitas. For instance, during the pivotal meeting that ultimately decided four-year old Ayako's fate:

"As y'all knows, there be a rumor that O-Ryo was killed by somebody. Ayako's actin' scared ‘n hidin' from somebody…she knows somethin' but she be too scared t'talk. Howev'r, whatev'r it be, I betcha it be somethin' dat shall stain the Tenge Clan's name if she were ever t'talk."

Whether this in an issue of Ayako's translation or Tezuka's original intention, Ayako's aural tone will surely have some readers divided. Ayako is so close to being the kind of graphic novel that transcends its intended audience and introduces new readers to the form, but instead will simply remain proudly on the shelves of comics and manga enthusiasts.

DVD: ALFRED HITCHCOCK SEASON -TORN CURTAIN (1966)

Hitchcock didn't get on with his method-actor lead Paul Newman who kept wanting to know what his motivation was and wasn't satisfied with Hitchcock's answer: Your cheque. Hitchcock wanted Eva Marie Saint but had big star Julie Andrews forced on him. The script was a mess and British writers Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall had to do extensive and uncredited rewriting before it was even barely filmable. Hitchcock had a bust-up with long-term musical collaborator Bernard Herrmann over the score and even after a second attempt by BH, Hitch hired someone else for the final version. And just to put the nail in the coffin, there is no discernable chemistry between the two lead actors.

Despite all that, it's actually quite a watchable film if you can ignore the various stupidities of the plot. The standout scene is the extended killing of Newman's East German minder in  a farmhouse which was intended to show how hard and how grisly it is to actually kill someone. Shocking at the time, it now seems relatively tame but does retain a certain emotional impact.

Aside: Newman plays a scientist visiting a conference in Denmark, with fiance Andrews, when he defects to East Germany where she follows. It's a con of course as he's really there to steal an important scientific secret which will help his own work for the US government. When the East German authorities realise there's something amiss -like finding the dead body of the minder- Newman and Andrews go on the run.

Now, the most painful plot stupidity. Newman loses his minder and goes to visit his contact. Where is the contact? In a seedy hidden backstreet in East Berlin? No, it's in the country, on a farm, which neccessitates him taking a taxi. Spotted the weakness in the plan? Yes, the taxi driver can, and does, identify him and tells the authorities where he went.  While at the farm, he and a woman murder his minder (see above). Now where is the body (and the motorbike) buried? Is it miles away? No. Is it on the farm where the authorities can easily find it (them)? Yes. Superspies these people aren't.

Just one other thing. Hitchcock was known for making a brief appearance in every film he made and as a result this little piece of vanity lead cinema-goers to watch out for his appearance. They didn't have to try hard to spot him hear because the music blasts a loud cue that he was associated with from his TV show. They may as well have had a giant cardboard arrow onscreen pointing at him. It completely takes you out of the film.

(As usual, thanks to Wikipaedia for some details.)

RECENT AMAZON BOOK & DVD REVIEWS

 

 A Town Called Eureka - Season 4.0 [DVD]

Good, but I'm still going to grumble. 4* rating.

The obvious grumble is splitting Season 4 into two parts which I find very annoying and feels like squeezing the fan's plastic. However, at least where the break is makes sense.

The new season opens with our five (guess who? -hint: see above) core characters travelling back to 1947. It ends with a reprise of the same adventure but from a different perspective which makes it thematically satisfying. Plus the results of the initial trip back reverberate for the rest of the season as its caused a number of changes to the present. This is all done very well and serves to refresh the series which might have been in danger of going stale.

And this is where my next grumble comes in. Two of the characters going into the past -to a Eureka which is still a military base- are black. Racism was endemic in the USA at the time, particularly in the army. Many black American soldiers based in Britain during the Second World War were amazed to be treated as equals by white people for the first time in their lives. But at the Eureka army base there isn't a hint of racism. Not even when a white soldier kisses a black nurse at a dance. Okay, I know this is light entertainment but this, very ironically in the context, really is rewriting history. A hint of realism wouldn't have gone amiss.

Otherwise it maintains the standards of previous seasons and the history changing gives it an added fillip especially with the addition to the cast of James Callis as a scientist from 1947 whose intentions towards Allison are strictly dishonourable and he emerges as a rival to the sheriff for her affections. If it wasn't for the grumbles this would have been close to getting a 5-star rating from me. Recommended. 

 Ghost of a Smile (Ghost Finders Novel) (Paperback)

  Second success in spooky series. 4* rating.

Looks like Green has settled on a format (or should I say formula?) for this effective supernatural series about government ghost hunters. Start with a novella to introduce the characters, keep the cast small, segue into the main story, set it in one location and don't leave it until the end. Fair enough. It worked the first time and it works this time as well.

The small cast of characters is fun: JC the cocky leader, Melody the cynical mechanic, Happy Jack the unhappy telepath, and Kim the ghost (who is on the book cover, not Melody), and JC's phantasmal girlfriend, who wants to be a real girl (unofficial member); and their interplay is fun. The menace is interesting, partly because the reader is never quite sure which of the various people and creatures who appear really are the menace -is it a scientific experiment gone wrong, or a creature from the outer darkness, or both? Don't worry, our fearful heroes will find out whether they like it or not. (Hint: just don't trust anyone or anything.)

This is lightweight spooky fluff, ideal for when you're in the mood for light entertainment, spooky or not. I'll be back for the third installment. Chances are you will too.

DVD: ALFRED HITCHCOCK SEASON -TOPAZ (1969)

Before I start the review, here's a list of Hitchcock films in, respectively, the box sets The Masterpiece Collection (14 films) and The Signature Collection (7 films). I've already reviewed two, the rest will be reviewed over the next few months in between other films and TV box set series.

Family Plot, Frenzy, Marnie, Psycho, Rear Window, Rope, Saboteur, Shadow of a Doubt, The Birds, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Trouble with Harry, Topaz, Torn Curtain, Vertigo.

Dial M for Murder, I Confess, Stage Fright, The Wrong Man, Strangers on a Train, North by Northwest.

This is the American edition with 9, not 6, films.

Again, the American edition. The British version has an incredibly dull cover (just his name and a signature) and is very flimsy.

This is the Masterpiece Collection cover and, seeing as we're on the subject, this edition of the film includes material which Hitchcock deleted after a series of disastrous previews. This isn't mentioned anywhere on the cover and the running time given is that of the original release, so it's wrong. It also includes three different endings, none of which are particularly good. The music is sometimes oddly inappropriate as when a father and daughter run upstairs concerned about the daughter's husband and then back down when they think he's been thrown out of a window. The accompanying music is almost jaunty rather than dramatic and suspenseful.

There's a half hour long extra of Leonard Maltin attempting to defend Topaz. He argues that one of the problems is that, despite the good cast, the film contains no stars who could grab the audience's attention. This is true. He also argues that it's a very European film in terms of structure and pacing and would probably have done better if previewed at an art house. This may well be true but it would also defeat the object as Hitchcock made films for mainstream audiences, albeit with intelligence and sophistication -he never pandered to the lowest common denominator. Maltin also focuses typical Hitchcock touches. Just to give one example, and it is a good one: a man is holding a woman, he shoots her and she slowly sinks to the ground, her purple dress slowly flowing outwards as a symbol for blood.

None of this addresses the fact that it is over-long, dull and rambling. I fell asleep after about 75 minutes. Admittedly this was around 10.15 at night and by then I'd drunk half a bottle of wine, but still... So I'm going to have to go along with the consensus that this really is one of Hitchcock's least effective films and it actually made me appreciate the skill that went into The Trouble With Harry (see earlier post).

Next up, if the DVDs don't fall out of the box onto the floor as they did a few minutes ago, is Torn Curtain (another apparently problematic film) followed by Rope. They will appear, but don't hold your breath.

SHOPPING ONLINE: SMUG GIT HAS THE TABLES TURNED ON HIM -AMAZON UK vs AMAZON USA REVISITED

In August I wrote a post about how it was sometimes cheaper to buy from Amazon.com than Amazon UK and cited the example of a new Grateful Dead live album.

I wrote:

I checked the Az UK price -£19.65- which struck me as a little expensive for only a 2-disc set, so I checked Az.com.

I was quite shocked to find that their price was only 12 dollars and change. I added it to my basket and went through the procedure until it put on the postage which I then converted into pounds and it came to £12 and change. a saving of seven, or more than a third. Naturally I went ahead and confirmed the order.

So, there you have it. It pays to check Az.com prices for some items now and again as you could save yourself some money. 

 

I got an email to say it had been dispatched and checked AZ.com for reviews, then the UK site to see if any had appeared there. And, guess what, the UK price had dropped to £9.99. Also I must have made a mistake with converting the dollar price because when I checked again, after receiving an email from AZ.com to say the price had gone down by three dollars, it had still ended up costing me £15.40. 

 

Boy, do I feel stupid. Still, I've learned something: in future cases when it looks like the American site is significantly cheaper for an item, wait until the damn thing is actually released to make sure it's stayed that way.

 

 

MUSIC: CDs OR DOWNLOADS? THAT IS THE QUESTION.

On Tuesday the following 5-CD box set arrived from Amazon.

It cost me £24.99. A download, which did not include a bonus 5th CD (stuck on the front of the box) but just the four CDs in the box would have cost me £14.99. Was I so desperate for the extra CD (with a running time of less than 40 minutes) that I'd pay a tenner for it? Actually, no I wasn't. However, as I immediately copy music to my computer and then on to my Ipod Classic and never listen to the CD again, yesterday (Wednesday) I put up the box set on Amazon Marketplace for two pounds less than Amazon's price with the description played once from new, sold it today and have just got back from posting it. After Amazon's cut and the postage, I got £18.00 back which meant that the music effectively cost me £7.00 and included the bonus CD.

Now this was what I consider a good bit of work but it doesn't always come out as well. Sometimes the download is considerably cheaper as when I recently bought So Many Roads by The Grateful Dead as a download when the original box set was out of print and fetching over £130.00 new.

But mostly my CDs end up in the loft where every so often I weed them out on the basis of -do I really want to keep this? I'm now starting to ask myself the question -how few of my CDs do I really really want to keep? I won't lose the music unless the house burns down while I'm and haven't taken my Ipod with me which is pretty unlikely and then the CDs would have gone as well. Apart from keeping the music on my Ipod, I also regularly make an external backup copy of all data on my hard drive to a 1 terabyte Toshiba hard disk which fits into my pocket. I hope I'm not tempting fate by saying this, but effectively the music lasts forever.

In theory, any new CDs I buy I should just copy and then put up for sale immediately on Amazon Marketplace where I could recoup about half the cost which is still cheaper than the download. Unless, of course, the cost of a download is still cheaper than that which does happen occasionally. In practise it doesn't neccessarily work out like that as there may not be a download available or the CD is just too damn cheap as in the case of-

This one, including postage from an American marketplace seller, new cost me £4.06 with the Amazon UK price being over a tenner. At that price it's just not worth selling it.

And then there's the box set which includes a DVD. This isn't always worth as in an older post I mentioned saving over £20 by buying just the download of a Rolling Stones box set. And then there's this which only arrived this morning so I haven't a chance to listen to or watch it-

 

This amazing piece of work by the brilliant guitarist Rea consists of a music CD of the above title, a documentary DVD about bullfighting plus a CD of Chris's soundtrack to it, a second DVD which appears to be a sort of spiritual journey plus, again, a CD of Chris's soundtrack to it. For, and you'll laugh, only £12.99. For a Chris Rea fan like me that's just a no-brainer. A string of five star reviews also suggest it's pretty damn good. I only came across it by accident on Amazon as it wasn't included in my recommendations.

So the answer to the question -CDs or Downloads? -is, for me: Yes, please.

GRAPHIC NOVELS: ECHO -THE COMPLETE EDITION by TERRY MOORE (2011)

An Amazon 4* review.

How do you follow up an acclaimed epic saga of modern relationships -the landmark Strangers In Paradise- which took you 13 years to write and draw? In Terry Moore's case, he spent a mere three years creating a 30-issue series (translated into this 600 page graphic novel) and has done a pretty good job on it.

The basic story is fairly simple. A young woman gets her body covered in a magic metal. The bad guys want it back. Assorted good guys help her. The existence of the world is at stake. But needless to say it is a lot more complicated than that. The characters are extremely well written being very human and very fallible and although there is a core protagonist it is nevertheless an ensemble piece and will satisfy fans of Strangers In Paradise. It's actually set in the same world, though you don't need to have read SiP to appreciate it, more that it's a little nod to SiP fans. It's a very strong character piece as well as being a satisfying work of contemporary science fiction. Moore has done a lot of research for this book and it shows without every getting in the way of telling the story (well, once maybe). I really don't want to say any more as I don't want to spoil the many pleasures Echo has in store.

Artistically, Moore isn't one of the greatest stylists, though he's a more than adequate artist. His backgrounds have just enough detail to create a scene. But then his real interest is in character and reactions and he is excellent at drawing people, faces in particular, and at conveying body language.

Not quite a five star book but highly recommended all the same.

MUSIC: THE GRATEFUL DEAD -SO MANY ROADS

Or: I just can't quit the Dead.

Issued in 2000, this 5-disc box set currently sells for £141.00 new with the cheapest used priced coming in at £34.00. The MP3 download from Amazon, however, totals a measly £14.46 for over six and a half hours of music. Sure it's nice to have the box set but when the price differential is so great and the download price so cheap, it's a no-brainer.

It's a collection of mostly live rarities and contains some of the GD's more different interpretations of their music. It's been compiled by second generation Deadheads for Deadheads. As you can see from the track listing below, it's a mixture of the concise (anything under 4 minutes) and lengthy jams, with the longest being over 25 minutes. I've only just started listening to it and it's pretty good, succeeding in what its compilers intended by presenting  variations on a theme as the jams take unusual twists and turns.

I swear I'll stop buying Grateful Dead albums, honest I will. Meanwhile only a few weeks to Europe 72 vol.2. Incidentally I made a mistake in the previous Dead post when I stated that Europe 72 was a double vinyl album. I really should have known better as I can still remember actually buying it. It's a triple vinyl album.

Song Title	Time	Price
Play	1. Can't Come Down [Autumn Records, November 3, 1965]	2:57	£0.69
Play	2. Caution [Do Not Stop On Tracks] [Autumn Records, November 3, 1965]	3:12	£0.69
Play	3. You Don't Have To Ask [Live at Fillmore West, July 16, 1966]	3:54	£0.69
Play	4. On The Road Again [1966]	2:42	£0.69
Play	5. Cream Puff War [Live at Fillmore West, July 16, 1966]	5:37	£0.69
Play	6. I Know You Rider [Live at Avalon Ballroom, 1966]	4:20	£0.69
Play	7. The Same Thing [Live in San Francisco, March 18, 1967]	11:38	Album Only
Play	8. Dark Star/China Cat Sunflower/The Eleven [Live in San Francisco, March 16, 1967]	25:25	Album Only
Play	9. Clementine [Live in Portland, February 2, 1968]	7:49	£0.69
Play	10. Mason's Children [Studio Version, 1970]	3:34	£0.69
Play	11. To Lay Me Down [American Beauty Outtake, 1970]	5:39	£0.69
Play	12. That's It For The Other One [Live in San Francisco, February 27, 1969]	20:53	Album Only
Play	13. Beautiful Jam [Live in Port Chester, February 19, 1971]	4:39	£0.69
Play	14. Chinatown Shuffle [Live in Rotterdam, May 11, 1972]	2:54	£0.69
Play	15. Sing Me Back Home [Live at Veneta County Fairgrounds, August 27, 1972]	10:26	Album Only
Play	16. Watkins Glen Soundcheck Jam [Live Rehearsal, July 27, 1973]	18:31	Album Only
Play	17. Dark Star Jam/Spanish Jam/U.S. Blues [Live in Miami, June 23, 1974]	18:59	Album Only
Play	18. Eyes Of The World [Live at Winterland, October 19, 1974]	18:30	Album Only
Play	19. The Wheel [Live in Chicago, June 29, 1976]	11:14	Album Only
Play	20. Stella Blue [Live in Lexington, April 21, 1978]	11:37	Album Only
Play	21. Estimated Prophet [Live in Morrison, August 12, 1979]	10:52	Album Only
Play	22. The Music Never Stopped [Live in San Francisco, October 14, 1980]	7:24	£0.69
Play	23. Shakedown Street [Live in San Francisco, December 31, 1984]	17:25	Album Only
Play	24. Cassidy [Live in East Rutherford, November 10, 1985]	5:47	£0.69
Play	25. Hey Pocky Way [Live in Greensboro, March 31, 1989]	6:02	£0.69
Play	26. Believe It Or Not [Built To Last outtake, 1988]	5:04	£0.69
Play	27. Playing In The Band [Live at Laguna Seca, July 29, 1988]	12:24	Album Only
Play	28. Gentlemen, Start Your Engines [Built To Last demo, 1988]	4:09	£0.69
Play	29. Death Don't Have No Mercy [Live at Shoreline Amphitheatre, September 29, 1989]	6:41	£0.69
Play	30. Scarlet Begonias/Fire On The Mountain [Live in Hamilton, Ontario, March 22, 1990]	19:34	Album Only
Play	31. Bird Song [Live at Nassau Coliseum, March 29, 1990]	13:09	Album Only
Play	32. Jam Out Of Terrapin [Live in Richfield, September 8, 1990]	5:08	£0.69
Play	33. Terrapin Station [Live in New York City, September 12, 1991]	12:34	Album Only
Play	34. Jam Out Of Foolish Heart [Live in New York City, September 18, 1990]	5:24	£0.69
Play	35. Way To Go Home [Live in Auburn Hills, July 31, 1994]	6:27	£0.69
Play	36. Liberty [Live in Atlanta, March 30, 1994]	5:59	£0.69
Play	37. Lazy River Road [Club Front rehearsal, February 18, 1993]	6:57	£0.69
Play	38. Eternity [Club Front rehearsal, February 18, 1993]	7:35	£0.69
Play	39. Jam Into Days Between [Rehearsal, February 9, 1993]	7:04	£0.69
Play	40. Days Between [Club Front rehearsal, February 18, 1993]	10:59	Album Only
Play	41. Whiskey In The Jar [Club Front rehearsal, February 16, 1993]	5:13	£0.69
Play	42. So Many Roads [Live in Chicago, July 9, 1995]	9:57

GRAPHIC NOVELS: XENOZOIC by MARK SCHULTZ (2011)

This review first appeared on Amazon UK.

If the names Burne Hogarth, Hal Foster, Frank Frazetta, and Al Williamson mean anything to you then order this book now. But there are other reasons.

Centuries after an environmental collapse, humanity has emerged from underground shelters to find a very changed world full of creatures from another time. Now tribal shamans try to maintain a balance between the needs of their people and the environment, a balance which many find restrictive. The setting of Xenozoic is the City in the Sea and its shaman is two-fisted mechanic-environmentalist Jack Tenrec who does things his way whether the ruling council like it or not. The story begins with the arrival of Hannah Dundee, ambassador of the Wassoon tribe of the Tidal Flats. Xenozoic is the story of Jack and Hannah.

The world Schultz creates is more complicated in every way than it first appears and writer/artist Schultz is in no hurry to give away its secrets. Indeed, by the end the book have the impression he's barely scratched the surface. Initially episodic, it develops into an ongoing and more assured narrative. Reminiscent of 1920's and 30's pulp fiction but with a modern sensibility, it's packed with action and skulduggery, monsters and beautiful women, and more.

And the artwork! In the tradition of the artists cited above but with a hint of Wally Wood and Berni Wrightson, the detailed black and white art is just gorgeous.

Great characters, a fascinating setting, good stories, wonderful art. Graphic stories just don't get much better than this.

DVD: ALFRED HITCHCOCK SEASON -THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY (1955)

 

It's autumn in Vermont and not far from a very small town there's a body on the hill which is extremely inconvenient. For various reasons four people keep burying and then digging up the corpse and love blossoms. This is a gentle romantic comedy with four quirky characters, two elderly and two just past their early youth. And that's pretty much it. Harry the body is the macguffin that has the four of them involved with each other. Shirley MacLaine in her first lead role is very good displaying a great talent for comic dialogue. Bernard Herrmann, with his first score for Hitchcock, does a good airy job.

And that's it really. A minor pleasure allowing the director to show he can direct light comedy.

(The screenplay is based on a novel of the same name by the prolific British writer Jack Trevor Story who these days, alas, has all but been forgotten.)

DVD: ALFRED HITCHCOCK SEASON -VERTIGO (1958)

A few weeks ago I bought a 14-disc box set of Alfred Hitchcock movies and last night I began working my way through them. I started with this one because it happened to be the first in the box working from left to right and that's the way I'll continue until, some weeks or months hence, I conclude with The Birds. There's a curious connection between that and Vertigo. Both starred Hitchcock's favoured ice-blondes, in these instances Kim Novak and Tippi Hedren. Both actresses gave up acting in favour of looking after animals.

I like that.

Watching a documentary on the Vertigo disc about how it was restored from faded prints, there is the frequent refrain (repeated by Martin Scorsese who appears) that this is Hitchcock's best movie. Great, I thought, it's all downhill from here. Whether that is the case or not, I'll  let you know some time. Now I have seen Vertigo before and it's not impossible that I saw it on its first release as I'd have been about 10 and my mum and I were regular cinema-goers. I certainly remember the big twist about Novak's identity and what was really going on.

But I don't think that affected my reactions to it. What I did notice is how slow it is. Once the story has actually got into gear -he has vertigo, a friend has hired him to follow his wife- a considerable amount of time is spent with James Stewart driving around San Francisco as he tails Novak. Why does she go to a gallery and sit before one portrait? Why does she rent a room in an hotel and only stay a couple of hours a week? Why does she visit the grave of a woman dead for 60 years? Of course what's really happening is that Stewart himself is becoming obsessed with her, falling in love with this mysterious haunted (?) beautiful woman before he even speaks to her. Not much actually happens by contemporary standards but Hitchcock is slowly weaving his spell.

Once they do get together, things move quickly and end with her death when she runs up a tower where Stewart is unable to follow, or at least not quickly enough, and throws herself off. Some time later he sees her double and the love for the presumably dead woman becomes an obsession as he wants to transform this double into an identical duplicate.

I'm being deliberately vague here in case you don't know the story but honestly, you;'d have to be pretty slow not to work it out before Stewart does. That isn't really the point. To me it's about an obsession for the unknowable. He never understands Novak in either of her incarnations. It's as if he's in love with the mystery of her. This is given emphasis by his lack of romantic interest in an old friend played by Barbara Bel Geddes. This character is pretty and witty, and wise and in love with him but all he can offer her is friendship and she isn't even seen once the film reaches its halfway mark and the obsession completely takes over.

Great work from the three main actors, beautiful photography, and well Hitchcock is Hitchcock, a legend of cinema.

Is this really going to be the best of the 14? Well, it's a good start.