Principal cast: Karen Black, Bruce Dern, Barbara Harris, William Devane, Ed Lauter, Cathleen Nesbitt

Dir: Alfred Hitchcock

A charlatan spiritualist, Madame Blanche (played by Barbara Harris), is offered big bucks to find the heir to the Rainbird fortune by the last remaining family member, Julia Rainbird (Cathleen Nesbitt). The ageing spinster is easily duped into believing that Blanche is communicating with the spirit realm, and feels that she is the only person capable of tracking down this ‘John Doe’ by using her higher powers. To Blanche, this task has meal ticket written in neon, so she enlists the help of her smooth-talking taxi-driver boyfriend, George Lumley (Bruce Dern), to find this unknown heir. from this point on, things get very complicated, placing this financially struggling pair at cross purposes with a pair of jewel thieves which unwittingly involves them in kidnap and murder. Two seemingly separate stories intertwine. And it’s done well. No mess, no fuss.

The plot is involving - I won’t give it away - and the screenplay by Hitchcock favorite Ernest Lehman is well crafted, suspenseful, and often tongue-in-cheek. Thankfully, it doesn’t take itself too seriously. The casting agents have again hit their mark; the actors are great, especially Blanche and George, who bicker their way through every catastrophe. Their scenes together are always high points; full of suggestion that poor Blanche isn’t getting enough humpy-pumpy from her man - I KNEW good ‘ole Hitch would have to sneak some sexual undercurrent in there somewhere! The runaway car scene is a gem, the Hitchcock touch shines through. At one point in this scene Blanche appears to have her hands in George’s lap with him yelling ‘Pull on it, Pull on it’ as Blanche shrieks ‘I am pulling!’ Of course it’s obvious - the handbrake, what else?

The film engages the attention as you would expect from Hitchcock, but it SURE is a 70’s film - it’s actually his last. The clothes almost deserve a screen (dis)credit of their own - Edith Head (a legend in Hollywood heyday glamour) was the wardrobe consultant on the film. This may EXPLAIN her later suicide. Let’s face it, powder blue flared suits for men scream rock-bottom for a glamourpuss. Oh well - it’s a snapshot of the times. Also watch for the trademark Hitchcock appearance.

THE EXTRAS

Apart from standard scene selection and language selection (7 language subtitles and 2 audio languages is worth noting, though!) there was a Bonus Material section. This included a 45 minute ‘making of’ documentary entitled ‘Plotting Family Plot’. I watched this after the film itself, and found it very good. It provided lots of background information, placed the film within the context of Hitchcock’s career, and included interviews with some of the players and production staff. In many ways it came across as something of a Hitch retrospective, as I think he was well dead by the time this doco was made, with many interviewees commenting on Hitch?s ill health during the shoot. I was hoping for a Barbara Harris interview - no such luck. She seemed notably absent.

There is also a storyboard featuring an automatic scrolling through the many, many drawings that outlined the mid-film car sequence. I had to see it through! Interesting if only for making you realise how much planning went into the sequence to make it work. Likely to be Hitchcock’s own hand drawings, as it has been said that he used to draw every frame of his films before he even contemplated shooting them.

An Art Gallery of over 80 still photos is included. The number of shots included is mind boggling. Lots of Hitch in cemeteries (which is actually relevant to the film), but this also left me with a strong sense that this was his last film, and he knew it. I was wondering at one point why the stills hadn’t included any shots of the tea lady, but then I realised I was being ridiculous. Let’s just say that sometimes less is more.

Finally, there were two trailers for the film. I usually cringe when I see trailers, especially when you know their very purpose is to grab your attention quickly and in the most crass fashion possible. Again, not hard for the 70’s. So - they attempt to groov-ify the appeal of the master of suspense. Not for the faint-hearted. Plus, those baritone trailer narrations can make anything sound bad.

CONCLUSION

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this. I was scared that it wouldn’t measure up to the classic Hitchcock films that everyone has at least heard of, if not seen. What a relief to find that I can’t fault much except the fashion sense. It’s enjoyable, clever, amusing. Finding a 25 year old film that can hold it’s own amid the current Hollywood slew of sameness gives me a buzz. And guess what - Julia Roberts isn’t in it - bonus! Anyway - sound and vision are fine, but I’d still like to see more ‘oldies’ get the 5.1 makeover. Sound very often lets the DVD package down with films of this age. Bonus material shows worthy effort. This package gets my recommendation.