Frenzy

Starring: Jon Finch & Barry Foster Director: Alfred Hitchcock  Rated:

DVD Features:

Audio:

• Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono - English, French

Additional Release Material:

• Featurette - The Story of Frenzy
• Trailer - Theatrical Trailer

Text/Photo Galleries:

• Production Notes
• Photos/Stills - Production Photographs

Product Description:

FRENZY was Alfred Hitchcock's next-to-last film--and the first film he'd made in England in 20 years. It was based on an Arthur La Bern novel and focuses on many of the same motifs that Hitchcock had obsessively examined throughout his life's work: the wrong man theme, the doubling theme (in which one person acts out the repressed violence of another), and the general public's thirst for sex and violence. Hitchcock had made films featuring Jack the Ripper-type killers before, including THE LODGER in 1926, a silent movie about a series of murders in London and a mysterious man who appears to be guilty of the crimes. In FRENZY, Hitchcock goes mod with this blackly comic story about a sex criminal--the Necktie Killer--plaguing post-Carnaby London. An innocent man who is suspected by police as the murderer must fight to nab the real perpetrator and clear his name. Though lesser known, FRENZY marked a striking return to form for the famed director. It was also his first R-rated picture. Anthony Shaffer's script is excellent, and Jon Finch brings distinctive qualities to his role as the classic Hitchcock man-accused hero.

Plot Keywords:

Classic | Drama | Essential Cinema | Framed | Killer | Murder | Murder Investigations | Mystery | Serial Killers | Suspense | Theatrical Release

Exerpts:

"I say, that's not my club tie, is it?" -- Politician, being pulled away after the discovery of a woman's body with a necktie around her throat

"You can inform Mrs. Blaney that one of her less successful exercises in matrimony has come to see her: Mr. Blaney." -- Richard Blaney (Jon Finch), announcing himself to his wife's receptionist

"I expect she'll turn up sooner or later. These days, ladies abandon their honor far more readily than their clothes." -- Chief Inspector Oxford (Alec McCowen) to pub operator Felix Forsythe (Bernard Cribbins)

"No, discretion is not traditionally the strong suit of the psychopath, dear. Believe me, that's what we're dealing with. You ought to read his wife's divorce petition." (Chief Inspector Oxford to his wife)

Production Notes:

• Hitchcock cameo: The director can be seen wearing a bowler hat in the center of a crowd three minutes into the film.
• The film is based on Arthur La Bern's novel GOODBYE PICCADILLY, FAREWELL LEICESTER SQUARE.
• Filmed at Pinewood Studios in Iver Heath and on location in London, England.
• The film's budget was less than $2 million.
• At the time Hitchcock was filming FRENZY he told Truffaut that THE LODGER was the one film he would really like to do over, because of its powerful story line.

Cast and Crew: