Month of Vertigo: Fragments of the Mirror

You might notice a subtle change in the banner--ah, the pressures on

Lady Eve's Month of Vertigo is drawing quickly to a close (I know, it seems like just yesterday we arrived . . .it's best at this point to not look down, just keep looking up until we reach the top of the bell tower). Today's post, from the Lady Eve, is a much needed appreciation of the "bit" players who account for the success of the film.  The director may be a genius, his writer Shakespeare, his leads Olivier and Streep--but one wrong moment from a one line walk on will ruin the entire film.  Those are just the rules of the universe--others may receive the laurels of auteur and "star' but those laurels are nailed to the talents of their team.  

Great "smart" directors like Hitchcock know this and his films are filled from top of the contract to floor sweeper with crew he considered the best in the business.  That is the real secret of Hollywood auteur--having a vision and then having the humility share that vision's reality with a team who are as talented and as strong willed as the director.  Much has been written knocking auteur theories, and there is an underlying truth in this criticism: film is a collaborative art.  But filmmakers, and by this I mean all who are involved with the craft, know that lots of crappy films without good directors, but no great movies can be made without them.  This principle holds true in society and we all intuitively understand this.

That said, moment's like Lady's Eve recognition of supporting players work is too rare.  

Also this week, the month featured a tour stop with an interview of Patrick McGilligan, film historian and biographer.  His recent biography of Hitchcock is the reference work of note on the filmmaker's life and takes the nasty taste away that was left by Donald Spoto's biography which made the director's life more tabloid fiction that reality.