FRENZY

UK, 1972, 116 minutes, Colour.
Jon Finch, Alec Mc Cowan, Barry Forster, Anna Massey, Barbara Leigh- Hunt, Billie Whitelaw, Vivien Merchant, Bernard Cribbins, Michael Bates.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Frenzy is late Hitchcock, coming two years after Topaz. Hitchcock has returned to England and to the suspense murder (rather than mystery which gives you only a momentary surprise at its solution) for which he is famous. He also takes up the theme of The Wrong Man who is condemned by appearances when innocent.

Critics praised the film. Hitchcock uses the recent freedom of language and more graphic presentation of violence and sexuality to make his murder story more foreceful. He employs many of his clever technical devices. But he is helped by excellent performances from a very talented cast. Anthony Shaffer ("Sleuth") wrote the screenplay.
Vintage Hitchcock.

1. Critics looked up "frenzy" in the dictionary and decided that the film did not live up to the meaning of the word. Is this true? What did Hitchcock mean by it?

2. How did the film basically work? How important was it for the audience to think for forty minutes that Dick was violent and that Bob was a pleasant chap, and then to change our views? What effect does this have on the audience? How does it affect their emotional responses and sympathies?

3. What impression did the grand opening on the Thames, the anti-pollution rally, the corpse, the comments on the situation and Dick's tying his tie make?

4. What kind of man was Dick? Why so violent, difficult, why was he divorced, working in a pub given his air force record? Was Dick's character credible?

5. What kind of man was Bob in his jovial dapperness, love of Hum, helping people?

6. What techniques did Hitchcock use to contrast the two?

7. What kind of girl was Babs? Was she a credible character (contrasting with the pub-owner)? Was she likeable? How important was this for the film (and her murder)?

8. Was the relationship between Dick and his wife well drawn - in her office, at the club, taking her home? (What did the audience see and think? What did the secretary think?).

9. Should the rape and strangling have been shown in such graphic detail - for realism? What of taste? Since we had seen one murder so thoroughly, how did we react when Babs was murdered and we saw nothing the camera receded down the stairs and out into the street?

10. Was Dick's behaviour after he knew he was wanted credible? why did Babs trust him?

11. What role did the Porters play? Why was the wife so hostile? Why did they ultimately refuse to help him?
How did the audience react to this?

12. How were you feeling when Bob offered to help Babs and then murdered her?

13. Was the potato truck episode effective or too bizarre? Why?

14. What kind of men were the Inspector and his assistant? What was the point about food and the wife's recipes? How bizarre? How much comic relief?

15. What were your feelings when Bob offered to help Dick who trusted him? When Dick was arrested? How frustrating is it to watch an innocent man (no matter how violent) condemned as guilty?

16. Was Dick's escape credible? What motivated him? Was he guilty of killing Bob although he only struck the dead girl?

17. How good was the ending? What makes a Hitchcock film memorable?