As
fine an actor as Anthony Hopkins is he gets wiped off the screen, as
everyone else does, when Helen Mirren appears in the new film
“Hitchcock”.  There is a 2 minute scene near the latter part of the film
when Mirren, (as Alma Reville, Hitchcock’s wife) that is mesmerizing
and screams Oscar. Right now the two best actresses in the cinema world
are Judi Dench and Helen Mirren and they are both on movie screens for
the holiday with Dench in “Skyfall”.

In
a recent movie on HBO,called “The Girl”, Toby Jones plays Hitchcock,
supposedly obsessed with Tippi Hedren, and though he does a better job
than Hopkins this is the better movie. It wasn’t so long ago that Jones
was in the same position when he played Truman Capote as did Philip
Seymour Hoffman and, while the latter won an Oscar for his performance,
Jones didn’t even get a nomination.

Hopkins
instead of being helped by a fat suit, and face prosthetics, seems to
be hindered by them though he certainly gives a credible performance.
 Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh is far too blond and voluptuous
 while James D’Arcy, as Anthony Perkins, is convincing in the Norman
Bates interpretation . Up until the ending credits it was almost
impossible to tell that was Toni Collette playing Hitchcock’s secretary!
Jessica Biel as Vera Miles gets dismissed by Hitchcock when she chooses
family over worldwide stardom and is fulfilling her contract role to
end her association with the famous director.

In
case the above information doesn’t tell you,  “Hitchcock” is a behind
the scenes look at the making of the movie “Psycho”.  It is also about
the marriage of Alfred and Alma, the latter his muse, assistant, writer,
sometimes fill in director and wife who seems to amused, to a point,
about his ‘affairs’ with his leading ladies.

“Hitchcock”
is an entertaining film with a few laughs though a music score that is
bland except when playing the shower scene and the theme music from
Hitchcock’s TV show. There is an unnecessary secondary story about Ed
Gein who was the model for Norman Gates plus a few other movies. The
director, Sacha Gervasi, and the screenwriter, John J. McLaughlin, base
the movie on a book, “Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho” by
Stephen Rebello. Hitchcock was known to be a very private man so how
much is true and how much is made up, especially about his marriage, is
hard to tell.

“Hitchcock”
is a 98 fast moving film that holds your interest for the people
depicted on screen and, if for nothing else, that 2 minute scene spoken
about in the first paragraph and the rest of Helen Mirren’s
performance!