Suspicion – Well-to-do wallflower Lina McLaidlaw is in love, perhaps in danger. She suspects that Johnnie Aysgarth, the playboy who swept into her life and married her, is a murderer – and that she is his next intended victim.

Alfred Hitchcock’s Suspicion shyly combines romance, mystery and atmospheric flourishes (like an eerie, glowing glass of milk, an effect achieved with a light bulb inside in glass). Joan Fontaine plays vulnerable, nerve-wracked Lina, following her acclaimed work in Hitchcock’s Rebecca with a striking performance that won the Academy Award and New York Film Critics Award as 1941′ Best Actress. Playing against type, Cary Grant makes Johnnie an imposing charmer, wastrel and cad. But also a killer? Like the glass that may or may not contain poison, Johnnie’s words and deeds may or may not be laced with menace.

I Confess – In Alfred Hitchcock’s I Confess, Father Michael Logan (Montgomery Clift), apparently a model of clerical piety, hears a killer’s confession. Eyewitnesses point to a priest as the murderer and the sacrament of penance forbids Logan to speak out – even in his own defense – when circumstantial evidence targets Logan as the prime suspect!

Academy Award winners Anne Baxter and Karl Malden co-star as a former flame and a police inspector whose attempts to clear Logan only entrap him further. Filmed in Quebec on locations highlighting that city’s Old World traditions, I Confess races toward a climax that’s unforgettable. And in true Hitchcock fashion, you’ll confess to being hooked all the way.

Dial M For Murder – This screen adaptation of Frederick Knott’s popular stage drama stars Ray Milland (The Lost Weekend) as Tony Wendice, a professional tennis player who conspires to kill his wife Margot (Grace Kelly, Rear Window) when he learns of her infidelity with another man (Robert Cummings, Saboteur).

After hiring a down-on-his-luck crook (Anthony Dawson, Dr. No) to carry out the murder, Wendice assumes his next step will be to collect his wife’s sizable inheritance. However, his plans spiral out of control as Margot turns the tables on her would-be assailant, an action that forces Wendice to improvise in order to avoid the suspicions of his wife and a tenacious police inspector (John Williams, To Catch a Thief).

The Wrong Man – The Wrong Man is like and unlike any other Alfred Hitchcock movie. The story packs tension, the images are spellbinding and the dilemma genuinely frightening. But this time the master of suspense dramatizes the harrowing true experiences of a man tried for crimes committed by a lookalike robber.

Henry Fonda plays musician Manny Balestrero, a man full of visible but unspoken rage at his wrongful arrest. Vera Miles is his distraught wife Rose, driven to madness by the ordeal. And the right man to bring the unsettling facts of the case to vivid screen life with documentary precision is Hitchcock. He made New York City a star of the film and cast real-life Balestrero case witnesses in small roles. He shot in many actual locations, among them the Stork Club, Manny’s jail cell and Rose’s sanitarium.

For thoughts on Alfred Hitchcock: 4-Film Collection, please check out our discussions on The Video Attic:

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Video Quality

The four films in Alfred Hitchcock: 4-Film Collection come to Blu-Ray courtesy of Warner Archive in very comparable quality, but there are differences worth pointing out. Suspicion, I Confess, and The Wrong Man were all handled by Warner Archive proper with 2K scans of the Fine Grain Master Positives. Dial M For Murder is the anomaly here as it was released several years before these releases by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment in both 3D and 2D. We do not have the correct equipment to view the 3D version of the film, but it is clear that the 2D version of Dial M For Murder has some digital anomalies that thankfully never plague the Warner Archive releases. These are all pretty great releases, but the proper Warner Archive titles are the ones that come close to perfection.

While it would be easy to break down Suspicion, I Confess, and The Wrong Man individually, the quality is uniformly excellent across the board and there would be a lot of repeating thoughts. The beautiful black-and-white photography sparkles in high definition with natural grain intact. The contrast is impeccably defined, and there is virtually no print damage to be found during any of these classics. The preservation efforts that Warner undertakes with their films always give them a renewed lease on life that is a treasure for film fans. There is a formidable amount of detail present with nice texture on the costumes and in the production design. Black levels are appropriately deep with no trace of black crush or compression artifacts. The quality of these transfers is simply a wonder to behold.

Dial M For Murder takes on some of these traits, but the release is a step down from the other three titles. One of the biggest differences with this title is the color photography which thankfully looks stunning as it saturates the frame. Grain thankfully has not been scrubbed away as it resolves favorably on screen. You also get some very enjoyable detail in some of the close-up shots that make the confined apartment feel more complex. The problems pop up when it comes to some of the egregious ringing and the precipitous drop in fine detail in wide shots. The downturns in quality are sharp when they happen, and we really think this one could use a fresh 4K UHD Blu-Ray upgrade. Even with its faults, the disc works more than it doesn’t. If you are a fan of the Master of Suspense, this collection will mostly treat you extremely well.

Audio Quality

All four Blu-Ray discs come with DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio tracks that are in great shape. Dialogue and background noises are represented very well along with powerful scores from the likes of Franz Waxman, Dimitri Tiomkin, and Bernard Hermann. No sounds ever overpower the classic dialogue that is of the utmost importance to the films. There are fleeting instances when exchanges register as a bit weak, but this is not a consistent issue. There is very little discernable age-related wear and tear to the tracks such as hissing or popping. While mostly dialogue-driven throughout, the more active moments are handled with ease and give the tracks a bit of excitement. Warner Archive has provided the most consistent audio tracks possible at the moment on these discs. There are also optional English (SDH) and an array of other subtitles included for the feature films.

Special Features

Suspicion

Before The Fact – Suspicious Hitchcock: A 22-minute archival featurette that explores the history of the film featuring interviews with Bill Krohn (author of Hitchcock at Work), John Waxman (son of the film’s composer), TCM’s Robert Osborne, director Peter Bogdanovich, film historian Richard Schickel, Pat Hitchcock (Hitchcock’s daughter), and more. This also gives some background information on the development of the film from the original novel, the casting of the ensemble, the structure of the film, and more.

Trailer: A nearly two-minute trailer is provided here.

I Confess

Hitchcock’s Confession – A Look At I Confess: A 21-minute archival featurette that explores the history of the film featuring interviews with Bill Krohn (author of Hitchcock at Work), TCM’s Robert Osborne, director Peter Bogdanovich, film historian Richard Schickel, Pat Hitchcock (Hitchcock’s daughter), and more. This also gives some background information on the influence of Hitchcock’s background on the production, the development of the film from the original play, the casting of the ensemble, the fight with the censors, and more.

Gala Canadian Premiere for I Confess Newsreel Footage: A minute-long newsreel piece that gives you a look at the premiere of the film with Anne Baxter and Alfred Hitchcock in attendance.

Theatrical Trailer: The nearly three-minute trailer is provided here.

Dial M For Murder

2-D and 3-D Versions of the Film (Requires 3-D Television)

Hitchcock and Dial M: A 22-minute archival featurette that explores the history of the film featuring interviews with TCM’s Robert Osborne, director Peter Bogdanovich, director M. Night Shyamalan, film historian Richard Schickel, Pat Hitchcock (Hitchcock’s daughter), and more. This also gives some background information on the development of the film from the original play, the casting of the ensemble, the camerawork in the confined space, and more.

Theatrical Trailer: The nearly three-minute trailer is provided here.

The Wrong Man

Guilt Trip – Hitchcock and The Wrong Man: A nearly 21-minute archival featurette that explores the history of the film featuring interviews with TCM’s Robert Osborne, director Peter Bogdanovich, film historian Richard Schickel, art director Pat Sylbert, and more. This also gives some background information on the influence of Hitchcock’s background on the production, the opening of the film, the casting of the ensemble, and more.

Trailer: The two-and-a-half-minute trailer is provided here.

Final Thoughts

The Alfred Hitchcock: 4-Film Collection is a wonderful slice of one of the most iconic filmmakers in cinematic history. Throughout these four films, the Master of Suspense explores stories of distrust, morality, ruthlessness, paranoia, and much more that makes for a cohesive grab bag of his talents. Each film has its own identity that allows this set to offer up some diversity in story while still delivering enthralling narratives. If you are looking for a great starter pack of his work, you could do much worse. This Blu-Ray collection collects the four previous individual releases into one lower-priced set in a nice space-saving package. These discs offer a mostly terrific A/V presentation and some noteworthy extras. This is a set that no film fan should be without. Essential

Alfred Hitchcock: 4-Film Collection can be purchased directly through MovieZyng or various other online retailers.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Warner Archive has supplied a copy of this set free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.