STILETTO/HITCHOCK STRIKES AGAIN

It is often interesting to discover the inspiration for any film, because the genesis is often odd, and odd does not come much odder than the origins of this new short.

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It seems that Film London, the agency boosting film in the capital, and have been offering money for films about Alfred Hitchcock. The criteria for the funds” the filmmakers had to be living within the Waltham Forest Council district.

Why is that? you ask.

Or perhaps you already know that the great Alfred himself was born there.

So far, so logical. The only wonder is that everyone in the district doesn’t go after the money.

Perhaps they do. But, given the evidence here, it actually requires a lot more, including considerable talent, to actually succeed with an application.

Certainly the trio at the forefront of Stiletto are much more than a band of wannabe filmmakers keen on the master of suspense.

Yes, they all obviously have a passion for Hitchcock rather than just a hunger for some easy money. But they – producer Cynthia De Souza, director William Mager and writer Matthew Wakefield - also have some ten years each of successful filmmaking behind them.

And their prowess is proven in the quality of the cast and crew they put together.

Inevitably in a short, there are few main roles, although more here than in many films, and they are all played by established actors, including Beth Winslet (main photo), Tom Harper, Montserrat Lombard and Tim Woodward.

And how do they fit together. What kind of homage to Hitchcock did all these enthusiasts come up with.

Some suspense, indeed. But it might be foolish to aim for that alone, since it would be hard to out-suspense Hitchcock and might look silly trying.

So instead, Wakefield added in a dose of comedy. “I wanted to write a suspense thriller in the style of the great Hitchcock but with a dark comedic twist.

In short, a classic Hitchcock blonde, here aptly named The Femme Fatale, asks an unwitting stranger, The Artist, to mind her handbag, then disappears, leaving him to discover that the bag contains a bomb which is just about to go off.

Oh, dear, what to do? ponders The Artist. Have another drink and write a poem about the situation or should I deal with the bloody thing before it proves Fatale?

That’s the suspense. The comedy comes from Harper’s answer to the quesetion.

Harper plays the duped innocent Artist and says, I like the character’s naivety, that he would immediately believe this strange woman’s tale and be thrust into such shocking decision making. Personally, I spend too much time thinking in real life, I loved the fact that my character had no time to think and forcibly had to act in a way that was clearly totally out of character for him.

So what does he do? A clue: The Femme Fatale has told him that Woodward, The Executive, drinking one brandy too many in the corner, once raped her.

Suffice to say, this is one of those times when one brandy too many is definitely not a good idea.

For the record, Mager was awarded the funding in October 2007 and shot the film over three days in South London to be ready for a recent screening at the British Film Institute.

Also, he is deaf. How is that for a shock ending. Almost more of a mystery than Stiletto itself. Yet Harper says, Mager has an extraordinary understanding of sound, and I believe a more acute radar than your average person of when you are being truthful as he reads your face.

Posted June 18, 2008.