Psycho [Collector's Edition] DVD

Psycho
In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock was already famous as the screen's master of suspense (and perhaps the best-known film director in the world) when he released Psycho and forever changed the shape and tone of the screen Thriller. From its first scene, in which an unmarried couple balances pleasure and guilt in a lunchtime liaison in a cheap hotel (hardly a common moment in a major studio film in 1960), Psycho announced that it was taking the audience to places it had never been before, and on that score what followed would hardly disappoint. Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is unhappy in her job at a Phoenix, Arizona real estate office and frustrated in her romance with hardware store manager Sam Loomis (John Gavin). One afternoon, Marion is given $40,000 in cash to be deposited in the bank. Minutes later, impulse has taken over and Marion takes off with the cash, hoping to leave Phoenix for good and start a new life with her purloined nest egg. 36 hours later, paranoia and exhaustion have started to set in, and Marion decides to stop for the night at the Bates Motel, where nervous but personable innkeeper Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) cheerfully mentions that she's the first guest in weeks, before he regales her with curious stories about his mother. There's hardly a film fan alive who doesn't know what happens next, but while the shower scene is justifiably the film's most famous sequence, there are dozens of memorable bits throughout this film. The first of a handful of sequels followed in 1983, while Gus Van Sant's controversial remake, starring Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche, appeared in 1998. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Cast Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates Janet Leigh as Marion Crane Vera Miles as Lila Crane John Gavin as Sam Loomis Martin Balsam as Milton Arbogast, detective John McIntire as Chambers, the sheriff Simon Oakland as Dr. Richmond Frank Albertson as Tom Cassidy, millionaire Patricia Hitchcock as Caroline Vaughan Taylor as George Lowery Lurene Tuttle as Mrs. Chambers John Anderson as California Charlie Mort Mills as Highway Patrolman

Crew Helen Colvig - Costume Designer Hilton A. Green - First Assistant Director Alfred Hitchcock - Director George Tomasini - Editor Bernard Herrmann - Composer (Music Score) Jack Barron - Makeup Joseph Hurley - Production Designer Robert Clatworthy - Production Designer John L. Russell - Cinematographer Alfred Hitchcock - Producer George Milo - Set Designer Clarence Champagne - Special Effects William Russell - Sound/Sound Designer Waldon O. Watson - Sound/Sound Designer Joseph Stefano - Screenwriter Robert Bloch - Book Author

Psycho
In a decade in which what was acceptable onscreen would change more radically than at any other time in history, Psycho was in some ways the first shot in the battle for freer filmmaking in the 1960s. Few movies of its time were more direct and unapologetic in their violence or served it up with such disorienting abruptness or tongue-in-cheek wit. With its casual depiction of sex outside marriage, fleeting nudity, bursts of shocking violence, killing off a major character less than halfway through the movie, and focus on the psychological subtext of the murderer's personality, as well as the geometric imagery of Saul Bass's credit sequence and the percussive strings of Bernard Herrmann's score, Psycho was the film with which Hitchcock left the 1950s behind and started the 1960s with relish. Time hasn't hurt the film, either; it still generates a palpable tension and the odd chemistry between Perkins and Leigh in their dinner scene is a wonder to behold. While the film is still frightening after all these years, repeated screenings reveal a cold-blooded humor; with Psycho, Hitchcock tore asunder the audience's expectations of what a suspense film should be, and he appears to have had a wonderful time doing it. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
 

Alfred Hitchcock: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Director (nominated) Alfred Hitchcock: Directors Guild of America, Best Director (nominated) George Milo: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Black and White Art Direction (nominated) Janet Leigh: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Supporting Actress (nominated) Janet Leigh: Golden Globe, Best Supporting Actress (winner) John L. Russell: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Black and White Cinematography (nominated) Joseph Hurley: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Black and White Art Direction (nominated) Robert Clatworthy: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Black and White Art Direction (nominated)

AFI Fest, Film Presented (nominated) American Film Institute, 100 Greatest American Movies (winner) Library of Congress, U.S. National Film Registry (winner)

General Specifications: Language Options: English, French Subtitle Options: Spanish Sound Processing: DD2: Dolby Digital Stereo Additional Features: cc The Making of Psycho, an original documentary featuring new interviews with Hitchcock's daughter, Patricia Hitchcock O'Connell, Janet Leigh, screenwriter Joseph Stefano, and others Censored scene Theatrical trailers Production drawings The Shower Scene with and without music Additional newsreel footage Production photographs DVD Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1: Theatre Wide-Screen MPAA Rating: R DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 1 DVD DVD Region Code: 1 Content Length: 109 min Part of Series: The Alfred Hitchcock Collection   DVD Chapters: Side #1 -- 1. Main Titles [1:57] 2. The Stolen Hours [4:39] 3. Forty Thousand Dollars [4:06] 4. The Stolen Money [2:54] 5. A Woman on the Run [3:52] 6. The High-Pressure Customer [8:38] 7. The Bates Motel [8:17] 8. Dinner With Norman [3:44] 9. Mother's Problem [8:01] 10. The Shower [2:53] 11. Cleaning Up After Mother [9:09] 12. The Swamp [1:34] 13. Let's Talk About Marion [3:44] 14. The Path to Marion Crane [2:30] 15. The Stammering Suspect [5:53] 16. Back to the Bates Motel [4:06] 17. Death and the Detective [1:07] 18. Looking for Arbogast [2:37] 19. The Dead of Night [3:17] 20. The Late Mrs. Bates [3:17] 21. Mr. and Mrs. Loomis [5:10] 22. Cabin One [3:02] 23. Looking for Mrs. Bates [5:40] 24. Mother [1:04] 25. The Other Half [5:20] 26. I Wouldn't Hurt a Fly... [1:39] 1. Introduction [1:32] 2. The Novel and the True Story [3:19] 3. The Screenwriter of "Psycho" [7:37] 4. A Low-Budget Film [1:38] 5. Casting [10:35] 6. Production Begins [2:57] 7. Hitchcock's Cameo [2:32] 8. Production Stories [5:17] 9. Working With Tony Perkins [2:52] 10. Hitchcockian Themes [3:20] 11. Breaking Taboos [3:09] 12. The Shower Scene [13:43] 13. After the Murder [1:35] 14. The Murder of Arbogast [3:32] 15. Working With Hitchcock [3:11] 16. Meeting Mother [4:03] 17. Psychoanalysis [3:02] 18. The Score [4:51] 19. Finishing the Film [:47] 20. Censorship [1:51] 21. Before the Release [1:58] 22. Don't Miss the Beginning... [2:35] 23. Making the Trailer [2:06] 24. The Reviews [1:22] 25. It's All for the Audience [2:48] 26. End Credits [1:49]