REGULARS
Should you hedge your bets?
Our financial expert is taking a break this month, so we are reprinting one of his most popular articles. Right now seems an appropriate time to think about how we can refresh our investment portfolios and add some zest to assist their growth. We can all take time out from watching UBC to consider some alternatives. Many of us have sustained heavy losses in the markets in recent years and we really need to look at how best to recover quickly. Hedge funds have been touted as investments that offer a positive return whether the markets go up, down or sideways and will perform come rain or shine. So should we consider adding them to our portfolio? Since 1994 hedge fund assets under management have climbed from $100bn to over $1 Trillion. The bulk of that growth has come from the most sophisticated institutional investors in the world. There has to be good reason to satisfy this savvy lot, especially as charges are much higher than traditional investments. A long only equity manager can expect clients to pay 1.5 percent in management fees with no performance charge. In hedge funds the same client can expect fees of 1.5 percent to 2.0 percent for a top manager as well as a performance fee of between 15 to 20 percent MAN, the world’s biggest alternative investment provider are until 21st. of this month offering a new guaranteed hedge fund the “MAN AP Enhanced Series 2 “ and are charging the high fees I just mentioned. Would you pay these charges and add a hedge fund to your portfolio? This offer targets growth of 16 percent to 18 percent per annum...The shrewd investor would have to ask if this level of growth is really possible and sustainable. So for an answer let’s look at performed over the good and bad times of the last ten years. The “AHL Institutional programme”, forms the cornerstone of Man’s investment strategy. Compare this with the MSCI world stock index and world bonds over the same period. From October 1995 to June 2004 AHL returned 325.9 percent in total with an annualized growth rate of 18 percent. That compares with 76.5 percent for world stocks and 74.6 percent for world bonds with annualized growth for stocks at 6.7 percent and bonds 6.6 percent. In October 1999 Man launched the first of their AP series called the MAN AP Stratum (now closed to new premium}. From its launch its cumulative return has been 79.2 percent annualized 13.1 percent world stock returns again over the same period have been -5 percent, annualized -1.1 percent. These figures make a compelling argument to include hedge funds in your portfolio but I don’t want to be accused of wearing blinkers and ignoring the downside so let me explain. Equity managers criticise them for their investment strategies saying they carry too much risk and charge excessively. As part of the investment mainstream they are unsustainable, they maintain. I agree with some of their criticism but take the opposite view on their core argument. Hedge funds are here to stay. They do however have a point being wary of hedge fund operators. There are around 8,000 providers masquerading as safe havens for the investor who wants to make a killing and live the early retirement dream in a luxury apartment in Thailand. Because of this it makes sense to adopt some of the cautionof equity managers and be wary of an industry, open for subscription to retail investors for just over ten years The truth is I would not entrust one penny to any company offering hedge funds who did not have an investment track record of more than a hundred years, whose offers are not
guaranteed by an independent AAA rated bank and who do not have at least 20 billion dollars under management.That sure narrows the field! For these reason there are only a handful of hedge fund operators I would recommend. Remember the world’s must sophisticated investors did not become rich by being stupid. With an open mind they
investigated every new offer and jumped in where they saw quality with potential. Why don’t you give your portfolio a
boost and do the same?
For your comments on this article please contact Jerry at
info@swissinvestcenter.net
Mag’s Page
February was a busy little month here in the U.K, with an early Lent, Chinese New Year, Pancake Day, and that post Christmas boost for the greetings card trade, Valentines. All this and not a bank holiday in sight. Browsing through the usual glossy pages of ‘gift ideas for your loved one’ (as if!) I realised two things; first - gone are the days when a bunch of daffs or a box of chocs would do, and second, just how many gadgets are out there these days. We get so many brochures through the door full of things we never knew we needed. Especially in the kitchen department, where you apparently need pedal bins with three compartments for recycling, together with degradable drawstring little bags to store the food waste destined for the compost. Which makes my takeaway tray next to the sink look a bit grubby. Anyway, back to the Valentines Specials. As well as the inevitable pink I Pod Nanos and phones, gifts range up to Asprey luggage. Pink of course! One enterprising Bar Keep even invented a £5,000 cocktail. (Yes, that’s 3 zeros.) Granted, with a rather large diamond in the bottom of the glass, which seems a dodgy place to conceal such a rock at the best of times, let alone when the authorities are desperate to stop the spiking of drinks. The consequences of some unsuspecting Essex WAG downing the lot in one gulp just don’t bear thinking about. At least a diamond is forever, if only in the sense that it’s a pretty hard mineral not prone to degrading. What about all the other stuff? After very little thought I came up with my own list of ‘most annoying gadgets’. You will all have your own pet gadget hates, but to start you off here are my own three, in ascending order of course. In at 3 is Bluetooth. Originally intended mainly for use while driving - though even hands free mobile use at the wheel is now an understandable cause for concern. The real problem I have with them is their apparent increase in use on the streets. Apparent, because you can never really be sure. Is that person walking around talking into thin air using a phone? Or are they a paranoid schizophrenic! Best give them all a wide berth just in case. A close second at 2 is the digital photo frame. A logical enough development from the home computer and digital camera, these gadgets seem to be the ideal wedding gift list filler. No longer do the happy couple have to select the one perfectly composed and lit picture, with the prettiest background, to display for eternity on the mantelpiece. Now they can include all the dross as well in a constantly changing gallery all within one flickering little frame. Top of the list at a well-deserved number 1 has to be another fashionable one for the wedding list - the Chocolate Fountain. As a closet chocoholic I was quite looking forward to my first dabble in what is now an essential feature of any party. Selecting a juicy ripe strawberry I tried to coat it in runny warm chocolate. What a let down. Whoever imagined that a strawberry, or even a chunk of Dole tinned pineapple for that matter, could ever be enhanced by a dripping mess of tepid chocolate has a lot to answer for. Lets stick to strawberries with cream (preferably double,) pineapple with gammon, and chocolate in nice purple wrappers please! Yes, I realise that in these days of Celebrity Chefs the gammon and pineapple combo is about as old hat as sausage and mash. Few of you can have missed the meteoric rise of Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsey. If you have, don’t worry. They may turn out a mean soufflé, but for the more mature woman there are Rick Stein, Marco Pierre White and others who could really put the truffle on your jus! All of these though took a back seat last month with the release of a new book by Delia - doyenne of the egg - Smith. After a four-year absence from our kitchens Delia really put the cat among the pigeons by telling us how to cheat at cooking. Shockwaves ran through the world of Haute Cuisine. We are now given the OK to use packet sauce mixes with abandon, together with any tinned meat (from Marks and Sparks. The woman must be on commission) and frozen veggies in abundance. Well I’m sorry to say Delia, but this is nothing new in Mags’ kitchen at all. When people like Sharwoods, Schwartz and Auntie Bessie go to all the trouble of mixing, blendingand preparing for you it would seem foolish not to make use of them. I would draw the line at tinned minced beef, preferring to keep the local butcher in a job, but having battled over the years to make a decent curry from scratch it’s a jar of Sharwoods now every time. I even located a source of Lobo Holy Basil Seasoning Paste recently. Sadly they don’t stock the Massaman paste, or anything for an easy Larb. Maybe Delia could help? Watch out next month for another tip on the UK State Pensions minefield.
Pub Quiz
Hello again from Hua Hin’s quizmasters. As usual the fortnightly quiz is taking place at Dick’s Office. The dates for your diary this month are the 9th and 23rd. The tried and tested formula of six question rounds and a picture round last between 20.00 and about 21.30. Quiz-night is not only cerebral teasing; there are substantial Sunday roasts on offer and cold beer to wash them down. You don’t have to worry about missing the big game on that night as a large screen shows all the sport as the questions are asked. Prizes are presented to the winning team, of course, and also the team with the best name. Team names have to be topical and also witty to get the attention of the adjudicator. Now for some examples of questions from the last quiz. Who won the 2007 cricket world cup? What is the chemical symbol for arsenic? Which agricultural catastrophe was known as Black 47? If you find these are within your intellectual scope then come down to Dick’s Office on the 9th and 23rd of this month and take onthe quizmasters. Everyone is welcome so bring your friends. See you there, Terry and Hugo
Health Issues
CARDIAC SCREENING EXAMINATIONS: The ideal medical screening tests
are ones that can be done easily, with minimal risk, are reliable in detecting
existing disease and can also detect the presence of conditions which may not be
causing any problems at the present time, but will, if left untreated, give problems
in the future. A test is said to have a ‘predictive value” if it can forecast the future
by identifying situations which will lead, if untreated, to problems occurring in
the future. The purpose of screening examinations is to detect ‘hidden’ problems
and to treat them before they become life threatening. The tests that are available for assessing cardiac status fulfil all these criteria. We can test your heart, assess both its present status and also predict whether there are hidden problems that may lead to problems in the future. Like all things in medicine these forecasts are not a hundred percent accurate but they do have a high ‘predictive value’ It is a strange irony that the heart, the organ that pumps blood to every other part of the body, can be damaged by not being able to pump enough blood to itself. The principle function of blood is to carry oxygen, as every cell in the body needs oxygen to survive. As arteries age they can be damaged by a sediment that builds up in their walls. The coronary arteries that supply blood to the muscular wall of the heart are the arteries most likely to be blocked by this plaque that builds up in the wall of arteries. The development of the cholesterol plaque is influenced by lifestyle risk factors such as:, diet, smoking, high cholesterol level, diabetes, high blood pressure and the lack of exercise. These atheromatous plaques narrow the arteries but as long as the heart muscles are getting a reasonable amount of oxygen from the blood supply, there will be no symptoms. If, however, the arteries narrow to a critical level then the blood flow will be insufficient to support the heart muscles cells and a group of them, lacking oxygen, may die. The patientmay have a heart attack; some may not survive. The Bangkok Heart Hosp offers Cardiac screening programs that provide a thorough assessment of your cardiac status and can identify treatment or lifestyle changes that will lower your chances of developing serious heart problems in the future. Traditionally it has been thought that cardiac disease was one that principally attacked males; more recent work has shown that in older age groups the risks to women are equally worrying. Female patients should also undergo cardiac testing, especially if there is a family history of heart disease. The tests will examine the rate, rhythm and efficiency of your heart, will evaluate the blood supply of the heart muscles and assess whether the heart is getting sufficient oxygenation. The really good news is that if we can identify factors that are putting you at risk of having a heart attack, we can recommend treatments to
eliminate these factors and prevent a catastrophe from occurring. Although the medical technology is helpful it is important that you first be seen by a physician. You will have the opportunity to discuss any symptoms or concerns that you might have. A family history and details of previous illnesses and hospitalizations will be taken. A physical examination including taking your blood pressure and listening to your heart through a stethoscope will be performed. An important part of the testing is the examination of our blood. A measurement of the Haemoglobin will indicate the oxygen carrying capability of the blood. A measure of the Blood Sugar will indicate the presence of Diabetes, a measure of the Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) will indicate thyroid disease and a measure of the Creatinine and the Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN) will indicate kidney problems. All of these conditions can affect Cardiac function. A measure of the level of Cholesterol and triglycerides in your blood is essential. Having the wrong levels of these important factors can lead to heart problems. The level of the Low Density Cholesterol (LDL or bad Cholesterol) and Tri-glycerides should ideally be low and the High Density Cholesterol (HDL, the good Cholesterol) should be high. If the tests show abnormal results you can be counselled on the dietary and lifestyle changes that you should make in order to lower your risk. If these simple changes are not successful there are medications that are effective in improving the levels. It has been shown that improving your lipid profile lowers the risk of you having a heart attack or stroke. An X-ray of the chest is performed. This old-established test is helpful in showing the size of the heart. It also gives useful information about the lungs the organ that is responsible for oxygenating the blood. The work of the heart is controlled by a self-generated electrical system that causes the heart muscle to contract. These signals can be studied by performing
an Electro-cardiogram or ECG. (EKG in the USA) Leads are placed on your chest, arms and legs and the machine documents this activity. By studying the graphs produced we can check that this system is working well. It can also give a clue that areas of the heart muscle have been damaged possible due to lack ofoxygen to these areas. If the ECG is showing some changes then an exercise ECG can be performed.The regular ECG shows how the heart is behaving when no stress is being placed on it. In the exercise or Stress ECG we connect all the leads to your body and then have you run on a treadmill while we observe the ECG. This will show whether the heart is obtaining the appropriate blood supply that it needs when it is working hard. Ankle-Brachial Index. Blood pressure (BP) studies are performed; cuffs are placed on your arms and legs and a pulse graph is obtained of both. The BP in the arms and legs should be almost the same and any difference can indicate problems in
the arterial supply of the legs. Echocardiography is a technique to study the anatomy and physiology of the heart. Ultrasonic sound waves are bounced off the structures of the heart and a picture made of the returning signals; by studying them we can gain information about congenital anomalies of the heart, the size of the chambers, the structure of the walls and the working of the valves. We can also calculate the ability of the heart to pump blood; this is expressed as an “Ejection fraction”. Just as the ECG can be performed with the heart under stress exercise (stress test); the same can be done with an echo study, so called “Stress Echo”. Bangkok Heart Hospital has a package, the Basic Heart package, that includes the Doctors visit, the Blood tests, Chest X-ray, ECG and Exercise stress test for 4450 baht. Other packages that include Echo testing, stress Echo testing, CT 64 slice CT scan for Calcium score and anatomy of the coronary artery, MRI studies are also available. These are the most commonly performed tests but others are available to provide more information when it is needed. CT scanning can identify the amount ofcalcium that has been deposited in arteries; the dangerous atheromatous plaques contain calcium and can be seen and evaluated on CT scanning. The CT scan has become the most useful tool to evaluate the coronary artery disease. This latest technology provides the information almost as good as coronary angiogram. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can also be useful as it can give more information about the heart at the cellular level. Alan Goddard is a semi-retired man living in Thailand. He held a pilots license and although he is not using it, he would hate to lose it. In order to re-license he had to have a physical examination. He was in good health, played golf several times a week and apart from occasional breathlessness on exertion had no symptoms. He came to Bangkok Medical Centre for a routine heath examination and a minor change was noted on his ECG. He was referred to the heart hospital and a stress ECG was performed which showed a more worrying tracing. After consultation with a Cardiologist he returned the following day and an Echo study and Coronary angiography were performed. In this latter test dye is injected into the coronary arteries and the vessels studied. It was found that he had severe blockage of three major coronary arteries. After more consultations he decided to accept the Doctor’s advice and two days later underwent Coronary Artery Bypass surgery in order to restore blood supply to his heart. The operation and rehabilitation went well, he has been counselled about his diet and lifestyle and hopefully will live to enjoy his retirement in Thailand; he has a Health screening examination to thank for this. The Bangkok Heart Hospital offers a selection of screening programs. The cost is from 5000 baht. The one that I would recommend includes the basic testing and a stress Echo test, and this package is 8900 baht.
Arts & Culture
The latest in our Arts and Culture series takes on a mighty challenge – trying to define and profile the greatest film directors of all time. We are not, however, going to attempt the impossible by ranking them as well, because this is art, not science. No doubt every reader will have their own opinions on this, and will be mortified if their particular favourite is not included, but as we are presenting them one by one, you never know, your choice may appear next month! And so, without further ado, may we present … Alfred Hitchcock. Alfred Hitchcock was born on August 13, 1899, in Leytonstone, London. He often described his childhood as being very lonely and sheltered, which was undoubtedly compounded by his weight issues. It is widelyknown that as a child, Hitchcock’s father once sent him to their local police station with a note asking the officer to lock him away for ten minutes as punishment for behaving badly. This idea of being harshly treated or wrongfully accused is more than commonly reflected in Hitchcock’s films. His mother would often make him address her while standing at the foot of her bed, especially if he behaved badly, forcing him to stand there for hours. This would be recalled by the character Norman Bates in Psycho. When Hitchcock was about 18, he became intrigued by photography and started working in film in London. In 1920, he got a full-time job at Islington Studios designing the titles for silent movies. In 1925, he directed his first film, The Pleasure Garden made at Ufa studios in Germany. The commercial failure of this film threatened to derail his promising career but in 1926, Hitchcock made his 
debut in the thriller genre with The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog, which
was a major commercial and critical success when it was released throughout the
U.K. in January 1927. This is the first truly “Hitchcockian” film, incorporating
such themes as the “wrong man”. Hitchcock preferred the use of suspense over surprise in his films. In surprise, the director assaults the viewer with frightening things. In suspense, the director tells or shows things to the audience that the characters in the film do not know, and then artfully builds tension around what will happen when the characters finallylearn the truth. Further blurring the moral distinction between the innocent and the guilty, occasionally making this indictment inescapably clear to viewers one and all, Hitchcock also makes voyeurs of his “respectable” audience. In Rear Window (1954), after L. B. Jeffries (played by James Stewart) has been staring across the courtyard at him for most of the film, Lars Thorwald (played by Raymond Burr) confronts Jeffries by saying, “What do you want of me?” Burr might as well have been addressing the audience. In fact, shortly before asking this, Thorwald turns to face the cameradirectly for the first time — at this point, audiences often gasp. Similarly, Psycho begins with the camera moving toward a hotel-room ,window, through which the audience is introduced to Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) and her divorced boyfriend Sam Loomis (John Gavin). They are partially undressed, having apparently had sex though they are not married and Marion is on her lunch “hour.” Later, along with Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), we watch Marion undress through a peephole. One of Hitchcock’s favourite devices for driving the plots of his stories and creating suspense was what he called
the “MacGuffin.” He would use this plot device extensively. Many of his suspense films revolve around this device: a detail which, by inciting curiosity and desire, drives the plot and motivates the actions of characters within the story, but whose specific identity and nature is unimportant tothe spectator of the film. In The 39
Steps, the Macguffin is a stolen set of blueprints. In Vertigo, “Carlotta Valdes” is a MacGuffin; she never appears and the details of her death are unimportant to the viewer, but the story about her ghost’s haunting of Madeleine Elster is the spur for Scottie’s investigation of her, and hence the film’s entire plot. In Notorious, the uranium that the main characters must recover before it reaches Nazi hands serves as a similarly arbitrary motivation: any dangerous object would suffice. And state secrets of various kinds serve as MacGuffins in several of the spy films, especially his earlier British films The Man Who Knew Too Much,The 39 Steps, and The Lady Vanishes. In Psycho, what might be mistaken for a red herring at the beginning of the film (a package containing $40,000 in stolen money) is actually a MacGuffin. Hitchcock has stated that the best MacGuffin “the emptiest” was the one used in “North By Northwest”, which was referred toas “Government secrets” Numerous motifs (recurring objects or stylistic choices) can be found throughout Hitchcock’s work. Ordinary Person - Placing an ordinary person into extraordinary circumstances is a common element of Hitchcock’s films. In The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), James Stewart plays an ordinary man from Indianapolis vacationing in Morocco when his son is kidnapped. In The Wrong Man, Henry Fonda is arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. In Psycho, Janet Leigh is an unremarkable secretary whose personal story is violently interrupted by a furious schizophrenic. Other clear examples are Strangers on a Train, I Confess, Vertigo, and North By Northwest. By creating an ordinary character, the audience find themselves locked into empathy, thus drawing understanding. Wrong Man - Mistaken identity is a common plot device in his films. In North By Northwest, Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) is mistaken for George Kaplan, a nonexistent CIA agent. In The Wrong Man, Henry Fonda is mistaken for a criminal.
The plot of Vertigo revolves around James Stewart’s investigation of Kim Novak’s
actual identity. In both versions of Man Who Knew Too Much the lead character is mistaken for a spy. Likeable Criminal - The “villain” in many of Hitchcock’s films appears charming and refined rather than oafish and vulgar. Especially clear examples of this tendency are Claude Rains in Notorious, Joseph Cotten in Shadow of a Doubt, Robert Walker in Strangers on a Train and James Mason in North by Northwest. In Psycho, Marian Crane (Janet Leigh) steals from her employer and runs away to be with her boyfriend, thus making her a criminal as a thief and immoral for having premarital sex. However we are sympathetic for her, as she has just decided to return the money when she is brutally murdered. In Marnie, the title character (‘Tippi’ Hedren) is a serial thief of significant cunning and planning. We identify with her
anxiety when her disposing of an incriminating locker key gets stuck in a drain.
Stairways - Images of stairs often play a central role in Hitchcock’s films. The
Lodger tracks a suspected serial killer’s movement on a staircase. Years later, a
similar shot appears in the final sequence of Notorious. In Vertigo the staircase in
the church bell tower plays a crucial role in the plot. In Psycho, several staircases
are featured prominently: as part of the path up to the Bates mansion, as the
entrance to the fruit cellar, and as the site of Martin Balsam’s murder. In Rear
Window, an entirely non-functional staircase adorns James Stewart’s apartment,
in addition to the numerous fire escape staircases seen each time we follow Stewart’s gaze out of his window. In Shadow of a Doubt, Joseph Cotten attempts to murder his niece by rigging a staircase to collapse. This is attributed to the influence of German Expressionism, which often featured heavily stylized and menacing staircases (e.g. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari). In Dial M for Murder, a key kept under the stair carpet plays a pivotal role in booking the murderer. Frenzy features an unusual shot which tracks the killer and his victim first up the stairs, then retreats backwards down the stairs alone while the audience is left to imagine the killing which is taking place. Mothers - Mothers are frequently depicted as intrusive and domineering, as seen in Rope, Notorious, Strangers on a Train, North by Northwest, Psycho and The Birds. Brandy - Hitchcock includes the consumption of brandy in at least five films. “I’ll get you some brandy. Drink this down. Just like medicine ...” says James Stewart to Kim Novak in Vertigo. In a real-life incident, Hitchcock dared Montgomery Clift at a dinner party around the filming of I Confess (1953) to swallow a carafe of brandy, which caused the actor to pass out almost immediately. In Torn Curtain and Topaz,
brandy is defined more closely as cognac. This element is also present in Dial M for Murder where the main characters of the film consume brandy throughout the entire film. Tippi Hedren (Melanie Daniels) is offered a brandy by Suzanne Pleshette, and after being attacked by the birds, drinks the brandy offered by Mitch (Rod Taylor). In Rear Window, Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly) is “just warming some brandy.” In Frenzy, Richard Blaney is sacked for supposedly stealing brandy, and can be seen in several sequences to be drinking brandy. Sexuality - For their time, Hitchcock’s films were regarded as rather sexualized, often dealing with perverse and taboo behaviours. Sometimes, the prudish conventions of his era caused him to convey sexuality in an emblematic fashion, such as in North by Northwest, when the film cuts abruptly from two aroused but visually chaste lovers to a train entering a tunnel. Hitchcock found a number of ways to convey sexuality without depicting graphic behaviours, such as the substitution of explicit sexual passion with the passionate consumption of food. In a particularly amusing scene in Psycho, Anthony Perkins is carrying on a conversation with Janet Leigh while one of his hands strokes a dead animal and the other hand lingers in his crotch. Sexual feelings are often strongly associated with violent behaviour. In The Lodger and Psycho, this association is the wholebasis of the film. Biographers have noted how Hitchcock continued to challenge film censorship throughout his career, until he was allowed to show nudity inFrenzy. His last film, Family Plot, was curiously more subdued than many of his earlier films. Voyeurism - Another aspect of Hitchcock’s enthusiasm for perversion is the prominence of voyeurism in many films, including Vertigo, Rear Window, and Psycho. Many critics have suggested that voyeurism may be a useful metaphor with which to explain Hitchcock’s approach to film narrative. Crime - Crime is the foundation for almost all Hitchcock stories, with someexceptions, such as The Birds. Blonde Women - Hitchcock had a dramatic preference for blonde women, stating that the audience would be more suspicious of a brunette. Many of these blondes were of the Kim Novak/Grace Kelly variety: perfect and aloof. In Vertigo James Stewart forces a woman to dye her hair blonde. The Lodger, one of Hitchcock’s earliest films, features a serial killer who stalks blonde women. Hitchcock said he used blonde actresses in his films, not because of an attraction to them, but because of a tradition that began with Mary Pickford. The director said that blondes were “a symbol of the heroine.” He also thought they photographed better in black and white, which was the predominant film for most dramas for many years. Silent Scenes - As a former silent film director, Hitchcock strongly preferred to convey narrative with images rather
than dialogue. Hitchcock viewed film as a primarily visual medium in which the director’s assemblage of images must convey the narrative. Examples of imagery over dialogue are in the lengthy sequence in Vertigo in which James Stewart is silently following KimNovak, or the Albert Hall sequence in the 1956 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much. Hitchcock seemed to delight in the technical challenges of filmmaking. In Lifeboat, Hitchcock sets the entire action of the movie in a small boat, yet manages to keep the cinematography from monotonous repetition (his trademark cameo appearance was a dilemma, given the limitations of the setting; so Hitchcock appears in a fictitious newspaper ad for a weight loss product). Similarly, the entire action in Rear Window either takes place in or is seen from a single apartment. In Spellbound two unprecedented point-of-view shots were achieved by constructing a large wooden hand (which would appear to belong to the character
whose point of view the camera took) and outsized props for it to hold: a bucketsized
glass of milk and a large wooden gun. For added novelty and impact, the
climactic gunshot was hand-coloured red on some copies of the black-and-white
print of the film. Rope (1948) was another technical challenge: a film that appears to have been shot entirely in a single take. The film was actually shot in 10 takes of ranging from four and half to 10 minutes each, 10 minutes being the maximum amount of film that would fit in a single camera reel; some transitions between reels were hidden by having a dark object fill the entire screen for a moment. Hitchcock used those points to hide the cut, and began the next take with the camera in the same place. His 1958 film Vertigo contains a camera trick that has been imitated and re-used so many times by filmmakers, it has become known as the Hitchcock zoom. Hitchcock’s films sometimes feature characters struggling in their relationships
with their mothers. In North by Northwest (1959), Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant’s
character) is an innocent man ridiculed by his mother for insisting that shadowy, murderous men are after him (in this case, they are). In The Birds (1963), the Rod
Taylor character, an innocent man, finds his world under attack by vicious birds,
and struggles to free himself of a clinging mother (Jessica Tandy). The killer in
Frenzy (1972) has a loathing of women but idolizes his mother. The villain Bruno
in Strangers on a Train hates his father, but has an incredibly close relationship
with his mother (played by Marion Lorne). Sebastian (Claude Rains) in Notorious
has a clearly conflictual relationship with his mother, who is (correctly) suspicious
of his new bride Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman). And, of course, Norman
Bates’ troubles with his mother in Psycho are infamous. Hitchcock heroines tend to be lovely, cool blondes who seem proper at first but, when aroused by passion or danger, respond in a more sensual, animal, or even criminal way. As noted, the famous victims in The Lodger are all blondes. In The 39 Steps, Hitchcock’s glamorous blonde star, Madeleine Carroll, is put in handcuffs. In Marnie (1964), the title character (played by Tippi Hedren) is a kleptomaniac. In To Catch a Thief (1955), Francie (Grace Kelly) offers to help a man she believes is a cat burglar. In Rear Window, Lisa (Grace Kelly again) risks her life by breaking into Lars Thorwald’s apartment. And, most notoriously, in Psycho, Janet Leigh’s unfortunate character steals $40,000 and is murdered by a reclusive lunatic. Hitchcock’s last blonde heroine was - years after Dany Robin and her “daughter” Claude Jade in Topaz - Barbara Harris as a phoney psychic turned amateur sleuth in his final film, 1976’s Family Plot. In the same film, the diamond smuggler played by Karen Black could also fit that role, as she wears a long blonde wig in various scenes and becomes increasingly uncomfortable about her line of work. Hitchcock saw that reliance on actors and actresses was a holdover from the theatre tradition. He was a pioneer in using camera movement, camera set ups and montage to explore the outer reaches of cinematic art. Most critics and Hitchcock scholars, including Donald Spoto and Roger Ebert, agree that Vertigo represents the director’s most personal and revealing film, dealing with the obsessions of a man who crafts a woman into the woman he desires. Vertigo explores more frankly and at greater length his interest in the relation between sex and death than any other film in his filmography. Hitchcock’s innovations and vision have influenced a great number of filmmakers, producers, and actors. His influence helped start a trend for film directors to control artistic aspects of their movies without answering to the movie’s producer. There is absolutely no doubt that Hitchcock deserves a leading place when anyone compiles a list such as ours, and he rightly starts our series. Hitchcock was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in the 1980 New Year’s Honours. He was entitled to use the title “Sir” because he remained a British subject when he adopted American citizenship in 1956. He died just four months later, on April 29, before he had had the opportunity to be formally invested by the Queen. Alfred Hitchcock died from renal failure in his Bel-Air, Los Angeles home, aged 80.
“Celebration of Life”
An exhibition by Boonsri Dunnvatanachit 1-30 March 2008. “Celebration of Life” will be a very special exhibition celebrating Thai artist Boonsri Dunnvatanachit 90th birthday. Although Boonsri has participated in many groupexhibitions in the past, this will be her first solo exhibition. To mark this special occasion the artist will donate all the proceeds of the exhibition to charity. Reminiscent of pastoral landscape portraitures that populated Europe in the early eighteenth century, Thai artist Boonsri Dunnvatanachit’s paintings hark back to a quieter time in history where nature punctuated the imagination with the desire to return to simplicity that invokes peace within the human psyche. By using a paintbrush and blade to create a myriad of textures upon the canvas, each painting demonstrates a unique world that when viewed enables the audience to escape momentarily into a landscape from days past. Inspired by her own personal Brigadoon, the artwork invokes lines from William Wordsworth and other such romantics who cultivated the natural world to act as a muse to their creativity. Boonsri Dunnvatanachit’s interest in painting started over 15 years ago. She first studied under Professor Kamjorn Soonpongsri and Ajarn Samarn Klangjakarat from the Fine Arts Departments of Chulaongkorn University and Silapakorn University. Her last teacher was Mrs. Toshko Shiotani who dramatically changed her technique of painting by using blades to produce beautiful textures on her oil paintings. Many of the paintings on display will be showing Boonsri’s wonderful blade work. The Rotunda Gallery & the Garden Galleries are at the Neilson Hays Library, 195 Surawong Road, Bangkok (Tel. 02-233 1731) and it’s opening hours are: Tuesday-Sunday 9.30 am - 5.00 pm.
Useful Telephone Numbers for Hua Hin
Railway station
032-512 770, 032-511 073
Bus station of Hua Hin
032-511 654, 032-512 543
Bus station of Prachuabkirikhan
032-601 901
Bus station of Pranburi
032-621 443
Hua Hin Hospital
032-520 401
Dog Rescue Center
0-1981 4406
Wild life Rescue Center (Tayang)
032-458 135
Department of Land Cha-am office:
032- 430 846-7
Department of Land Hua Hin office:
032-536 164, 032-512 407
Department of Land Prachuabkirikhan:
032-611 211
Department of Land Pranburi
032-622 199
Local Government (Hua Hin)
032-521 340, 532 471
Local water supply
032-511 677
The Power Board of Hua Hin
032-512 215, 032 513 165
Observer office:
032-531 078
Red Cross.
032-512 567
San Paolo Hospital
032-532 576-85
Polyclinic International
032-516 424, 032-516 425
Shell Cooking Gas
032-511 144, 032- 515 620
The Communication Authority of Thailand
(Hua Hin)
032-511 351
Rotary Club of Hua Hin
0-1916 6637
Meeting every Thursday 8.pm
at Hua Hin Grand Hotel & Plaza
[
return to the top ]
