Martin Scorsese Restores Hitchcock’s ‘The Key to Reserva’…Sort Of.
Here’s a must see short for any fans of Hitchcock and Scorsese. As some of you may know, Martin Scorsese is a purveyor of film preservation. In the past, he’s spoken out against the colourization of classic black and white films, and he’s an authority on maintaining the visions of influential directors of years gone by. Having said that, recently he took on an interesting project. Three pages were discovered of a lost Hitchcock project titled ‘The Key to Reserva’. Little is known about the film other than what’s outlined in the aforementioned remaining script pages. In fact, one page in the only surviving scene is actually missing. Scorsese decided to take on the challenge of restoring this single scene, directed by himself in the style of how Hitchcock may have shot it in 2007…in his original shooting style. Confusing? Somewhat. But what we get is a thrilling little short, bookended by a funny documentary (with a slight tinge of ‘mockumentary’) in which Scorsese outlines his approach. Could this mark the beginning of a new trend? Restoring old pictures through the modern production of scenes that remained unfilmed? If it’s Scorsese behind the camera, sounds like a great idea. However, if it’s anything like that anniversary edition of Night of the Living Dead with the restored ‘new footage’, I’ll pass thanks. Check out The Key to Reserva’ at the link below.
Link: Scorsese Does Hitchcock
Comments (8)
This is for me the best movie of 2007 so far. Combining Marty with Hitch is kind of the holy grail for this old filmfreak.
And it works perfectly – to perfectly for just these few minutes of movie orgasm.
dia
PS: Nice to see Mrs. Schoonmaker pulling the cutting-strings again. Sadly Ballhaus is missing from the best of.
Posted by theDia on December 12th, 2007I saw this about a week ago and was blown the hell away. I loved it. There’s no easier way to put it.
Posted by Rian on December 12th, 2007Um, Jay, am I stating the obvious in that this is a very clever advertisement for Freixenet wine? You sounded serious when you mentioned this to me earlier. Or am I victim again to your understated sense of humour?
Anyway, the filmic style of the film itself seems Hitchcockian, but I’m wondering if the style is mainly influenced by the conventions of the eras in which Hitchcock filmed.
Posted by Reed Farrington on December 12th, 2007What?! Are you saying Alfred Hitchcock isn’t known for his groundbreaking originality? No way!
Posted by Henrik on December 12th, 2007I knew it was sponsored by a wine company, but i’m unsure as to whether the whole thing is a wine ad. I first read about it at rogerebert.com, and he seems to think it’s legit as well.
And to Henrik, you’re comment is a great example of message board baiting. Hopefully nobody wastes their time responding! (wait, did I just waste my time?)
Posted by Jay C. on December 12th, 2007Yeah, looks like the whole thing is a commercial. I thought it seemed like a mockumentary. The number of references to past Hitchcock films seemed fishy as well.
Either way, killer commercial and killer tribute.
Posted by Jay C. on December 12th, 2007I was only joking Jay. I wasn’t looking for a debate about Hitchcock.
Maybe I should have included a smiley. Reading it now makes it seem like more serious than it was meant. Funny how so much stuff that’s in your head isn’t on the page sometimes.
Posted by Henrik on December 12th, 2007Smiley’s are essential.
Posted by Jay C. on December 12th, 2007Leave a Reply