Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 15, 2025

My Name is Alfred Hitchcock relies on much the same conceit that documentarian Mark Cousins employed in his previous The Eyes of Orson Welles*, namely having a voice actor impersonate its deceased titular focus to provide narration from beyond the grave. In this case, Cousins utilizes the rather excellent mimicry skills of one Alistair McGowan, but the ostensible "first person" approach almost of necessity obscures any "objective" approach toward content, and that may be a bit of an issue with an egotist like Hitchcock, though for perhaps ironic reasons. As Charles Barr among others get into in some of the bounteous supplements included on the recently reviewed Hitchcock: The Beginning **, Hitch wasn't an especially gracious collaborator, at least in terms of offering accolades to anyone on his team, with the possible understandable exception of Alma Reville. That might therefore seem to be a near perfect setup for a documentary supposedly voiced by its subject, but kind of oddly "this" Hitch does mention his collaborators in a fond way, which, while useful in terms of information imparted, may not actually reflect the "historical record" of what Hitch was like in real life.

*Note: the link points to a Spanish Blu-ray. Our database has a listing for a supposed Region A release from Criterion, but it doesn't look like it was ever actually put out.

**Note: this Studio Canal set is a Region B release.

If the underlying conceit of this piece may or may not meet with approval, and a couple of other odd touches may be similarly offputting, as in the somewhat baffling cutaways to a young woman (see screenshot 2), My Name is Alfred Hitchcock excels at the editing together of a hugely disparate array of snippets from a broad swath of Hitch's films. There are some rather smart "put togethers" throughout the documentary, including an unexpectedly fascinating montage of people going through doors, sometimes magically "shutting" them with the camera supposedly inside with the character, to cite just one kind of unusual example. There's also what I'd term a commendable emphasis or at least inclusion of some of the ostensible "lesser" films from Hitch's sixties output in particular, notably Torn Curtain and Topaz. But the documentary also reaches back even further than the Studio Canal set linked to above which I recently reviewed, with a moment or two with Ivor Novello in Downhill.

My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

My Name is Alfred Hitchcock is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion Media Group's Contemporary Classics imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in a variety of aspect ratios, but with the contemporary footage in 1.78:1. There's an understandably heterogeneous look to this piece since it's cobbled together from such a wide variety of sources, though I'd state generally speaking many of the snippets of films utilized here don't appear to be the shinier new restorations, at least in terms of some of the older films in particular, but I'd say maybe even in terms of relatively newer pieces like The Birds, which looks just a little dowdy and brown at times. All of this said, there are no huge problems in any of the film clips utilized, other than the typical wear and tear to some of the older silents. All of the contemporary footage and the stills are sharp and well detailed.

My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

My Name is Alfred Hitchcock features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options. Surround engagement is kind of intermittent on the 5.1 track and as such probably unsurprisingly the stereo version should suffice perfectly well for many listeners. Hitch's supposed voice (and the occasional and I'd argue unneeded contribution from Cousins) is always mixed nicely forward, and the film features near constant first person narration. I guess the soundstage can open up a bit in some of the film clips, but there may simply not be much "wow" factor in the surround mix. All dialogue and first person narration is presented cleanly and clearly. Optional English subtitles are available.

My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Alternate trailer with narration by Director Mark Cousins (HD; 1:47) offers Cousins doing a much less convincing version of Hitchcock's inimitable voice than the one that ended up in the film.


• Audio of narrator Alastair McGowan's voice test (HD; 4:12) plays to a head shot of the actor.


• Cinema Q & A with Chuck Rose: Interview with Mark Cousins (HD; 26:46) is a Zoom like affair.


• Graphics animation tests (HD; 1:34) looks at things like the smoke emanating from Hitchcock's cigar in moments like in screenshot 9 and the intertitles delineating various "chapters" of the tale.


• Mark Cousins introduces Notorious, Rope, and Saboteur (HD; 6:46) looks like another online webast offering.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 1:45) features the more capable Alastair McGowan voicing Hitch.

My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's a really commendable virtuosity to some of the editing and insight that Mark Cousins brings to this project, but that may then beg the question as to why he opts for what is arguably a needless "gimmick". That said, McGowan does a fantastic job of voicing Hitch, even if the script Cousins has given me may depart rather radically and in some unexpected ways (as mentioned above) from what is the apparent historical record. Any fan of Hitchcock will probably enjoy the array of films on tap here, and especially how they're "combined". Technical merits are solid and this is the rare release from Cohen that has a few supplements included, all of which are very enjoyable. My Name is Alfred Hitchcock comes Recommended.