DVD NOTES.(Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection)(Video Recording Review)

GET HITCHED -- In addition to such acknowledged masterworks as "Vertigo," "Psycho," and "The Birds," "Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection" (Universal), a new treasure chest of fourteen of Hitchcock's films, contains several others that are their equals, including "Shadow of a Doubt," his 1955 remake of "The Man Who Knew Too Much," and one that has them beat.

"Marnie," released in 1964, is Hitchcock's most underrated film, as much because of its flaws as because of its virtues. The plot is far thinner than those in most of his films: Marnie Edgar (Tippi Hedren) is a kleptomaniac, and Mark Rutland (Sean Connery) is the boss from whom she steals. He has hired her fully aware of her weakness around money because he lusts after her. Here, and only here, Hitchcock, the meticulous master, filmed like a man in the grasp of uncontrollable emotion: he may have been in awe of Grace Kelly (whom he had wanted for the role), but he was erotically obsessed with Hedren, and filmed her with a pained fixity, often at oddly skewed angles, as if he wanted to avert his eyes. Hedren, who is not an accomplished actress, is nonetheless an astonishing presence: she ...