Hitchcock, Alfred

Typed letter signed ("Hitch") 5 pages (11 Xn1/2  8in.; 280 x 220 mm). on Paramount British Productions letterhead, 6 November 1955 to Herbert Coleman on the reception of ""To Catch a Thief" and future film projects. Light rust stain from staple. Half morocco folding case.

 

on the command performance of to catch a thief and working on the trouble with harry Hitchcock writes his assistant director Coleman on screening the Cary Grant classic for the Queen, ..."Alma managed to curtsy without falling over...  the film played well, as usual, the laughs all came at the right places, and there was good applause in the end - which the locals told ne had not occurred before at a Command Performance."

He goes on to relate the film's gross in London cinemas (..."a house record..") but soon moves onto his next project with Coleman, The Trouble with Harry and the mixed results of test screenings for Hollywood executives ("...the head of publicity  admitted to me that he could not understand it...")  Hitichcock remarks on the problems of selling any film without major star power, "As you know, traditiionally in America - and for that matter, here and the rest of the world, all sales departments are happier when they have a picture with Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart of Gable."