“Wait a minute,” the fat man says, “you’ve got the wrong man!” – and in a single splooge of obscure found footage Johan Grimonperez’s Double Take reveals itself like a hidden system of order in a fractal curlicue. Alfred Hitchcock’s entire, monstrous legacy also resonates out of that little pearl of a line, uttered in a police line-up skit from an intro segment shot for Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Here we have the world’s most famous filmmaker, doubling as a version of himself – never mind that, during his TV shows’ decade-long run, he already routinely addressed the audience as another, calculated version of himself. It’s all part of a Promethean 50-year career so filthy with widely pondered and consumed doublings and secret selves that it could qualify as an occult myth system, an arcane cosmology of bilocation and Third Man syndrome legends.
Naturally, Grimonperez crafts his film around doppelgangers, merging Hitchock footage such that the master sees himself on the street, injecting contemporary footage of physical Hitchcock impersonator Ron Burrage and vocal Hitchcock impersonator Mark Perry. He wraps this faux-Hitch double-helix around Cold War coincidences and a fictional meet-my-double narrative.
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As our own way of doubling down on Double Take – and in time for the anniversary of the master’s demise – a doubled-up Hitch trivia quiz. Be warned: Google will prove largely, if not entirely, unhelpful. For a stake at bragging rights, send responses to kevin @ fandor.com. Answers shall be revealed next week.
1. In which film did two versions of Hitchcock appear, diegetically speaking?
2. What Hitch bit player was a famous flamenco dancer under another name?
3. What Hitch film featured a pair of real twins?
4. What bit player showed up in two Hitch movies sans first name?
5. What Hitch film featured a dancing couple that shared their names with a pair of medieval Oxford colleges?
6. What comedy duo were first paired in a Hitch film?
7. In which Hitch did the two protagonists share the same name?
8. What is the non-Hitch cast connection between Strangers on a Train and Rear Window?
9. Name the actor who has sported five separate honorific titles in Hitchcock films.
10. Which Hitch player who twice played a famous character in non-Hitch films but only with the lower half of his body?
11. What unseen character in a Hitch movie shares a name with a busy “nonsex” porn actor?
12. How many actors have played the same role twice within the Hitch ouevre?
Michael Atkinson is a film critic and author of two novels:Hemingway Deadlights and Hemingway Cutthroat.
WATCH DOUBLE TAKE ON FANDOR
