Hitchcock examines his and his audience’s participatory roles in a centuries-old circuit of art production and reception. —Guest post by Michael Joshua Rowin

In photographing the action, Director Hitchcock brought off a tour de force.

The trickery is still distracting, but there are hints in this 1948 film of the perversity that will yield Psycho, Strangers On A Train, Vertigo and Rear Window, so it's a must for Hitch collectors.

An intense and claustrophobic watch. Stewart is both an ambivalent presence and all too human as the prep school teacher of two murderers.