oscaralbert Review of Two Weeks in Another Town

Two Weeks in Another Town (1962)

"All women are just pure monster . . . "

[6/10 · 28 March 2015]

. . . observes Edward G. Robinson as film director "Maurice Kruger," a clear stand-in for Alfred Hitchcock, who was at the pinnacle of his notoriety when TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN was released in 1962. Like "Hitch," Kruger operates under the thumb of his script supervisor\wife, Carla. Like Hitch, Kruger cannot keep his paws off his leading ladies, much to Carla's chagrin. As was the case with Alma Reville (Mrs. Hitch), Carla treats all the words of Kruger's scripts as if they're engraved on a stone tablet just carried down from Mt. Sinai. She does her best to destroy anyone who would dare change a syllable, or otherwise threaten the "Great Man's" Legacy. (Like Hitch, Kruger films no "cover shots," so producers cannot redo his scenes, either.) Though this Docudrama is marred by a surreal one-vehicle "car chase" toward the end (Kirk Douglas and Cyd Charisse seem to be in a sports car twirling in mid-air at the end of a cable), it did a public service for young actresses and models everywhere by blowing the whistle on Mr. Hitchcock's tyrannical philandering tendencies.