This turned out to be Alfred Hitchcock's penultimate film (1972), though there's no sign of the serenity and settledness that generally mark the end of a career.
Frenzy, instead, continues to question and probe, and there is a streak of sheer anger in it that seems shockingly alive. The plotting combines two of Hitchcock's favorite themes: the poisoned couple (
Marnie,
The Man Who Knew Too Much) and the lone man on the run (
North by Northwest,
Saboteur); its subjects are misogyny and domestic madness. With Jon Finch, Alec McCowen, Barry Foster, Vivien Merchant, and Anna Massey.
By
Dave Kehr