While the middle to late 1960’s weren’t too good for Alfred Hitchcock’s film output, his fantastic 1972 thriller, FRENZY saw the director return to fine form with a chilling blend of murder, “wrong man” plot, police procedural (of sorts) and black comedy. Between the solid casting of mostly imperfect-looking British actors, actual London locations blended perfectly with studio sets, a bit of nudity and one very unsettling (and lengthy) assault/murder scene that’s shocking but necessary to drive the plot, this is one of those films where you can feel the director’s complete confidence in himself, his cast and crew.

Right from the opening notes of Ron Goodwin’s somewhat regal (and intentionally pompous, I’ve always thought) main theme, the film doesn’t skip a beat before delivering its first corpse, a nude woman who washes up during a politician’s waterside speech about cleaning up the Thames River. Keep an eyeball peeled for Hitch’s requisite cameo and get your smile in, as things are going to get darker in Merry Olde London soon enough…

There’s a nasty necktie sex murderer on the prowl and the film drops any pretense of suspense there by showing you who it is within its first few minutes. While this sort of reveal would be seen as a stupidly timed spoiler, it works flawlessly because there’s another character introduced upon whom the authorities will soon suspect simply because he’s in the wrong place at the wrong time and there’s a witness who didn’t see enough to pin him to the brutal murder mentioned above, but heard something she misconstrues but is still able to use as some pretty damning evidence. While the innocent man is at first clueless, then shocked at what he’s accused of and struggles to convince others he’s innocent, the friendly fiend gets back to his killing ways with relish.

In the meantime, there’s a bit of the aforementioned comic relief thanks to the Chief Inspector on the case who’s going through a hell of his own: his overly experimental and perky wife is trying out haute cuisine on him at home with disastrously funny results. What’s more amusing is the fact that some of her recipes would be good in an actual restaurant if prepared properly, but the film makes her out to be overeager to a fault. Then again, the English Breakfast the Inspector is seen wolfing down at the office away from his wife’s less than stellar meals probably won’t look too appetizing to some viewers. Still, the couple’s dinner scenes also serve a plot purpose, as part of the case is solved during a pretty funny dinner scene they share.

There’s a ton of suspense as there’s a tragic off-screen murder of another key character, a truck ride where a corpse gets a bit of revenge on the killer, a trial and sentencing followed by a few surprises that lead up to a really satisfying ending. As mentioned, the cast are all terrific and play their parts perfectly. Jon Finch and Barry Foster (as the wronged and right men) make you like and hate them at the proper moments, Alec McCowen’s Chief Inspector Oxford and Vivien Merchant as Mrs. Oxford make a great couple (despite her cooking, you know the man is happy to come home each evening), and Anna Massey and Barbara Leigh-Hunt give solid, sensitive performances as Hitch puts them through their terror-packed paces. A great cameo by Jean Marsh adds a bit of cranky class to the film and sets up the persecution (and later, prosecution) of the hero, but without her misunderstanding, the film would fall apart.

Speaking of falling apart, thanks to failing health, this would be Hitchcock’s last great directorial work in a long career of brilliant and sometimes controversial man, His final film was the strangely dated by the time it was released 1976 mystery, Family Plot, notable for its offbeat casting, attempts at humor over suspense and inspired score by John Williams. Even though I’ve seen it five times, I just can’t get used to some of the acting and find the characters all unlikable to some extent. That, and the ending is literally a wink and a smile that cancels out some of what occurred earlier. Still, it’s an interesting flick to watch if you have the time to spare… just make sure you watch this one first…