Frenzy

Vintage Hitchcock, filled with the Master's touches, and marking a satisfying return to form after late Sixties lapses, as a killer roams round London strangling women with his old school tie and our (tarnished) hero (Jon Finch) has a tough time clearing himself of suspicion.

Anthony Shaffer's script provides Hitch with all he could want in the way of suspense and black comedy and, in a uniformly excellent cast, Barry Foster and Alec McCowen (as a wife-ridden policeman) stand out.

In his first British film for many years, Hitchcock uses London locations to great effect, particularly in the Covent Garden scenes: after watching Foster wrestling with a corpse buried in a sack of potatoes, you might not be able to look a spud in the eye for some time. Look out for Hitchcock himself, urbanely listening to a politician spouting on pollution and the cleanliness of the River Thames, just at the moment that a corpse bobs to the surface.