These 1928 press notes for Hitchcock's Champagne are lovely.

Compare that to the production notes given to the press for Looper:

It's not the same.

See more of the gorgeous papery loveliness over at the BFI. And then tune into The Space tonight at 7.30pm to watch a live stream of Champagne's restoration premiere. (Modern technology is awesome.)

Pick up your phone and Dial N for Nom, because it's National Cupcake Week in the UK (until tomorrow) and it coincides brilliantly with the BFI's Genius of Hitchcock season. And so we continue our series of movie-inspired cupcakes with my most ambitious idea yet: Alfred Hitchcock cupcakes. Hitchcakes.

From Vertigo to The Lodger, I crammed as many Hitchcock references on top of tiny cakes as is humanly possible. Read on for the usual pictures, recipes and instructions to make your own Hitchcakes.

Love! Debate! Dare! Laugh! Thrill! Cult! Journey! Sonic! Family! That’s the sound of an all-new London Film Festival. Replacing Sandra Hebron, director Clare Stewart announced a festival programme with a new themed approach instead of the old geographical strands. And judging by the LFF 2012 line-up, she’s succeeded in giving it a shot up the arm.

Oh yes, the LFF promises to give audiences romance, comedy, discussion and excitement. And what better way to combine them all into one film... than a documentary about the A5.

You remember last week when we played Spot the Difference between the Sight & Sound Greatest Films of All Time poll and the IMDb All-Time Top 250? Well, things have changed a bit since then. Adam Lowes over at movie titan HeyUGuys hit on a bright idea: a top 10 poll for film bloggers (aka. the folk who aren't on Sight & Sound's list).

Would they put Vertigo on top? Would Citizen Kane see its ranking drop? And would this alternative list include any films made after 1968?

The result is a list that sits somewhere between the two extremes. Citizen Kane is in there, oh yes, but so is Internet Movie Database's perennial fan favourite The Dark Knight. The conclusion? That if you took a random IMDb user and a broadsheet film critic and made them have sex, a baby film blogger would pop out. And really like Batman.

And so we play, once again, Spot the Difference...

What is interesting is just how American and mainstream the bloggers' Top 10 is. No The Third Man? No Powell and Pressburger? Not even Kes? Like Sight & Sound's list, there are no British films in there - although British directors working in the US are well represented. There's also a strong focus on sci-fi. As someone whose Top 10 has always included either Alien or Blade Runner (the two pinnacles of the genre), here we have both, alongside The Thing and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

And what of Hitchcock? Vertigo, officially the greatest film ever made (according to Sight & Sound), didn't even make the final cut. Instead, it's replaced by its terrific black-and-white cousin, Psycho. You could argue both ways that it's a more/less obvious choice - testament to just how flipping brilliant Hitchcock's contribution to cinema was.

But I'm mostly sad to see Woody Allen missed out. As a life-long Allen obsessive, Annie Hall, Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters and The Purple Rose of Cairo have all battled for places in my Top 10. Scorsese is another unexpected omission (Goodfellas apparently received 11 votes, below Taxi Driver's 12, which tied with The Big Lebowski, Vertigo, The Godfather and Apocalypse Now.) Terrence Malick, meanwhile, received only three votes for Badlands and just one apiece for Days of Heaven and The Tree of Life - neck and neck with Thor. And Bridget Jones' Diary.

The bottom line? As always, Top 10 lists are subjective. And, much like the Sight & Sound poll, the most fascinating things can be gleaned from each individual's personal choices (all bloggers' votes are listed here). For example, Andrew Collins, of the Radio Times, didn't mention Fellini's 8 1/2 in his list, instead choosing the Woody Allen film it inspired: Stardust Memories, a decision that has won my undying love for the rest of time. Andrew Jones (the ever-present @EthanRunt on the Twitters) has terrible film taste (you can tell him I said that) but is assured of my affection by including Dr. Strangelove in his Top 10. Meanwhile, Simon Kinnear (him off Kinnemaniac and Total Film) puts in Children of Men, which, alongside The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, confirms his general awesomeness.

As for me? You can read on for my Top 10 Films of All Time - complete with comments and explanations - and find out which Woody Allen film beat the rest.

Anyone who’s seen North by Northwest is aware that Alfred Hitchcock knew when to keep schtum. Some of the director’s most iconic scenes unfolded without music or dialogue. But a score can add so many things to an image; it’s no coincidence that Hitch produced his best work with Bernard Herrmann.

What happens, then, to Hitch’s early silents? Well, thanks to the BFI, they’re all getting restored with spiffing new soundtracks from the likes of Neil Brand and Soweto Kinch. And The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog possibly has the best of the lot.

DJ, composer, musician, producer and general all-round musical genius Nitin Sawhney is behind the score for this 1929 thriller – and he’s come up with a sound that blends classic Hitch with modern tricks. (Head this way to read my interview with Nitin Sawhney for Little White Lies.)

The opening numbers are full of Herrmann, from the inquisitive oboe and oom-pah brass to the driving arpeggios in the lower sections of the orchestra. But halfway through the introduction, a swathe of strings sweeps in, carrying the momentum forward with an almost Indian vibe – a splash of Sawhney’s personality to spice up the old-school style.

Photo: Benedict Johnson (via BFI) 

The other week I sat in a cold field on some grass staring at bright lights and live music into the wee small hours. No, I wasn't at T in the Park. I was watching Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail as part of the BFI's Genius of Hitchcock season, newly restored and given a spanking new score by Neil Brand. It was a fantastic chance to watch some early, silent-era Hitchcock, something that taught me a few new things about a director I thought I knew very well.

Here are seven things I learned from watching Blackmail at the British Museum:

One of the most annoying things in the universe (immediately behind Adam Sandler) is discovering there’s a cool event happening… the day after it happened. Equally annoying is being aware that something cool is about to happen… and you’re unable to get there.

So, brace yourselves for the most frustrating blog post you'll ever read. Here are some cool film things going on in London this week/tonight/very soon/yesterday. You should try and get to all of them – unless a. you don’t live in London, or b. your self-cloning/time travel experiment went wrong and now you have no legs.

Cool Thing #1: Designing 007 @ Barbican

HE’S GOT A POWERFUL WEA-PON. HE CHARGES A MILLION A SHOT!

Let’s face it, you don’t need to hear my crap Lulu impression (again) to know what that it. And it’s at the Barbican Centre from tomorrow night – TOMORROW, THERE’S STILL TIME – complete with a load of concept art and technical drawings from Ken Adam, a first edition of The Man with the Golden Gun (a better novel than the film), some sexy automobiles (hello, Aston Martin) and, erm, that ice dragster from Die Another Day. Which presumably is there for comic relief.

The star of the show is arguably the ton of costumes on display (including Sean Connery’s Sinclair tux from Dr. No). But it goes without saying that the success of the event hinges entirely on whether they have this waiter’s suit from Tomorrow Never Dies...

Long before I saw Silent House (out today in the UK), while hiding from the real world behind books and exams, I wrote an incredibly geeky thesis on the relationship between text and screen, which postulated that: given sentences on the page are the equivalent of takes on film, linguistic analysis of voice and narrative in a novel (and a script) could be related directly to the positioning of a camera in a cinema adaptation.

Because unlike literature, which can roam wherever the heck it wants, video cameras are physical and must be placed somewhere: films inherently have a perspective, which means that every shot is actively positioning the audience.

That’s why first-person POV is such an interesting choice, not to mention the more subtle decisions about the camera's proximity to the people on screen – the choice, for example, to only show scenes that contain a specific character.

But arguably the most curious technical decision a director can make is the long shot. Presenting something in a single, continuous take frees up the audience to track their own way through a scene - but it also restricts them to a set path of exploration, turning at a predetermined point, lingering on certain details.

Is it more immersive than a traditional montage sequence? When done well, it can be.

Which is what makes Silent House such an effective horror movie: ok, so like Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope it’s not really all done in a single shot, but by keeping the camera rolling and staying close to Elizabeth Olsen, our knowledge is as limited as hers. We don’t ever see a person coming up from behind her: to be more exact, we can’t. And in a world where we’re used to the chronological or causational relationship between consecutive shots, not being able to see something from a reverse angle makes things more terrifying.

The ending of Chris Kentis and Laura Lau’s movie, sadly, ruins the whole effect – because of the script, I should add, not because of the visual technique.

So to celebrate the technical achievement of Silent House’s 88 (purportedly) uncut minutes, here are some of cinema’s most effective long takes...

Images of both Toby Jones and Anthony Hopkins have turned up on the internet recently as Hitchcock gets the Capote treatment. The question is: can you spot the difference?

Alfred Hitchcock	Alfred Hitchcock

No? Good, because neither of them have a full retrospective at the BFI this year, including the premiere of 9 restored silent films. Now stop looking at Anthony Hopkins' fake wrinkles and go book tickets. 

If you're wondering what to get me for Christmas, Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design came out last week. And it looks like a really, really good book.

In case your brain is broken and you need a reminder of why Saul Bass is king of title design, here's a lovely video recap from the ridiculously awesome people at Art of the Title:

So yeah, the book's only £30 at the moment. And there are a few left in stock at Amazon. Hint hint. (Don't worry - I've got loads of time to practise my surprised face before you give it to me.)