Think suspense, think Alfred Hitchcock; such was the popularity of the man who made thrillers in Hollywood. Hitchcock did not have an extraordinary family background. His father, William Hitchcock, was a greengrocer and had set up his wholesale and retail fruit-selling business at Leytonstone High Road. Three of his brothers were fishmongers. William Hitchcock’s first offspring was a son, also named William. He was born in 1890. This was followed by the birth of a daughter in 1892. His third and youngest child was born on August 13, 1899 and named Alfred Joseph.
That year seemed to be a good one for English show business. Two other renowned figures came from respectable middle class families : Charles Laughton and Noel Coward.
Lonely Childhood
Alfred had a rather lonely childhood. He was the youngest child in the family, nine years younger than his elder brother was and seven years junior to his sister. By nature, he was very shy. He often resented the big age-gap among the brothers and sister. Once, during his childhood, he was not taken along on a bicycle and told that he was still a kid for such a ride. Young Alfred angrily reasoned that the bicycle should have had three wheels instead of two so that no one would fall off. It was only later that he discovered that something like a tricycle did exist and congratulated himself for the same.
In early childhood, the Sunday Mass was a must for Alfred. When he grew a little older, Alfred was allowed to deliver fruits and vegetables to grocers in the nearby area, and he enjoyed it a lot. Childhood had both sweet and sour memories attached to it. On one occasion, Alfred found himself very lonely when he woke from sleep at eight in the evening. He was alone at home, though entrusted to a nanny. William was a stern father. He took great care of his children. Once, as a lesson to young Alfred, his father sent him down to the police station with a note as per which naughty children were kept locked there. He was actually locked in for five minutes. Overall, Alfred was a quiet and well-behaved child.
Alfred briefly attended a convent school run by the Faithful Companions of Jesus. At the age of nine, he was sent to Salesian College in Battersea but Alfred did not stay there for long. His father took him away as he thought that the living conditions at that place were not proper. The next school Alfred went was St Ignatius College, Stanford Hill, where he remained till the age of 14. This place was no less strict. As a student, Alfred kept a low profile. He was not very brilliant in his studies. Geography was his favorite subject. In games, Alfred was mostly a spectator than a participant. He preferred solitude.
As he preferred solitude, he had very few friends. Even when he stepped into his teens he felt lonely having been separated from his siblings due to the age-gap. He was also curiously distanced from his parents though being the youngest child. The fear of police and authoritative figures lasted for quite some time. He was extremely sensitive and introvert, and described himself as unattractive. In youth, he had no encounter with any girl except his elder sister. He was rather shy with girls and did not know even the basic facts of life.
First Job
It is hard to imagine a shy and rather nervous teenager, watching the seemingly remote and cool blondes could handle his beautiful heroines when he entered filmdom. In 1914, Alfred’s father died. Shortly after this, he left school, saying he wanted to pursue engineering. He went to study at the School of Engineering and Navigation. There, he learnt drawing and drafting. After the training, he took up his first job as a technical clerk at the W T Henley Telegraphy Company, a firm manufacturing electric cables.
Young Alfred had taken a fascination for collection of maps and timetables. By the time he was 16, he took active interest in the geography of New York and knew it so well that he could recite all stops of the Orient Express. He even invented games with ship routes on maps of the world marking them with colored pins. These games he played with a childish enthusiasm.
Meanwhile, World War I broke out. But it did not bother him much. In 1917, he had his Army medical test, did not qualify for it but joined as a volunteer with the Royal Engineers. He became a regular cinemagoer from the age of 16. He also began to buy movie magazines regularly and seriously. He also read small, paperback volumes of Dodd’s Penny Plays. Having realized his talent, he joined a technical draftsmanship course at London University under E J Sullivan.
Creativity To The Fore
By the age 19, his interest in engineering had almost evaporated. His worked intermittently and gradually customers complained of abnormal delay. Since Alfred was a bright young man, gifted with artistic talents, he was promoted to the advertising department at the Henley’s. Here, he wrote or edited the copy for newspaper and magazine advertisements and prepared brochures. The job was of his taste. It needed him to be creative. He proved his creativity through an advertisement of a lead-covered electric wire designed especially for use in the churches and historic buildings.
In 1919, the Hollywood company, Famous Players-Lasky, which later became Paramount, was to build a studio in Islington. Here was Alfred’s chance to enter the industry but the important question was how. The opening of an American company in Britain was a mystery. The film industry in Britain had already gone through two major jolts in 1909 and 1918. This was attributed to a severe competition from the American stars, directors and technicians. Filmgoers always preferred American films to British ones. Thus, the industry was at a complete standstill. This was mainly because the British films looked amateurish compared to the foreign ones. In this competition, only a few British films were distributed outside the country.
The new company aimed at eliminating the weak points. Though the control and management of the company was done by British capital and a British Board, its equipment, considerable part of the management team and its regular staff was from America. Alfred was attracted by this company and decided that this was the right place for him to start a career.
Resilience Pays
As soon as Alfred found that the Famous Player-Lasky British Producers Ltd. was going to work on Marie Corelli’s famous novel The Sorrows of Satan, he became active. He bought the book, read it and drew pictures and sketches related to the movie. Alfred, full of enthusiasm, went up to the company’s office and showed his work. But the company said they had changed their plan and were now going to work on The Great Day. The resilient Alfred went back and came in the very next day with sketches for the new film. The company management was not only impressed by his work but also zeal. Alfred got appointed initially as a part-time employee of the new company. Thus, at 20, Alfred Hitchcock left the electric cable job and entered the movie industry.
At the Famous Players-Lasky British Producers Ltd., it was serious and hard work for Alfred. The man made whole-hearted efforts for completing his assignments. He made title cards for numerous new films in which the use of written titles was minimal. Every title needed to be self-explanatory and at the time, had to have creative appeal in it. For example, the fast life of the hero had to be shown by a candle burning at both ends.
In the new company, women were more actively involved in script writing and editing than men. Alfred learnt various techniques of script writing from these professional people.
As a beginner in the film industry, he thought the studio is just like a factory. And this attitude went a long way in shaping his life. In the initial years, he learnt a lot about filmmaking. All his life, he regarded himself as an artist than a moviemaker.
Meanwhile, Alfred got his first opportunity to make a film. He had been working with the first and foremost Hollywood ladies in the script department of the company. The man was 23 and his first film was in the making. The title of this movie is, however, disputed. This movie was never finished and also does not exist. By 1922, the company had made about 11 films, most of which where disappointing commercially. As a result, the company was cutting down on its production and shifting its studio facilities elsewhere. Even amidst this, there was something about the young and enthusiastic Hitchcock, which inspired others to place their confidence in him.
Good Opportunity
By now, Alfred was a chubby, pokerfaced young man. Another opportunity came to him in 1923. It so happened that Hugh Croise, director of the film called Always Tell Your Wife, had fallen ill. The film starred distinguished stage actor Seymour Hicks and his wife Ellaline Terriss. Hicks did not see eye to eye with Hugh and wanted to finish the film even in his absence.
Hugh recruited Hitchcock, who knew amply about theatre. But it was not a very good time for the British film industry. William Friese-Greene, the inventor of cinematography, died during the same period giving the industry year another jolt. During that time, the most famous producers-directors were Graham Cutts and Herbert Wilcox. While Graham directed his own films, Cutts joined a new group called Balcon-Saville-Freedman. This was a company having Victor Saville and Michael Balcon, who were then big pillars in the film industry.
Cutts, who was senior in age and experience, joined them as an important member of the team. This company noticed the work of Alfred Hitchcock closely. In 1923, Alfred was working on Always Tell Your Wife at Islington Studios. He was a plump, self-possessed youth with Chaplinesque moustaches, looking younger than his age of 24. He always exuded confidence and was alert in his work. He also showed readiness to help others in the studio. He worked in a relaxed manner and also helped others to feel at ease amidst a hectic schedule. The Balcon-Saville-Freedman Company hired the man on the basis of his work in Always Tell Your Wife. While at the company, Hitchcock became friendlier with the person who had recommended him for that job and who was to be the art director for the movie. But it so happened that the art director could not really work up to the standard required. So, the work of background designing etc. was assigned to Hitchcock. While at this job, he hired back all of them who were thrown out of work with the closing of Famous Players-Lasky British company.
Meeting Alma
While working at the Balcon-Saville-Freedman Company, he met another person, who too had joined the team then. She was a young and intelligent editor. The tiny and vibrant girl, just one day younger than him, was Alma Reville. Alma had entered the industry at 16, as a rewind girl at the Twickenham Studio. Her father too worked at the studio. Alma first met Hitchcock when she had been to Islington Studio to work as a cutter when she was 20. Hitchcock was cool and kept a distance from her until he asked her if she would do the movie Woman to Woman.
Alma and Hitchcock remained friendly for a very long time. Alma was, by then, at a higher position than he was and it was against his typical male ego to approach her for this reason. In his later life, however, Hitchcock did not show any sign of the male ego and always treated his female workmates respectably.
As a child he was extremely shy from childhood while undressing in front of anyone. People, who are really shy or timid in early life, have to choose between total withdrawal and carving out a niche for themselves. Hitchcock chose the second alternative and did it very successfully. People who knew him well were almost surprised at this new demeanor in the early 20s. Alfred had acquired a taste for practical jokes. He would even retaliate strongly in a competition of practical jokes with friends.
First Commercial Break
Hitchcock got his first commercial break with the movie Number 13 in 1922. In the early years of his career, Hitchcock met Betty Compson, who, despite being a great artist, was very humble, jolly and full of effervescence. She became a good friend and was very supportive to him in work. Hitchcock, who was new in the industry, got the much-needed encouragement from her. And this he never forgot. Hitchcock felt heartily grateful to Betty and later, when he was at the peak of his career offered her a good role in his movie Mr and Mrs Smith. It was yet early 1920s and Hitchcock was now engaged in long term planning for a solid career ahead. His Woman to Woman had done well but at the same time The White Shadow flopped, negating the success almost instantly. With this, Balcon-Saville-Freedman had to be dissolved. But Balcon opened a new company called Gainsborough and the movie The Passionate Adventure was released in 1924. While working in the company, he had a problem in communicating with the German draughtsman. So he started learning the foreign language earnestly.
Hitchcock’s first big venture was a motion picture called Pleasure Garden in 1925. Meanwhile, Cutts was having an affair with an Estonian dancer, while his wife was away. When his wife arrived in Berlin, he recruited Alma and Hitchcock as his cover, and the two stayed with him at his flat. Cutts’ behavior was getting increasingly unpredictable. So all the important decisions were left to Hitchcock. But the best thing was that Hitchcock was never disturbed. Amidst all the frenzied atmosphere of work he was always cool and calm. While at work, he would spend his off-duty moments with Alma.
Learning was a continuous process for Hitchcock. Working at Neubabelsberg, he had a wonderful experience. He learnt art designing from Robert Herlth and Walter Rohrig, who were working as Murnau’s art directors. Murnau’s work taught him a lot. During this phase, Hitchcock was really busy learning from his seniors and growing. All this time, Alma was with him.
Vertigo (1958)
Director : Alfred Hitchcock. Screenplay : Alec Coppel and Samuel Taylor. Cast : James Stewart, Kim Novak and Barbara Bel Geddes.
Ex-cop Stewart can’t face heights which puts him in real jeopardy when he becomes obsessed with a mysterious woman he’s been hired to tail. Murder and a beauty makeover add to the enigma. Novak holds her own in heady company as Hitchcock and Stewart deliver a complex puzzle that’s enhanced by Bernard Hermann’s majestic musical score and the beautiful San Francisco settings.
Noteworthy Facts : Regularly voted one of the greatest movies in history by international critics.
North by Northwest (1959)
Cary Grant plays Roger Thornhill, a sophisticated version of Alfred Hitchcock’s staple – the average guy in trouble. Eva Marie Saint plays another Hitchcock regular – the beautiful woman, Eve Kendall. James Mason is the villain, Phillip Vandamm. This might all seem like a formula, and to some extent it is, but it’s one that worked for Hitchcock and continues to work for audiences of his memorable films.
What makes the Hitchcock formula especially interesting in North by Northwest is that the beautiful woman is strong, smart and unpredictable. And the entire film is a roller coaster ride of action from New York to Chicago to the top of Mount Rushmore.
It all starts with a case of mistaken identity, and once poor Roger figures this out, he’s already in big trouble – chased by cops and gangsters across the eastern half of the United States. He’s chased on trains, he’s chased by planes, and he’s chased on foot. And worst of all, Roger can’t tell who’s on his side and who’s the enemy.
This great action film features some of American cinema’s most memorable scenes – the crime at the UN, Thornhill’s brush with a crop-duster, and the climactic struggle on Mount Rushmore. These are brilliantly realized, often belying the limitations of 1950’s filmmaking technology.
Psycho (1960)
The Psycho is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best and most famous films. Although it is usually considered to be a black comedy and a horror movie, it also qualifies as a mystery. There is considerable suspense throughout, and Anthony Perkins’ character (Norman Bates) has become one of the most infamous villains in film history. There are spoilers in the following paragraphs, but it would be difficult to discuss the film properly without giving much away.
Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is a calculating young woman who embezzles a large sum of cash from her employer, then leaves town to escape the crime. She spends the night at a desolated motel run by nervous, talkative Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). Norman is controlled by a shrewish mother, heard but never seen.
Soon, private investigator Arbogast (Martin Balsam) seeks Marion to recover the money.
Marion’s sister Lila (Vera Miles) and Dana Andrews clone John Gavin also search for Marion, with all leads intersecting at the Bates Motel.
Psycho was a major change from recent Hitchcock films, which were big budget technicolor films featuring major stars such as James Stewart and Cary Grant. Psycho, in contrast, was a low budget movie filmed on the Universal back lot using crew from Hitchcock’s television series. However, it became one of the biggest grossing films of the year, making a fortune for Hitchcock who had a large share of the profits.
Psycho was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Director, Best Supporting Actress (Leigh), Best B & W Cinematography (John L Russell) and Best Art Direction. It failed to win any Oscars, which were largely swept by Billy Wilder’s The Apartment (1960).
Torn Curtain (1966)
The Torn Curtain, Alfred Hitchcock’s fiftieth film, is unfortunately anything but a culmination of the work of the famous suspense film director. It’s typical of his work following The Birds – full of suspense but not very tightly put together. The Torn Curtain, a lightweight espionage thriller, has some tense, wondrously memorable moments masterfully put together – but they don’t fit together very well to make a cohesive whole. The fight scene in the kitchen, for example, is a brutal, nightmarish scene, effectively edited and unforgettable. The scene where Paul Newman attempts to swindle a mathematical formula out of a German scientist is innovative and suspenseful. But for every scene that works, there’s another that doesn’t. The film focuses too much on minor or even inconsequential details, such as a woman our heroes meet trying to escape back to the West. The film is recommended because there are moments when Hitchcock’s mastery of the medium shines through.
Frenzy (1972)
Director : Alfred Hitchcock. Screenplay : Anthony Shaffer. Cast : Jon Finch, Barry Foster, Alec McCowen and Anna Massey.
The ‘Necktie Murderer’ is at large in London and innocent man Finch is wrongly accused of the crimes. It is one of Hitchcock’s most violent movies, and also one of his most comical, although the laughs are of the macabre variety. In this, his second-last movie, Hitchcock proved that he could still design gripping set pieces (a silent pulling back on the camera from a murder scene is stunning), and he could still tell, at the age of 73, a mystery story that makes light of his phobias and keeps the audience on its toes. Hitchcock’s return to England to shoot the movie, after decades living in the United States, was treated as very nearly a Royal Event.
Family Plot (1976)
Alfred Hitchcock’s staple thriller tended to place one innocent man falsely accused of wrongdoing in a terrible situation, chased by both the authorities and the real bad guys as he tries to prove his innocence and avoid getting bumped off. Family Plot – Hitchcock’s final film – starts off with a somewhat different approach, focusing instead on two pairs of crooks whose schemes become entangled with messy, and sometimes quite funny, results.
The Family Plot is about as light as Hitchcock’s movies get, although it does have a couple of exciting moments, particularly George’s attempt to keep his sabotaged car from careening off a winding highway, while the panicking Blanche wrestles for control of the wheel, screams, waves her feet in the air, and generally does just about everything possible to doom the two of them. Adamson doesn’t hesitate to try to get rid of the snoopy couple, but they somehow stumble free of his murderous schemes every time.
As the film progresses, the Hitchcock formula starts to assert itself, at least to some extent, as Blanche and George become the almost-innocent protagonists and Adamson becomes an increasingly nasty villain. Harris and Dern play their characters for laughs and are modestly successful – Dern’s exaggerated perplexity at the story’s twists and turns is quite funny.
Alfred Hitchcock, one of the greatest filmmakers of Hollywood, made the most frightful thrillers during his life. His suspense films were immensely popular once upon a time and he achieved a legendary status.
During his life and after, he has been acknowledged as great because of his monumental work. Hitchcock started his career as an art director and eventually became a great filmmaker. He proved himself to be an unmatched genius in the film industry. In fact, he did work unparalleled to any other filmmaker not only in Hollywood but the entire world.
In his childhood, Hitchcock was extremely shy and timid. But in his young days, he exuded confidence. In his personal and professional life, Hitchcock received the whole-hearted cooperation from his wife, Alma.
Hitchcock’s name is taken with awe even now.
August 13, 1899
Hitchcock was born at Leytonstone, England.
1913
His father died.
1919
Began his career in filmmaking.
1921
Met Alma Reville.
1922
Became an assistant director.
1926
Married Alma Reville.
1928
Daughter Patricia was born.
1939
The Hitchcocks moved to the US and settled in Los Angeles.
1955
Became an American citizen.
1968
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented him with the Irving G Thalberg Award.
The Directors Guild of America also honored Hitchcock with the prestigious D W Griffith Award.
January 3, 1980
Hitchcock was honored as Knight Commander of the British Empire.
April 29, 1980
Hitchcock passed away, at the age of 81.
Blackmail (1929)
Hitchcock initially shot Blackmail as a silent movie but realized that the opportunity to add speech was simply too compelling. Thus, he took his finished film, re-shot some of the scenes with audio and re-edited the resulting footage into a whole new movie. The result is certainly interesting, if perhaps not so compelling as Hitchcock’s later works.
In terms of sound, the initial scenes in Blackmail are utterly devoid of anything bar a stirring musical accompaniment. As a result they’re quite confusing; we get to see police officer Frank Webber (John Longden) arrest a miscreant for who knows what offence. It all looks rather like they share a gentleman’s club, a parade of knowing looks uninterrupted even by the pulling of a gun. As they get in the squad van, a couple of mechanical clanks jump out, and are quiet again. Suddenly, we get to eavesdrop on the banal conversation of two detectives strolling down a corridor.
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
There are some real surprises in The Man Who Knew Too Much, and not just the characteristic Hitchcockian moments of shock and suspense (though these are present). In his first rendition of this particular tale, Hitchcock and his team of scriptwriters present a fast-paced story of espionage, assassination, and kidnapping. In the female lead Edna Best plays a more prominent role than is usual in the genre (witness even recent efforts including Ron Howard’s Ransom or Hitchcock’s 1956 remake of this film). There’s also certain frankness in the portrayal of intra-marital flirting and the characters’ espousal of personal causes over political ones which is all the more effective because they are not over emphasized. It also showcases a solid English-language performance by Peter Lorre (star of Fritz Lang’s classic thriller M). Brit winter sports enthusiast Leslie Banks and sharp-shooting wife Best find themselves smack in the middle of an international conspiracy when following the death of an acquaintance in Switzerland who passes on some cryptic information to them; their daughter is snatched with a warning not to reveal what they know.
Banks embarks on a mission to find the girl by following the leads himself, leading to a climactic assassination attempt at the Albert Hall followed by a shoot out in which only Best keeps her head amid the gunfire and bloodshed. There are plenty of curious happenings along the way, including an encounter with a sinister dentist, a brawl in a church accompanied by organ music, and unexpected sudden death. Hitchcock handles the elements nicely, and though the story doesn’t always hold attention largely due to the bland performances of its leads (who are merely pawns in Hitchcock’s hands), it is never less than interesting.
The film is especially notable for its use of sound and sound effects, demonstrating a mature grasp of the relationship between sound and image after only a few years of the technique. In perhaps an acknowledgement of Lang’s earlier film, Lorre’s villain is identified by sound, in this case the chiming of a pocket watch (in M it was a strain of Peer Gynt whistled on the wind). Hitchcock also uses sound ironically, such as in the aforementioned church scene, where amid scenes of violence, ponderous religious tunes are heard.
The 39 Steps (1935)
Director : Alfred Hitchcock.
Screenplay : Charles Bennett and Alma Reville.
Cast : Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll.
Wrongly accused Donat spends most of the movie handcuffed to Carroll as he flees the police and the real spies who are out to do him in. Clever dialogue, especially the banter between the two stars, and the movie-length chase add to the appeal. Classic Hitchcock theme of innocent man caught up in events beyond his control.
Noteworthy Facts: Reville is Hitchcock’s wife. It was remade in 1959 and 1974, although neither version measures up to the original.
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Flabbergasting peak suspense civilized but breathlessly fast. This is one of Hitchcock’s finest British films, a classic mystery that manages to combine humor with a genuine sense of menace – not to mention the kinds of characters that everyone dreams of meeting on a Central European train journey.
The film is set into motion when a seemingly innocuous old woman, Miss Froy (Whitty), disappears while on board a train bound for England. An acquaintance, Iris (Lockwood), becomes concerned and sets out to find her. Despite the fact that there are only so many places to hide on a speeding train, Whitty cannot be found. Even more mysteriously, no one else seems convinced that she ever really existed. Each time that Lockwood thinks she has proof of what happened, that proof itself evaporates; and each time she begins to doubt her own memory, some objective fact re-alerts her suspicions. After a series of ingenious developments, Lockwood finally uncovers the truth with the help of music scholar Gilbert (Redgrave).
The Lady Vanishes begins slowly but picks up speed as it goes along, finally steaming toward a suspenseful denouement. The film was extremely popular in the US and laid the tracks for the great British director’s new career in Hollywood. After striking a deal with David O Selznick, Hitchcock completed one more British picture, Jamaica Inn, and began a love affair with America, returning to England just once more, some 30 years later, for Frenzy.
Jamaica Inn (1939)
An orphaned young woman named Mary travels to Cornwall to stay with her aunt and uncle in a place called the Jamaica Inn. The downside to this is the fact that the inn is the lair of treacherous and murderous land-pirates, who lure ships in and proceed to kill the ship’s crews and steal everything on board. After discovering the truth, she and one of the pirates who is secretly a police officer, go to the local peace officer for help, little realizing that he is the kingpin for the whole operation. Now their lives are in jeopardy due to the fact that no one can be trusted, and they must fight for their lives.
A commercial success, but a dismal critical failure upon its release back in 1939. It’s Hitch’s last film before leaving England for the US and many claimed that Hitch seems to be looking ahead and cared very little about doing this picture, but they had already invested the money. I believe the film deserves a second look as it’s actually quite good. Charles Laughton gives a terrific performance, and is the best thing about the film as the corrupt peace officer on the take. The film also has a nice look, and colorful characters drawn from the Daphne du Maurier novel of the same name. It’s not the best work Hitchcock has done by far, but he does give it an interesting look and feel, and there is a fair share of his trademark stylish moments strewn about. The only major weakness of the film is the casting of the uncharismatic Robert Newton as the film’s protagonist.
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
A minor classic in the Hitchcock library, Shadow of a Doubt is nonetheless a smashing film, a slow burn that involves the visit to town of Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten), who may or may not be the Merry Widow Murderer, a dashing villain who murders old women for their fortunes.
On the run, Charlie decides to hide out in sleepy Santa Rosa, a town that’s not much different today than it was in Hitch’s 1940s. His visit goes smoothly until a nosey cop and Charlie’s inquisitive niece who is named after him (Theresa Wright) get all uppity and go snooping through Charlie’s things. Before long, the jig is up.
Co-written by Our Town’s Thornton Wilder, Shadow of a Doubt features one of Cotton’s must intriguing and villainous roles ever. Normally a good guy, it is a real thrill to hear his mid-movie speech about the uselessness of “silly wives”, whom he describes as “fat, freezing animals”. The misogyny drips right off the screen. Also lively are Hume Cronyn and Henry Travers (It’s a Wonderful Life) as elderly men obsessed with criminology and “the perfect murder”, unaware that throughout their prattle a real killer might be lurking just across the table. The very premise – what happens when you bring a killer into a small town – is compelling and still vibrantly original.
Spellbound (1945)
Director : Alfred Hitchcock. Screenplay : Ben Hecht. Cast : Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck and Leo G Carroll.
Pure melodrama that continues Hitchcock’s fascination with what makes people tick. Bergman is a psychiatrist who must provide therapy for Peck who fears he’s a murderer. He warms her up, she calms him down. Surrealist Salvador Dali designed the wild dream sequence.
Noteworthy Facts : Miklos Rozsa’s musical score won an Oscar.
Notorious (1946)
Director : Alfred Hitchcock. Screenplay : Ben Hecht. Cast : Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant and Claude Rains.
The director is at the top of his game with this romantic drama about spies and counterspies. Bergman is the daughter of a convicted Nazi agent who’s compelled to infiltrate Nazis living in South America. Grant is an American spy who finds Bergman to his liking. With its champagne bottles filled with uranium and its stunning black and white photography, the movie stands out as both a gripping tale of international espionage and a fine example of Hitchcock’s mastery of the visual elements so vital to his storytelling.
The Paradine Case (1947)
Men never ruin themselves – it’s always the fault of manipulative and conniving women. At least that’s the impression you get from some of Alfred Hitchcock’s films. An example : The Paradine Case, in which star lawyer Anthony Keane (Gregory Peck) is all but ruined by a near-fatal attraction to the mysterious Mrs Paradine (Alida Valli).
Mrs Maddalena Anna Paradine has been arrested for poisoning her husband, an elderly, blind and wealthy Londoner. Mrs Paradine is Italian, much younger, and extremely beautiful. Keane has been hired to represent her and from the moment they meet, he is enthralled by her beauty and mystery. He’s also absolutely devoted to making sure she’s found innocent.
Keane’s fascination with Mrs Paradine causes great distress for his wife (Ann Todd), who is strongly devoted to her hotshot lawyer husband. Naturally, she stands loyally by on the sidelines, waiting to see whether she will lose him.
Keane encounters great personal conflict when he learns that there might have been another man in Mrs Paradine’s life. His previously sharp judgement is now doubly dulled – first by his feelings for Mrs Paradine, and now also by his jealousy. Keane’s strategy for saving Mrs Paradine from conviction for murder is at odds with her unwillingness to point fingers at the other man.
Rope (1948)
Although the word was apparently never spoken in the making of Rope, the film’s undercurrent of homosexuality is obvious from the start, as Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and Phillip Morgan (Farley Granger) strangle David Kentley (Dick Hogan), and then Brandon removes his own and then Phillip’s gloves. From there, events unfold in real-time, as the killers place their victim in a trunk and entertain his friends and family in the same room, simply to prove to themselves that they can. The film’s tension grows as Brandon and Phillip’s former teacher, Rupert Cadell (James Stewart), soon suspects something is up, and between expressing an elitist worldview similar to Brandon’s, begins to sort out the crime.
This modestly successful thriller stands out as Alfred Hitchcock’s first color film and for the presence of two obviously gay lead characters. More than half a century later, the homosexual subtext seems insignificant; the film doesn’t say a whole lot about homosexuality except perhaps that gays are psychotic. But when you hearken back to 1948 and consider the invisibility of homosexuality at that time, the film takes a new meaning. So Hitchcock’s portrayal of it can be viewed as daring (although you can be sure he wouldn’t have gotten away with it if Brandon and Philip were nice homosexuals instead of depraved murderers).
Even more than its homosexual context, Rope is remembered for Hitchcock’s gimmick of filming it in a single room in long ten-minute takes. While this is an interesting gimmick, it results in an overly monotonous pace. It also at least partially diverts attention from some of the movie’s other failings. Unlike most Hitchcock films, some weaknesses in Rope are obvious : the lack of exciting emotional ups and downs, Dall’s slightly grating overacting and Hitchcock’s rare mis-step in destroying what might have been a sense of mystery and anticipation by showing the audience the murder rather than leaving it to our imagination.
Strangers On A Train (1951)
Director : Alfred Hitchcock. Screenplay : Raymond Chandler and Czenzi Ormonde. Cast : Farley Granger, Robert Walker, Ruth Roman, Leo G. Carroll, Patricia Hitchcock, Marion Lorne.
Tennis pro Granger meets his match in psychotic Walker who wants to swap murders : his father for Granger’s clinging wife. Granger’s in love with Roman. Set amidst Washington politics and a superior example of Hitchcock’s love affair with trains and railroading. The carousel scene is a classic.
Noteworthy facts : Patricia is Hitchcock’s daughter. Additional writing credit : adapted by Whitfield Cook. It’s based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith.
Rear Window (1954)
Director : Alfred Hitchcock. Screenplay : John Michael Hayes. Cast : James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Thelma Ritter and Raymond Burr.
Photographer Stewart is confined to a wheelchair because of an accident, so he spends his idle time peering out his apartment window watching his neighbors live their lives. Believing he’s seen Burr kill his wife, Stewart enlists the help of his fiancée (Kelly) and his nurse (Ritter) to find out the truth. Hitchcock deftly handles the confining spaces and delivers a claustrophobic mystery that’s wonderfully acted well.
Noteworthy Facts : Based on a story by Cornell Woolrich.
The Trouble With Harry (1955)
The Trouble With Harry begins and ends with little Arnie Rogers (Jerry Mathers) wandering about the New England countryside, toy machine gun in hand, only to stumble upon a man’s body. You might expect such an event to be the start of something horrific, or at least scary, but this isn’t that sort of movie. The Trouble With Harry is that he’s dead, but nobody seems to get too worked up about that. This is black comedy, but gently black – nothing like the mean-spirited dark comedies that became popular in the 1990s.
It’s a delightful irony to see a batch of small-town New England neighbors stumbling – one at a time – onto the corpse of Harry Worp. Each reacts differently and none – save for little Arnie – is as horrified as you might expect. They trip over him, kick him to make sure he’s dead, and even ask him to move so as to improve their view of the countryside. The finders don’t recognize the dead man, except for Arnie’s mother, Jennifer (Shirley MacLaine, in an eye-popping film debut), who knows Harry well; he’s her estranged husband.
This has got to be the most good-natured, even lackadaisical, murder mystery in movie history. For half the movie, the mystery isn’t even about what happened to Harry, as it appears clear that Captain Albert Wiles (Edmund Gwen) killed him by mistake, while hunting rabbits. But then other theories gain credibility, one at a time. And each time a new theory takes hold, these folks have reason to either bury Harry to hide his demise or to dig him up. Scene after scene, we watch an odd crew of gravediggers – Captain Jennifer, local artist Sam Marlowe (John Forsythe) and spinster Miss Ivy Gravely (Mildred Natwick) – marching through the countryside, shovel over their shoulders, to dig up Harry, bury him anew or return home after carrying out one or the other tasks. The poor guy gets dug up more frequently than a carrot patch at harvest time – four times in all, as the unlikely conspirators try to make sure Harry’s death would not inconvenience anyone, or catch the attention of local deputy sheriff Calvin Wiggs (Royal Dano).
Partly filmed in Vermont during early fall, The Trouble With Harry is a pretty movie, and one that works in unexpected ways. Among its attributes is Bernard Hermann’s score – his first with Hitchcock. It’s playful and reminiscent of the score he wrote later for a very different Hitchcock film Vertigo.
The Wrong Man (1956)
Without a doubt, Alfred Hitchcock’s favorite film theme was the ‘Wrong Man’, somebody (usually male) falsely accused of a serious crime (usually murder). Often, this unlucky person then tries to evade the law, in order to prove his innocence. He typically romances an icy blonde who hates him at first, but then comes around. Of course, everything works out in the end, and our man is not only vindicated, but proves himself to be a hero.
The Wrong Man is based on the true story of Christopher Emmanuel Balestrero. He is a base fiddle player at the Stork Club, a posh nightclub in New York City. He is also a family man, with a devoted wife and two young children. In need of money to pay for his wife’s dental work, he visits his insurance company to take out a loan.
There, he is mistaken for a man who has recently committed a robbery. His life then falls apart quickly. His co-operation with the unsympathetic police only convinces them further of his guilt. In the pre-Miranda environment, he isn’t given a lawyer until his court hearing, and isn’t allowed to contact his worried family. When Balestrero is finally able to make bail and hire a competent attorney (Anthony Quail), his long-suffering wife (Vera Miles) has a complete breakdown and must be committed to an institution.
The bleak and grim nature of the story is accentuated by the black and white cinematography. Hitchcock felt compelled to let the audience know what to expect by introducing the film himself, which would be his only speaking role in any of his features. (He would later introduce each of his television series episodes, but these appearances were meant to be humorous.)
Vertigo (1958)
Director : Alfred Hitchcock. Screenplay : Alec Coppel and Samuel Taylor. Cast : James Stewart, Kim Novak and Barbara Bel Geddes.
Ex-cop Stewart can’t face heights which puts him in real jeopardy when he becomes obsessed with a mysterious woman he’s been hired to tail. Murder and a beauty makeover add to the enigma. Novak holds her own in heady company as Hitchcock and Stewart deliver a complex puzzle that’s enhanced by Bernard Hermann’s majestic musical score and the beautiful San Francisco settings.
Noteworthy Facts : Regularly voted one of the greatest movies in history by international critics.
North by Northwest (1959)
Cary Grant plays Roger Thornhill, a sophisticated version of Alfred Hitchcock’s staple – the average guy in trouble. Eva Marie Saint plays another Hitchcock regular – the beautiful woman, Eve Kendall. James Mason is the villain, Phillip Vandamm. This might all seem like a formula, and to some extent it is, but it’s one that worked for Hitchcock and continues to work for audiences of his memorable films.
What makes the Hitchcock formula especially interesting in North by Northwest is that the beautiful woman is strong, smart and unpredictable. And the entire film is a roller coaster ride of action from New York to Chicago to the top of Mount Rushmore.
It all starts with a case of mistaken identity, and once poor Roger figures this out, he’s already in big trouble – chased by cops and gangsters across the eastern half of the United States. He’s chased on trains, he’s chased by planes, and he’s chased on foot. And worst of all, Roger can’t tell who’s on his side and who’s the enemy.
This great action film features some of American cinema’s most memorable scenes – the crime at the UN, Thornhill’s brush with a crop-duster, and the climactic struggle on Mount Rushmore. These are brilliantly realized, often belying the limitations of 1950’s filmmaking technology.
Psycho (1960)
The Psycho is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best and most famous films. Although it is usually considered to be a black comedy and a horror movie, it also qualifies as a mystery. There is considerable suspense throughout, and Anthony Perkins’ character (Norman Bates) has become one of the most infamous villains in film history. There are spoilers in the following paragraphs, but it would be difficult to discuss the film properly without giving much away.
Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is a calculating young woman who embezzles a large sum of cash from her employer, then leaves town to escape the crime. She spends the night at a desolated motel run by nervous, talkative Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). Norman is controlled by a shrewish mother, heard but never seen.
Soon, private investigator Arbogast (Martin Balsam) seeks Marion to recover the money.
Marion’s sister Lila (Vera Miles) and Dana Andrews clone John Gavin also search for Marion, with all leads intersecting at the Bates Motel.
Psycho was a major change from recent Hitchcock films, which were big budget technicolor films featuring major stars such as James Stewart and Cary Grant. Psycho, in contrast, was a low budget movie filmed on the Universal back lot using crew from Hitchcock’s television series. However, it became one of the biggest grossing films of the year, making a fortune for Hitchcock who had a large share of the profits.
Psycho was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Director, Best Supporting Actress (Leigh), Best B & W Cinematography (John L Russell) and Best Art Direction. It failed to win any Oscars, which were largely swept by Billy Wilder’s The Apartment (1960).
Torn Curtain (1966)
The Torn Curtain, Alfred Hitchcock’s fiftieth film, is unfortunately anything but a culmination of the work of the famous suspense film director. It’s typical of his work following The Birds – full of suspense but not very tightly put together. The Torn Curtain, a lightweight espionage thriller, has some tense, wondrously memorable moments masterfully put together – but they don’t fit together very well to make a cohesive whole. The fight scene in the kitchen, for example, is a brutal, nightmarish scene, effectively edited and unforgettable. The scene where Paul Newman attempts to swindle a mathematical formula out of a German scientist is innovative and suspenseful. But for every scene that works, there’s another that doesn’t. The film focuses too much on minor or even inconsequential details, such as a woman our heroes meet trying to escape back to the West. The film is recommended because there are moments when Hitchcock’s mastery of the medium shines through.
Frenzy (1972)
Director : Alfred Hitchcock. Screenplay : Anthony Shaffer. Cast : Jon Finch, Barry Foster, Alec McCowen and Anna Massey.
The ‘Necktie Murderer’ is at large in London and innocent man Finch is wrongly accused of the crimes. It is one of Hitchcock’s most violent movies, and also one of his most comical, although the laughs are of the macabre variety. In this, his second-last movie, Hitchcock proved that he could still design gripping set pieces (a silent pulling back on the camera from a murder scene is stunning), and he could still tell, at the age of 73, a mystery story that makes light of his phobias and keeps the audience on its toes. Hitchcock’s return to England to shoot the movie, after decades living in the United States, was treated as very nearly a Royal Event.
Family Plot (1976)
Alfred Hitchcock’s staple thriller tended to place one innocent man falsely accused of wrongdoing in a terrible situation, chased by both the authorities and the real bad guys as he tries to prove his innocence and avoid getting bumped off. Family Plot – Hitchcock’s final film – starts off with a somewhat different approach, focusing instead on two pairs of crooks whose schemes become entangled with messy, and sometimes quite funny, results.
The Family Plot is about as light as Hitchcock’s movies get, although it does have a couple of exciting moments, particularly George’s attempt to keep his sabotaged car from careening off a winding highway, while the panicking Blanche wrestles for control of the wheel, screams, waves her feet in the air, and generally does just about everything possible to doom the two of them. Adamson doesn’t hesitate to try to get rid of the snoopy couple, but they somehow stumble free of his murderous schemes every time.
As the film progresses, the Hitchcock formula starts to assert itself, at least to some extent, as Blanche and George become the almost-innocent protagonists and Adamson becomes an increasingly nasty villain. Harris and Dern play their characters for laughs and are modestly successful – Dern’s exaggerated perplexity at the story’s twists and turns is quite funny.
• “Dialogue should simply be a sound among other sounds, just something that comes out of the mouths of people whose eyes tell the story in visual terms.”
• “Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.”
• For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake.”
• “I’m not against the police; I’m just afraid of them.”
• “In the old days villains had moustaches and kicked the dog. Audiences are smarter today. They don’t want their villain to be thrown at them with green limelight on his face. They want an ordinary human being with failings.”
• “Television has brought back murder into the home - where it belongs.”
• "The paperback is very interesting but I find it will never replace the hardcover book -- it makes a very poor doorstop.”
• “There is no terror in a bang, only in the anticipation of it.”
• “There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.”
• “When an actor comes to me and wants to discuss his character, I say, ‘It’s in the script. ‘If he says, ‘But what’s my motivation?, ‘I say, ‘Your salary’.”
