Alfred Hitchcock

See also: Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (August 13rd 1899 with London - April 29th 1980 with Los Angeles) is a British scenario writer at the same time and American. It is especially known for its Film S police officers and with suspense.

Biography

Alfred has only one child, a fore-mentioned girl Patricia, born on July 7th, 1928.

Beginnings

Alfred Joseph Hitchcock is born on August 13rd, 1899 in Leytonstone in the suburbs from London. His/her parents, William and Emma, are wholesale grocers and Alfred is the last of their three children: elder William was born in 1890 and the Eileen junior in 1892. As of its more young age, he is a solitary and timorous child. He acknowledges itself not to have had friends in his childhood and to have spent his time only playing. Certain outstanding elements of its childhood will be found in its films. Thus, it is several times question of the trade of grocer - cf Secret agent , Frenzy . In the same way, the very visible aversion of Hitchcock for the police force - in fact for the police officers, shown inefficient - can be explained by a rapid stay with the police station, whereas it was old from only 4 or 5 years. Lastly, the monks are also often criticized through its films; Hitchcock had indeed been placed by his/her catholic parents in a college of Jesuits and it had a very bad memory of it, in particular because of its fear of the corporal punishments.

With died of his father in 1914, it must find an employment and between with the Henley company, which manufactures electric cables; its work in the Publicité develops its talents of Graphiste.

Its cinematographic career begins in 1921 when it is engaged by the American studios of the Famous Players-Lasky with Islington. During two years it will draw Intertitre S. During this period it côtoie the realizer George Fitzmaurice, who drew his films plan by plan; Hitchcock will apply this method when it carries out its own films.

In 1922 it tries to produce and carry out its first film - Number Thirteen - but the project will be abandoned. Hitchcock is then assistant-setter in scene in the company founded by Michael Balcon. Thus in 1923, it meets his future wife Alma Reville during the turning of Woman to woman .

Contrary to other realizers perceived like more literary, Hitchcock very early shows a taste for the technique. During its years of training, it is implied in all the fields: decorations, costumes, scripts… Its perfectionism will be worth many scenes worships thereafter to him. As the German Cinéma is then one of the most succeeded, it supplements its knowledge between 1923 and 1925 by working with Berlin for UFA as a decorator then scenario writer. There will remain deeply marked by this experiment and will take as a starting point the realizers expressionists.

In 1926, it carries out its first film - The Pleasure Garden - then a second the same year - The Mountain Eagle - qualified by Hitchcock of bad film and from now on lost besides.

The British period

The first large film of the “Master of suspense” is without any doubt The Lodger, carried out in 1926. One finds there the majority of the elements of next successes: a fair young woman, an assassin, a man shown wrongly… The films which follow will not gain a great success and some will be even décriés by Hitchcock itself, such Champagne (1928). 1929 mark one pivotal year since its film Chantage knows initially a dumb version by will of the production, then a speaking version, Hitchcock having made recordings in hiding-place. From now on, all its films will be speaking.

Many films, increasingly right, will follow. Some will meet a sharp success such the man who knew of it too (1934) whose remake will be made in 1956. The topic of innocent marked wrongly and obliged to flee to prove its innocence appears in many films of the British period; let us quote for example the 39 steps or Jeune and innocent . Towards the end of the year 1930, Hitchcock starts to have a certain reputation near the American public; then at the top of its art, David O. Selznick proposes to him to leave to Hollywood. From now on, it will carry out all its films in America.

The American period

Selznick wanted that Hitchcock carries out a film on the history of Titanic; nevertheless Hitchcock manages to impose its film - Rebecca (1940). Tensions are born between the two men as for the importance from the assembly, with the choice and the direction of the actors and the fidelity to which a realizer is held (See on this subject the test of Leonard J. Leff entitled Hitchcock/Selznick published at Ramsay). Hitchcock will carry out only four films for Selznick ( Rebecca in 1940; the House of Doctor Edwardes in 1945; Connected the in 1946 and the Lawsuit Paradine in 1947) before deciding that it is to better be its own producer in 1947. However, to produce a film is expensive and the first works independent of Alfred Hitchcock ( the Cord and Lovers of the Capricorn ) hardly have success with the boxoffice. Thus pressed by its creditors and his agent, Wasserman, it agrees into 1955 to lend its name and its image with televised series entitled initially Alfred Hitchcock presents (1955-1962) for wages of 129.000 $ per 30 minutes episode. As from 1962 up to 1965, the series will take title of Suspicion .

Its role however is limited there and that concerns its own choice. He writes and presents the introduction of each episode and chooses of them scripts (role which he will entrust as from 1959 to Joan Bennett his assistant and friend). As opposed to what much of spectators believe at the time, the series Alfred Hitchcock presents is very little revealing of its characteristics and its talents as an originator, scenario writer, assembler and a realizer. In fact, on the 368 televised episodes, Hitchcock will carry out only 20 of them.

  • Revenge (10/2/55)

  • Poison (10/5/58)
  • Breakdown (11/13/55)
  • has Dip in the Pool (6/1/58)
  • Back for Christmas (3/4/56)
  • Banquo' S flesh (5/3/59)
  • The puts off Mr. Pelham (12/4/55)
  • Arthur (9/27/59)
  • Wet Sathursday (08/56)
  • The Crystal Trench (10/4/59)
  • Mr. Blanchard' S secret (12/23/56)
  • Incident At has corner (4/5/60)
  • Four O' clock (9/30/57)
  • Mrs Bisby and the colonel (9/27/60)
  • One more mile to go (4/7/57)
  • The horse player (3/14/61)
  • The perfect crime (10/20/57)
  • Bang! You' Re dead! (17/190/61)
  • Lamb to the slaughter (4/13/58)
  • I saw the whole thing (10/11/62)

The films carried out and products by Hitchcock between 1954 and 1963 are in general regarded as its larger masterpieces. Let us quote in particular Cold sweats (1958) or Psychose (1960) according to the novel of Robert Bloch. With the Birds in 1963, Hitchcock tries to make reflect the spectator on the place of the Man: “And if Nature mother took again the top? ”.

The films which will follow will be less personal - perhaps also less ambitious. The age starts to be felt, the cinema is in crisis because of the arrival of television in the households and Hitchcock lost two of his/her closer collaborators: Bernard Herrmann, his musician, and Robert Burks, the director of the photography. Without being however “turnips”, the films carried out after Pas of springs for Marnie (1964) do not have same dimension as those of its golden age.

After the failure of the Curtain torn and of “the Vice”, Hitchcock finds success with Frenzy , in 1972. Then, Plot of family in 1976, receives the homages of criticism. The realizer prepares, in 1978, a new very promising spy film, The Shorth Night . But in front of the difficulty of turning, it puts an end to its career and takes its retirement.

The hitchcockienne influence

So today Hitchcock is regarded by much as one of the largest realizers of cinema, that was not the case at the time of the exit of its films. Little liked criticism, it was shown always to remake the same history or to make its films according to the public. That, Hitchcock answered that it did not include/understand the nombrilist attitude of certain realizers who make films for themselves.

Nevertheless, Hitchcock was always voted by plebiscite by the public. Moreover, many films, winks with Hitchcock, were made such Psycho (1998) of Gus Van Sant which takes again more or less the same plans that the original but is turned colors. This film was a failure.

Today, by many realizers are inspired directly by the work of Hitchcock. It is the first to have applied in its films all the “receipts” of suspense and of the always appreciated scenes of anthology - the shower in Psychose - show at which point there will remain popular.

Among the current realizers, that which wants to be more hitchcockien is undoubtedly Brian De Palma.

The cinema hitchcockien

We will rest on Psychose , Cold sweats , the Birds and Fenêtre on court to determine the recurring elements of the cinema of Hitchcock.

Suspense

The Suspense must be distinguished from the surprise, more characteristic of the cinema of horror or terror. In films of Hitchcock, precisely called the “Master of suspense”, suspense is obtained by a shift between what the spectator knows and what the character knows. Anxious waiting of the spectator can then be reinforced by an accentuated music, shades, light effects… In the cinema of horror, the effect of surprise consists in revealing a thing (or a character) unexpected and often terrifying whereas neither the character nor the spectator expected it. But in the films hitchcockiens, the anxiety of the spectator increases as the character remains unconscious danger. He wonders what will arrive when he will see it finally. All the films of Hitchcock are based on this effect.

Thus, in Window on court, the spectator is alone to see the neighbor opposite leaving his apartment with a woman; Jeffries sleeps at this time. In the same way, when the detective climbs of the manor in Psychose, the spectator sees the door half-opening and it is alone to envisage the murder of the detective. Cold sweats is also particularly significant since the spectator learns by a flashback, at the beginning of the second part of film, the true identity of Judy and all the plot assembled against Scottie. The spectator wonders thus about the turning which will be able to take the events.

MacGuffin

Criticisms reproached Hitchcock always for making same film. There is initially an element release “the MacGuffin” and a character lambda becomes hero of film. It is true that the majority of its films adopt this structure. MacGuffin (or element release) of Psychose is the money stolen to the owner; that of the Birds is the couple of inseparable… Their importance in film will decrease gradually until not having any role more, so much the character is carried by the events. Thus, the psychiatrist at the end of Psychosis notices itself that “it was a crime passionnel” and thus that the 40.000 $ did not have any role in the action. Norman Bates was not informed besides of it; the money was used only to lead Marion Crane towards the Motel Packsaddlled, and its loss.

Women

Hitchcock maintains the difficult relationship with the women in her childhood and its adolescence. He is a solitary child and “will be interested there” only towards age the 20 years. In its films, the female figures are often blackest. On the one hand, the fair young women often represent the evil; in the birds , Melanie Daniels is accused of sorcery, in Cold sweats , Judy is accessory to a murder. Moreover, the figure of the mother is omnipresent and in constant opposition with his/her son. That also is visible in the Birds , where the mother is afraid to be abandoned by her son; the paroxysm of this relation is of course present in Psychose where the assassination of his/her mother starts the schizophrenia of Norman Bates.

Food

Hitchcock was complexed by its weight, heritage of his/her father who also appreciated the good kitchen. Various actors and members of the engineering team tell that Hitchcock invited them to dine to make fuller knowledge but which they more spoke gastronomy and about the good wine that film in progress.

In its films, food has a big role. It accentuates the desire of Norman Bates for Marion Crane in Psychose, since it brings the sandwiches to him in order to discuss with it. The famous scene of the kiss in Connected the is intersected with matter on chicken. In the same way, the invitation with the dinner is often a desire of one of the two characters of going further in its relation with the other. Thus, Scottie invites Judy to dine, Mitch invites Melanie, John “the Cat” and Frances leave in picnic respectively in Cold sweats and the birds and the Hand to the collet; an love affair can begin. Lastly, in Window on court, LISA is seen like a perfect woman and Jeffries seems to admit it when it brings her meal to him: Perfect, as usual .

Caméos

A Caméo is the furtive appearance (often dumb) of a famous personality in a film. Hitchcock appeared in its first films because it missed observers. But quickly, its caméos became a play for the spectator and one can see it in all his films of the American period. But to in no case this furtive appearance should not slow down the course of the action and Hitchcock thus generally appears at any beginning of film so that the spectators do not await it any more and can be fully in film.

The caméos of Hitchcock reveal a rather paradoxical character. Obsessed by its physique, it however did not lose an occasion to be shown, contrary to other very discrete realizers. That is a share of its humor cocasse, which very often punctuates its films.

Examples of caméos:

  • In the apartment of the pianist in Window on court.

  • Outgoing of bird selling with its (truths) dogs whereas Melanie enters there the Birds.
To consult: the list of the caméos of Hitchcock.

Innocent Mr. Everyone

The majority of the characters of films of Hitchcock become hero in spite of them. Sometimes marked wrongly, they must flee in order to prove their innocence. Marion Crane ( Psychosis ) is an employee lambda, Mitch ( the birds ) a simple lawyer… The course of the action will push them to show coolness and thus to become hero. Hitchcock thus makes a point of showing the spectator who his stories can arrive at no matter whom. What to increase the shiver further!

An accessory spectator

Hitchcock carries out its films for the spectator and he likes to play with them. In Window on court, it leads us to adopt the same attitude as Jeffries and LISA: like the latter says it: We are disappointed because a man did not assassinate his wife . And fenestrates it of Jeffries, left cinema display, places us in the same position as Jeffries. Obviously the spectator wants a victim and a murderer because it wants action. That is also visible in Psychose, where it is hoped that Norman Bates will not forget the newspaper - almost a proof of its culpability. In the same way, when he wants to make disappear the car in the marsh, this one stops one moment to be inserted and the spectator is as relieved as Norman when it is inserted again.

The force of Hitchcock is to make the spectator accessory to the murderer, in spite of him.

Hitchcock and blondes

The “sophisticated blondes” of films of Hitchcock became paradigms of the cinema, figures founders, and images eternal of the imaginary one. The blondes of Hitchcock are always represented as being cold. the Birds and Pas of springs for Marnie are two key films for which wants to seize something between the private life and the work of the scenario writer. The reason is due to Tippi Hedren. The only actress to which Hitchcock dared to declare its flame. One with the impression that Hitchcock carried out the Birds to abuse Tippi Hedren, to frighten it, damage its beauty insolente. At the very least awkward way to acknowledge its love to him. It is during the turning of Marnie , that Hitchcock will try to acknowledge once again it to him. It will continue Tippi of its assiduities heavily. The spring of Hitchcock will be broken, Marnie will finish in a heavy environment of scamping and the career of Tippi Hedren will be broken Net. Tippi Hedren had refused all the advances of Hitchcock during the turning of the Oiseaux ; to be avenged, Hitchcock launched truths birds for certain film scenes. Wounded physically and psychiquement, it had to be neat. On the plate, declares she in an interview, there was permanently a person of the S.P.A. It is rather me which needed to be protected. I do not know how much time, I was bitten, scratched, sometimes cruelly, by the birds taken of panic. The men handling the gulls and corbels wore gloves, me I were the innocent target one invented by Hitchcock .

The girl of Hedren (Melanie Griffith) having grown entrusted to Télérama: I always thought that Hitchcock had stolen my mother .

It was obsessed by her and it broke its career because she did not want to let herself make. For my six years, it sent to me a box in the shape of coffin with a headstock representing my mother such as she was in the Birds . It was a patient . Tippi Hedren will give up the cinema after Marnie , because of the scene of the rape in film. The career of Hitchcock will decline. Frightened, the producers will impose their own blondes.

For the film Cold sweats , Hitchcock did not want at the beginning of Kim Novak, he wanted Vera Miles, and to make of it “the news Grace Kelly”. One had photographed his face, soft and distinguished, during days, all was ready. But Vera Miles was pregnant of her husband, Gordon Scott. Hitchcock wanted to delay turning after the birth of the child. Impossible. It found its revenge then: he to give the female supporting role in Psychosis , that of the sister of Janet Leigh. Vera Miles had shaven cranium because she played in Five marked Women and Hitchcock the affubla of a wig which destroyed its beauty. Hitchcock declares while speaking about Cold sweats When Paramount gave the role to Kim Novak, I lost any interest for the character and film itself… What is false, to see the result of it. I believe to have disappointed Hitchcock. I did not correspond to his image of ideal blonde. In my opinion, it was conscious of having made an error by choosing me, and it decided to benefit from this error. It is as if he had wanted to put itself in the skin of Scottie while hoping to find in me a blonde in Grace Kelly, which was not the case, while hoping to change my nature. Blow one finds this resistance to the screen.

Catalog of films

As from the years 1950, Hitchcock decided, not only to continue its films, but also of launching televised series, Alfred Hitchcock presents , little stories with suspense, and also lending its name for books for children, of which the series the Three Young Detectives . That shows at which point Hitchcock likes its work and how it diversifies it.

Silent films

British Period

As coscenarist, artistic director and assistant realizer:

  • 1923 : the wounded Dancer (Woman to woman)
  • 1924: white Shade (White Shadow)
  • 1924: The Passionate Adventure
  • 1925 : the Hooligan (The Blackguard)
  • 1925: Prude' S Fall

Like realizer:

Talking films

British Period

American Period

Quotations

  • “I would like more on his relations with the women. Not, with good to think of it, I do not prefer. ” Ingmar Bergman
  • “I am a philanthropist: I give to people what they want. People adore being horrified, terrorized. ” Alfred Hitchcock
  • “I never said that the actors were cattle. What I said it is that they had to be treated as tel.” Alfred Hitchcock
  • “the duration of a film should be adapted to the endurance of the bladder. ” Alfred Hitchcock
  • “It does not have there terror in a rifle shot, only in his anticipation. ” Alfred Hitchcock
  • “To ask a man who tells stories to take account of probability appears as ridiculous me as to ask a figurative painter to represent the things with exactitude. ” Alfred Hitchcock
  • " My wife makes the kitchen every evening and I help it to make the vaisselle." Alfred Hitchcock
  • " Despite everything my fanfaronnades and my bravado, I am in fact rather significant and poltron." Alfred Hitchcock
  • " The autoplagiat, it is the style." Alfred Hitchcock
  • " I believe in the cinema pur." Alfred Hitchcock
  • " The cinema is not a section of life, it is a share of gâteau." Alfred Hitchcock
  • " The cinema, it is the juxtaposition various elements filmed to cause an emotion at the spectateur." Alfred Hitchcock
  • " All the malicious ones are not black, all the nice ones are not white. There is gray partout." Alfred Hitchcock
  • " With the assistance of television, the murder must enter the hearths, where is its place." Alfred Hitchcock
  • " If you see a man arriving behind innocent with a weapon at the hand, you know some more than the innocent one, and that creates suspense. " Alfred Hitchcock
  • " The mystery intrigues, it is a intellectual phenomenon. The supense is something of purely émotionnel." Alfred Hitchcock
  • " For me, the assembly is the essential component of a film. " Alfred Hitchcock

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