Table Of ContentHitchcock 16/7/04 8:20 am Page 2
Other titles in this series by the same author
Film Noir
Hong Kong's Heroic Bloodshed (Ed.)
Martin Scorsese
Noir Fiction
Orson Welles
Stanley Kubrick
Woody Allen
Hitchcock 16/7/04 8:20 am Page 3
Alfred Hitchcock
Paul Duncan
www.pocketessentials.com
Hitchcock 16/7/04 8:20 am Page 4
This edition published in July 2004 by Pocket Essentials,
P.O.Box 394,Harpenden,Herts,AL5 1JX
http://www.pocketessentials.com
Distributed in the USA by Trafalgar Square Publishing,
PO Box 257,Howe Hill Road,North Pomfret,Vermont 05053
© Paul Duncan 2004
The right of Paul Duncan to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright,Designs &
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved.No part of this book may be reproduced,stored in or
introduced into a retrieval system,or transmitted,in any form or by any
means (electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording or otherwise)
without the written permission of the publishers.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library.
ISBN 1 903047 00 5
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
Typography by Avocet Typeset,Chilton,Aylesbury,Bucks
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Cox & Wyman,Reading,Berks
Hitchcock 6/7/04 1:58 pm Page 5
for Claude and Josef
Hitchcock 6/7/04 1:58 pm Page 6
Acknowledgements
For their help filling gaps in my video,book and clippings
collection, and for ideas, I would like to thank John
Ashbrook,Colin Odell,Michelle LeBlanc,Ellen Cheshire
and John Kennedy Melling. For his encouragement,
thanks to Hitchcock admirer Ed Gorman. For inspiring
me,thanks to Claude and Josef.
Hitchcock 6/7/04 1:58 pm Page 7
Contents
Alfred Hitchcock:Inspiring Public Unease 9
An introduction to the life and work of the
Master of Suspense
1. Silent Hitchcock (1922-1929) 21
Early work in silent cinema,including
The Lodger
2. The Mastermind Returns (1929-1939) 31
The first British talkie,Blackmail,and the
great Man On The Run films of the 1930s
3. Lost In America (1940-1947) 67
Establishing his American credentials with
Rebecca,Shadow Of A Doubt and Notorious
4. Breaking Free (1948-1949) 101
Independence at a price with Rope and
Under Capricorn
5. On A Roll (1950-1954) 107
Getting his act together with Strangers
On A Train,I Confess and Dial M For Murder
Hitchcock 6/7/04 1:58 pm Page 8
CONTENTS
6. Auteur Theory (1954-1960) 117
Fame and fortune achieved with Rear
Window,To Catch A Thief,Vertigo,North
By Northwest and Psycho
7. Beyond The Frame (1963-1976) 139
Losing the plot with The Birds,Marnie
and Frenzy
Reference Materials 155
Books and Websites where you can find out more
Hitchcock 6/7/04 1:58 pm Page 9
Alfred Hitchcock:
Inspiring Public Unease
I had a dream once.I’m at LAX (Los Angeles airport) and
I’m waiting for my case to slide down the chute.There are
lots and lots of people milling about.They are nondescript.
I see my case on the carousel,pick it up and roll it towards
Customs.I’ve got drink to declare but,before I get there,I
trip on my laces.A Customs man walks towards me,asks if
everything is okay.I’m fine.I crouch to tie my laces.He
picks up my case and dusts it off.As he does so,I look at
my case and realise it is not mine.My heart misses a beat.
Looking at my face, the Customs man realises some-
thing’s wrong.He asks me to accompany him to his desk.
I pause, then get up. Slowly, I walk towards his table,
watching him unlock the case,open it.I can only see his
eyes look down,then look up at me.“Is this your case,sir?”
he asks me.I wake up in dread.What was in that case? I
knew it was something bad.
Alfred Hitchcock pervades our consciousness.There is no
doubt in my mind that virtually everyone in the Western
world has seen at least one of his movies.We have seen the
world through his eyes and we find it frightening.Alfred
Hitchcock was afraid, and he was able to communicate
9
Hitchcock 6/7/04 1:58 pm Page 10
PAUL DUNCAN
his fear through the use of situation.
His films are scary,not because the people are scary,but
because they are nice,even attractive.Awkward,shy,gawky
Norman Bates – he wouldn’t hurt a fly.
His films are scary,not because they take place in the
dark shadows of the night,but because they are situated in
bright sunlight,in plain sight,amongst the crowd.
His films are scary,not because he is explicit or direct,
but because his world-view is coded in abstraction. The
Birdsends with the world in chaos.Mankind has to tiptoe
through the rest of their lives because,at any moment,the
world will turn on them.In Vertigo an obsessed man sees
the woman he loves killed twice – life not only puts the
knife in,it twists it as well.
The reason why people are uneasy about watching
Hitchcock is because they know he is capable of killing his
characters. He knows that their experiences in the story
may damage or cripple them forever.Janet Leigh is killed
in Psycho.Mrs Thorwald is killed and chopped up in Rear
Window.Vera Miles ends up in a sanatorium at the end of
The Wrong Man.People are killed in virtually every movie
he made.Worse than that,Hitchcock shows you the killing
and the killers but you do not avert your eyes – you want
to see it all.
Hitchcock is not Hitchcockian.When people describe
a Brian De Palma or Richard Franklin or whoever film as
being Hitchcockian they are usually referring to certain
camera movements and angles.They refer to the visual
language that Hitchcock used. People are then confused
when they see Hitchcock’s movies,because they are never
quite the same as the modern movies.The reason for this
10
Description:Pocket Essentials is a dynamic series of books that are concise, lively, and easy to read. Packed with facts as well as expert opinions, each book has all the key information you need to know about such popular topics as film, television, cult fiction, history, and more. Twenty years after his death
