Table Of ContentTHEMATIC AND METHODOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS
OF ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S ARTISTIC VISION
William A. Drumin
Studies in the History and Criticism of Film
Volume 8
The Edwin Mellen Press
Lewiston•Queenston•Lampeter
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Drumin, William A.
Thematic and methodological foundations of Alfred Hitchcock's artistic vision /
William A. Drumin.
p. cm. -- (Studies in the history and criticism of film ; v. 8)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7734-6292-9
I. Title. II. Series.
This is volume 8 in the continuing series
Studies in the History and Criticism of Film
Volume 8 ISBN 0-7734-6292-9
SHCF Series ISBN 0-7734-9734-X
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library
Copyright © 2004 William A. Drumin
All rights reserved. For information contact
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The Edwin Mellen Press The Edwin Mellen Press
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Box 450 Box 67
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Lewiston, New York Queenston, Ontario
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USA 14092-0450 CANADA LOS 1L0
The Edwin Mellen Press, Ltd.
Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales
UNITED KINGDOM SA48 8LT
Printed in the United States of America
To my daughter, Dawn, and my son, Mark, and to the memory of my wife,
Joyce Kovacs Drumin
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Foreword by William Irwin
Acknowledgements(cid:9) vii
Introduction(cid:9) 1
Hitchcock Light and Dark(cid:9) 21
Chapter 1. The 39 Steps (1935)(cid:9) 23
Chapter 2. Sabotage (1936)(cid:9) 41
Rites of Passage(cid:9) 79
Chapter 3 Young and Innocent (1937)(cid:9) 81
Chapter 4. Shadow of Doubt (1943)(cid:9) 101
Recovering Innocence(cid:9) 129
Chapter 5. Notorious (1946)(cid:9) 131
Chapter 6. Saboteur (1942)(cid:9) 149
Monsters from the Id(cid:9) 169
Chapter 7. Rope (1948)(cid:9) 171
Chapter 8. Strangers on a Train (1951)(cid:9) 187
Telling Illusion From Reality(cid:9) 209
Chapter 9. Stage Fright (1950)(cid:9) 211
Chapter 10. Rear Window (1954)(cid:9) 239
Metaphysical Excursions(cid:9) 269
Chapter 11. Vertigo (1958)(cid:9) 271
Chapter 12. The Birds (1963)(cid:9) 311
Hitchcock Dark and Light: Reprised(cid:9) 341
Chapter 13. Frenzy (1972)(cid:9) 343
Chapter 14. North by Northwest (1959)(cid:9) 361
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Summary: Hitchcock's Major Philosophical Themes 383
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Appendices: Cinematic Explorations of Consciousness 393
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Appendix 1. Suspicion (1941) 395
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Appendix 2. Breakdown (TV Short Film, 1955) 413
Bibliography(cid:9) 425
Index(cid:9) 431
Preface
Since 1971, I have been teaching in the Philosophy Department at King's
College. Enjoying a lifetime interest in the cinema and especially in the films of
Alfred Hitchcock, I had the good fortune, during a sabbatical in 1979, to take a
course in Hitchcock's film work, given by Donald Spoto at the New School in
New York City. Donald Spoto had just completed a full-length book study of
Hitchcock's films for which he had personally interviewed the Master of
Suspense. The extraordinary insights into Hitchcock's cinematic artistry that he
powerfully and compellingly communicated in the course served as an incentive
fur me to explore Hitchcock's artistry from my perspective as a Philosophy
teacher and to apply his artistic vision to the content of some of my courses. Our
limited library collection had only two Hitchcock films in its collection, The 39
Steps and Sabotage, and I began showing them in introductory Philosophy
courses as a mode of illustrating and dramatizing some of the issues traditionally
encountered there. Gradually, as more films became available, I began to plan for
a course devoted entirely to the appreciation of Alfred Hitchcock as an artist of
the cinema.
For approximately the last fifteen years, I have offered at King's College a
course on the Creative Vision of Alfred Hitchcock. Usually given in the honors
program, it has consistently attracted a number of highly motivated students,
primarily from the junior and senior classes. Though offered under the auspices of
the Philosophy Department, the course aims for an appreciation of Hitchcock's
cinematic artistry from a broad humanistic perspective. The objectives have been,
first, to promote philosophical and humanistic insight into challenging issues of
human life through reflection on the themes, characterizations, and expressive
cinematic techniques deployed in selected classic films of Alfred Hitchcock;
second, to foster the habit of "seeing" and appreciating films with sensitivity and
receptivity to their expressive power; and, third, to foster the habit of
philosophizing on a personal level. In pursuit of these objectives, we screen 14 of
Hitchcock's major films and analyze them both for their narrative themes, and the
cinematic techniques through which Hitchcock expresses meaning and
communicates emotion. We also try to discern and explore philosophical and
humanistic issues suggested or entailed by the films' narrative and thematic
structure.
Most of the chapter commentaries that follow began as program notes for
films screened in the class for discussion and analysis. They are aimed for
undergraduate students with interest in the humanities and the liberal arts and for
others who continue to find Hitchcock's films enjoyable and provocative. Over
the past thirty years, the film work of Alfred Hitchcock has been the subject of a
plethora of popular and scholarly studies from varied viewpoints and standards of
interpretation, including, in particular, the psychoanalytic, feminist, postmodern,
and sociopolitical perspectives. These approaches have shed varying degrees of
light on the continuing power of Hitchcock's films to engage, disturb, and enchant
us. The approach of the present study is tailored for readers who seek an
introduction from a non-specialized perspective into the central themes and motifs
that fascinated and occasionally obsessed Hitchcock over his 50-year career in
cinema. I have sought in the following chapters to illuminate Hitchcock's artistic
and humanistic vision of the world and of human life as well as the source of the
artistic power through which he expressed that vision, and, whenever possible, to
relate that vision to philosophic/humanistic concerns manifested in the course of
our daily living and reflection. Each chapter contains a commentary on one of
Hitchcock's better films that explores its deployment of major narrative themes
and characterizations and their expression through his methodology of
filmmaking. Of the 53 films directed by Hitchcock, 30 to 40 are arguably full-
fledged classics that will amply reward careful study. The choice of fourteen films
for this study reflects the scheduling requirement of the one-semester course,
allowing fourteen weeks of classes, during each of which one film is scheduled
for screening, discussion, and analysis. (The appendix includes an additional full-
length film and a short film directed by Hitchcock for his television series.) The
films are grouped into pairs on the basis of common thematic characteristics
convenient for appreciating Hitchcock's work. The discussion assumes that the
reader will have seen the films at least once, and hopefully several times. All
should be readily available for rental or purchase.
Readers familiar with Donald Spoto's writings on Hitchcock's films will
recognize my deep indebtedness to his insights. They have formed an important
component of the criteria that have helped to guide my own journey toward a
living appreciation of Hitchcock's cinematic vision. Even when I have come to
disagree with his interpretation on particular films (such as, for example, Rear
Window), I have always found his thought to be insightful and provocative.
Description:Although Alfred Hitchcock has been dead for over 24 years, his films still command widespread public interest and appeal. As true classics, they exhibit a persistent power to engage and enchant that transcends the limitations of time and culture. This work explores on a basic level the sources of th
