Free Essay 1
Queen Victoria
was still on the throne when Sir Alfred Hitchcock was born in London a hundred
years ago this month. A massively fat man of relentlessly old-fashioned
demeanor, schooled by Jesuits and formal to the point of paralysis, he spent
his entire adult life working in a medium that barely existed in 1899, but has
since come to be regarded as the very essence of modernity. From 1939 until his
death in 1980, he lived in Hollywood, a city that inverts every value of the
lost world into which he was born. He made movies about secret agents and
serial killers, and peopled them with debonair gentlemen who slept with cool
blondes, thereby amusing millions of unsuspecting filmgoers with his own
hopeless fantasies; he longed to be the witty, unflappable Cary Grant of North
by Northwest, but knew he was really the Jimmy Stewart of Vertigo, haunted and
desperate.
Today, when the
tempo of cultural change has accelerated beyond the wildest dreams of the
maddest prophets, Hitchcock remains a fixed star of American popular culture,
the only director of his generation whose name is still as familiar to ordinary
moviegoers as it is to the film- studies cranks who churn out ponderous tomes
with titles like Hitchcock as Activist: Politics and the War Films and
Hitchcock's Bi-Textuality: Lacan, Feminisms, and Queer Theory. But it was not
always so. Witness, for instance, this testy review of Secret Agent, his 1936
adaptation of Somerset Maugham's Ashenden:
His films
consist of a series of small "amusing" melodramatic situations: the
murderer's buttons dropped on the baccarat board; the strangled organist's
hands prolonging the notes in the empty church; the fugitives hiding in the
bell tower when the bell begins to swing. Very perfunctorily he builds up to
these tricky situations (paying no attention on the way to inconsistencies,
loose ends, psychological absurdities) and then drops them; they mean nothing:
they lead to nothing.
This review, as
it happens, was written by a novelist, Graham Greene, and it is interesting
that he should point with distaste to the aspect of Hitchcock's work that is
now most admired by critics: the fact that his movies deal primarily in images,
not words. It isn't that his characters never say anything memorable. (Cary
Grant, in North by Northwest: "Apparently the only performance that's
going to satisfy you is when I play dead." James Mason: "Your very
next role. You'll be quite convincing, I assure you.") But it is not what
they say that we remember after the lights come up. An elegantly dressed man
running through a deserted cornfield, chased by a renegade cropduster; a broken
wine bottle that inexplicably proves to be filled with sand; the blankly
staring eye of a woman lying dead in a running shower-such is the stuff of
which a Hitchcock film is made, and next to it, everything else is window
dressing.
Though only nine
of his feature films were silent, Hitchcock was profoundly affected by the
silent-film aesthetic, and spent the rest of his career trying to import it
into the age of sound. It took him long enough-many of his pre-1950 films are
quite talky-but by the time of Strangers on a Train, he had figured out how to
structure his scripts so as to diminish sharply the importance of dialogue.
Characteristic of Hitchcock is that so many of his strongest films pivot around
a tiny plot twist, uninteresting in itself, that serves as a pretext to set the
characters in motion, and even more so that those characters should not
infrequently go through entire scenes without speaking a single word out loud.
Typical, too, is the remark he made to Ernest Lehman, who wrote North by
Northwest, midway through the shooting of that film:The audience is like a
great organ that you and I are playing. At one moment we play this note on them
and get this reaction, and then we play that chord and they react that way. And
someday we won't even have to make a movie-there'll be electrodes implanted in
their brains, and we'll just press different buttons and they'll go
"ooooh" and "aaaah" and we'll frighten them, and make them
laugh. Won't that be wonderful?
Hitchcock's
image-oriented style cut against the grain of filmmaking in the '30s and '40s,
which had been transformed almost beyond recognition by the coming of sound. It
is no coincidence that radio, which flourished at the same time, made effective
use of nearly every Hollywood star of the day; even Citizen Kane, a movie
bristling with indelible images, was no less strongly influenced by Orson
Welles's experience as a radio director. Small wonder that at a time when
scripts were still known as "photoplays," Hitchcock's emphasis on the
visual should have caused his work to be widely dismissed as mere light
entertainment.
Not until the
'60s, after European directors had taken the lead in pulling away from the
traditional style of cinema that dominated Hollywood in its golden age, did
Hitchcock begin to be acknowledged as a major figure. Yet the irony is that his
sensibility is decidedly pre- modern, not merely in its silent-film roots, but
also in its emotional tone. A movie like Vertigo, which at first glance appears
to be a kind of film noir, actually differs greatly from such earlier examples
of the genre as Jacques Tourneur's Out of the Past or Nicholas Ray's In a
Lonely Place in that its mode of expression is essentially Gothic-even
operatic.
Herein lies a
crucial difference between the films of Hitchcock's major phase and the less
mature ones that preceded them: Starting in 1954, he began to work with a
composer capable of filling the empty spaces of his near-silent scenes with
music fully in keeping with his own distinctive sensibility. To watch Ray's On
Dangerous Ground, the lone film noir scored by Bernard Herrmann, is to realize
what a difference his nervously yearning music made to Vertigo, North by
Northwest, and Psycho, which are for all intents and purposes collaborations
between Hitchcock and Herr-mann. Remarkable as these films are, their impact
would have been considerably diminished had the director instead been working
with such talented but essentially conventional film composers as Roy Webb (who
scored Notorious) or Dmitri Tiomkin (who scored Shadow of a Doubt and Strangers
on a Train).
Significantly,
only four of Hitchcock's earlier films-Shadow of a Doubt, Notorious, Strangers
on a Train, and Rear Window-are comparable in force and concentration to the
three key collaborations with Herrmann. That is not a very long list for a man
who directed 55 movies in 51 years, and it leads one to view with suspicion the
now-general consensus that his films are "great" works of art. To be
sure, there are films as great as the greatest plays or operas or ballets, but
fewer than is commonly thought; most people who write about movies, as John
Simon has pointed out, are "enthusiasts or fantasts who either worship all
films or conceive of film criticism as a means of justifying irrelevant
cravings," and are thus inclined to ascribe greatness with ill-informed
abandon. If Strangers on a Train is a "great" movie, then what
adjective can rightly be used to describe, say, Jean Renoir's The Rules of the
Game? Mega-great? Measured against the golden yardstick of true greatness,
Hitchcock comes up short. For all his undeniable gifts, he is too emotionally
constricted, too obsessional, to be seriously compared to Shakespeare or Verdi
or Balanchine (or Renoir, for that matter). His films, even the best of them,
are melodramas played out on the narrowest of stages, returning again and again
to the same short list of feelings. Guilt, fear, longing: We expect more of a
genius than that. Yet his iconic images lodge permanently in the minds of all
who see them, and surely that is a kind of greatness that cannot be denied.
Call him, then, a major minor master, one who succeeded in spinning out of his
tormented inner life a body of work incapable of expanding our own imaginative
worlds, but that nonetheless retains its dreamlike power to frighten and
enthrall.
Free Essay 2:
Alfred Hitchcock
Obituary
Alfred
Hitchcock, admired genius and master of film suspense, died of liver failure
and heart problems on April 28, 1980 in Los Angeles, California. He was the single most influential director
in the film genre of suspense, having partly created it, and is one of the most
well known and esteemed directors in the medium of film.
Hitchcock was
born on August 13, 1899 in Leytonstone, England, the son of a grocer, William
Hitchcock, and his wife Emma. An
interesting event occurred early in his life.
When Hitchcock was five, his father got mad at him for being
mischievous, and sent young Hitchcock to the police station with a note for the
officer. Alfred was then locked up
behind bars for awhile to think about what he had done, and during this time he
felt immense terror. It is thought that
this had a profound effect on the movies Hitchcock would go on to make; themes
of innocent victims feeling terror and confusion, as he did during this
punishment, surfaced in many of his works.
Hitchcock
received his education from St. Ignatius College (London), the School of
Engineering and Navigation, and the University of London, where he studied art.
Hitchcock's
earliest film experience came in 1919, when he illustrated title cards for
silent films being produced at London's Players-Lasky studio. It was spending time at this studio that he
learned about many different aspects of film that would later be important in
his film career, including direction, stage art, and screen writing.
In 1922 Hitchcock
met Alma Reville who he married in 1926.
They went on to have a daughter, Patricia.
Hitchcock's
first mark as a film director came in 1925 with The Pleasure Garden. It was a largely unimportant film, and was
not recognized as being anything more than an average melodrama. Writer Eliot Stannard, who worked with
Hitchcock on the film, commented,
"Hitchcock,
right from the beginning, always had a vision.
How he worked at his first movie is something I will never forget. He
was born for movie making."
Hitchcock had
far more success in 1926 with The Lodger, which introduced audiences to the
Hitchcock style that would be evident in many of his future films. It was a murder mystery with a fair share of
intrigue, and, though it was a silent film, still managed to produce what would
become the classic Hitchcock feeling of suspense.
It was also with
The Lodger that Hitchcock started his trademark of making cameo appearances in
his films, something he has done in most of his films since. Other directors have followed in this habit,
including Cameron Crowe and Quentin Tarantino.
"I guess
you could say I felt a bit like Hitchcock doing it", said Cameron Crowe,
regarding his brief appearance in his film Minority Report.
By 1929,
Hitchcock had moved into sound films.
1934's The Man Who Knew Too Much was Hitchcock's first big hit, and
further developed Hitchcock's budding mastery of suspenseful film. He continued
to make movies in Britain until he moved to Hollywood in the early 1940. After
a few movies of what had now become tried and true Hitchcock, came 1946's
Notorious which was a hit and featured an FBI agent forced to turn over his
love to Nazis in order to find out valuable information.
Hitchcock's
"golden age" of movies came from 1950 to 1960. Among the most memorable were Dial
"M" For Murder (1954), Vertigo (1958), North By Northwest (1959), and
what is considered Hitchcock's greatest achievement, Psycho (1960).
1955 was truly
the year that saw Hitchcock become an icon, however. The TV show Alfred Hitchcock
Presents went on the air, and it was a huge success. This was also the year that Hitchcock became
a U.S. citizen.
"It was
exciting to work with Hitchcock. I had
admired him for so long, and was very happy to be cast in North by
Northwest. Although at times very
difficult to work with, Hitchcock has a spectacular mind and vision," said
Cary Grant, shortly after playing Roger Thornhill.
Hitchcock
continued to make films as an older man but they were far less frequent. His
final film came in 1976 with Family Plot, a good, solid film that was hailed by
critics as a "fitting end" to Hitchcock's masterful body of work.
"Hitchcock
came across as very smart, very striking and at the top of his game when I
worked with him," said title designer Saul Bass, who worked with Hitchcock
on Vertigo, North by Northwest, and Psycho.
There are many
people in all aspects of film that have at some point been influenced by the
Master of Suspense. Hitchcock worked
with some of the finest names in film: Cary Grant, James Stewart, Ingrid
Bergman, and Grace Kelly to name a few.
Some of those peoples' careers were even made by Hitchcock.
Hitchcock
received many honors, including being knighted in England shortly before his
death in 1980. He stayed married all his
life to Alma Reville, who died in 1982.
Hitchcock is survived by his daughter, Patricia Hitchcock O'Connell, and
will be remembered by many generations to come as the Master Of Suspense.
Free Essay 3:
Alfred Hitchcock
is the undoubted master of suspense, and virtually invented the thriller genre.
He began his film career in 1919, illustrating title cards for silent films at
Paramount's Famous Players-Lasky studio in London. His first directed film was
The Pleasure Garden in 1925. From there Hitchcock went on to make such films as
The 39 Steps in 1935, an espionage thriller involving spies and murder set in
London, Vertigo in 1958, a mystery about a man with a near insane obsession,
North By Northwest in 1959, a cross-country manhunt for a mistaken government
agent by a group of spies, and Psycho in 1960, a thriller based around murders
inside of an isolated motel. In these four movies, Hitchcock used similarities
such as McGuffins, suspense techniques, similar characters and situations, a
similar basis, and movies that featured ordinary people in extraordinary
situations. Each movie takes someone that could be found in everyday life, and
put into a situation that most people would never dream of being in.
Alfred
Hitchcock's movies have a very similar basis they feature ordinary people in
extraordinary situations. For example, in The 39 Steps, Richard Hannay visits a
typical music hall for an evening, and ends up with a murdered spy in his
London apartment. Hannay started his night listening to music, and later came
across a woman after shots had been fired inside of the music hall. Taking her
into his apartment and away from danger turns quickly into an extraordinary
situation as she reveals herself as a spy. Soon he has the government after him
for murder, and a group of spies after him because of a secret that he doesn't
hold. In Vertigo, a policeman named Scottie Ferguson follows a friend's wife,
and eventually finds a extraordinary connection between her and someone who
died many years ago. This situation can also be seen in North by Northwest,
when Roger Thornhill, an ad executive is involved in a case of mistaken
identity. What would normally be an ordinary situation quickly escalates when
his accusers take him off to be killed instead of listening to reasoning.
Psycho, the 1960 suspense movie, Marion steals $40,000 on an impulse, and runs
away to start a new life. In each of these movies, the main character starts
off just as an ordinary person would. The events that take place, put the
person into an extraordinary position, which is frequent in Hitchcock's films.
Hitchcock has
become famous for his many suspense techniques, seen in many of his films.
Showing the viewer of the film the danger involved, but not the characters. For
example, in North by Northwest, Vandamm and his associate are speaking while
Eve is upstairs. Vandamm's associate fires the blanks at Vandamm showing that
Eve did not commit a murder, but instead faked it. They talked about throwing
her out of the plane over the water later in the film. The viewer becomes aware
of this, but Eve is up in her room preparing, unaware. This method of suspense
is also in Psycho after Marion is killed, and the viewer knows that there is a
killer in the house. Sam doesn't know anything, but the viewer feels the
suspense due to the last murder.
The McGuffin has
been attached to the Hitchcock name due to its use in many of his films. A
McGuffin is something that the characters in the movie focus their attention
around, but the viewers don't. A McGuffin can be used to draw a story line to a
certain point, where it is then dropped. It can also be used to tie different
parties together in the end of a film. In The 39 Steps, the spies after Hannay
don't want the secret of the 39 steps getting out. This is their motive for
killing the woman in his apartment, and attempting to kill him. The viewer is
not intended to care about the 39 steps, but instead about Hannay's chase, and
his attempts to prove his innocence. North by Northwest's McGuffin is the
microfilm which contains the government secrets, which is trying to be smuggled
out of the country by Vandamm. This is what includes the authorities into the
chase, but the viewer is initially told to think that they are chasing Hannay.
In Psycho Marion takes $40,000 to start a new life. For the entire first half
of the film viewers are lead to believe that the movie is essentially a story
of stolen money, but that McGuffin only lasts until the Bates Motel comes into
the story.
Hitchcock was
not compared with directors during his lifetime. Besides Rebecca, none of his
films won an Academy Award for Best Picture. As a producer, Alfred received one
Best Picture nomination for Suspicion. He was nominated Best Director for five
of his films: Rebecca, Lifeboat, Spellbound, Rear Window, and Psycho. The only
Academy Award that he ever received was the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award
in 1968. Hitchcock would be knighted in January 1980 by Queen Elizabeth II just
four months before his death in Los Angeles.
No comments:
Post a Comment