Alfred Hitchcock may be
Hollywood’s greatest director. His career spans five decades with four films on
AFI’s top 100 American films of all-time list (only
Steven Spielberg has more with
five) and nine films on IMDB’s top 250 user-rated films of all-time (no
director has more,
Stanley
Kubrick is second with eight). Known as ‘The Mast of Suspense’, Hitchcock
used many common themes and narrative devices in his films, among them: suspense
(the obvious one), a voyeuristic approach to way his films are shot, the use of
a MacGuffin, an ordinary person put into extraordinary circumstances, mistaken
identity (the wrong man/woman), the charming sociopath (a criminal the viewer
likes), staircases, trains, an antagonist with a dark secret that also effects
the protagonist as they share in the secret or guilt, domineering mothers,
falling from high places, famous landmarks, the idea of the perfect murder, and
violence in a theatre (and more). Hitchcock also liked to make a cameo
appearance in all his films (sort of like a Where’s Waldo type thing for
viewers). Amazingly, during his career he never won an Oscar for Best Director
(instead receiving an honorary Oscar in 1968), though he was nominated five
times. Plus, he only had one film win Best Picture. Hitchcock is not only one
of the most iconic directors, but his films (for the most part) also hold up
over time, and seem to get better (for example,
Vertigo was not well received
upon its release but is now considered his masterpiece and among the greatest
American films).
Early Career, 1930s:
Hitchcock got his start in 1920
working as a title designer for silent films at Islington Studios. It would
take him five years to make the jump to director. In 1924, he went to Germany working
with director
Graham Cutts on
the film
Die Prinzessin und der
Geiger. While in Germany, he became very influenced by the work of
F.W. Murnau and
Fritz Lang (specifically their
films
The Last Laugh and
Destiny, respectively). Hitchcock’s
first directing projects were marred with problems. However, in 1925
Gainsborough Pictures and
Michael
Balcon gave him another chance. He made
The Pleasure Garden and
The Mountain Eagle, but neither
was a commercial success. Hitchcock’s luck changed in 1926 when he made his
first thriller
The Lodger: A
Story of the London Fog. It was a major commercial and critical hit in the
U.K. Many regard it as the first ‘Hitchcockian’ film. His next landmark film
came with 1929’s
Blackmail.
During production, British International Pictures decided to convert it to a
sound picture (a talkie). It is often considered to be the first British sound
film. In 1933, Hitchcock worked again with Balcon, making films for
Gaumont-British Pictures. The first was
The Man Who Knew Too Much,
which was a success. The second was
The 39 Steps,
which both considered to be the best of Hitchcock’s early period and the film
to introduce the MacGuffin plot device (basically, a MacGuffin is something in
which the whole story seems to revolve around, but really has nothing to do
with the meaning or outcome of the film). His next big success was
The Lady Vanishes (which, along
with The 39 Steps, is among BFI’s Top 100 British Films of all-time). During
this period, Hitchcock worked with writer
Charles Bennett helping him
craft his storytelling style and themes. The success of these three films and
Hitchcock’s ascendancy to the top of British cinema led to Hollywood’s most
successful producer
David O.
Selznick signing him to a seven-year contract in 1939, effectively bringing
Hitchcock to Hollywood (among his early career films, I highly recommend The 39
Steps and The Lady Vanishes as must-sees).
Coming to Hollywood,
1940s:
Hitchcock’s move to Hollywood was
a rocky one. While he enjoyed the plentiful resources the American studios
offered, he felt much more comfortable in England – many of his early American
films were shot in England – and his relationship with Selznick was strained
over how much creative control Selznick wanted to have on his projects.
However, Hitchcock, a meticulous planner in preproduction, would craft his
films shot-by-shot ahead of time, and then would only shoot exactly the shots
he needed. Thus, his films could only be edited together in one way, which gave
Hitchcock final cut over the creative process (which drove Selznick crazy).
Their first film together was
Rebecca.
It won the 1941 Oscar for Best Picture and starred
Joan Fontaine and
Laurence Olivier. Hitchcock
worked with cinematographer
George
Barnes on the film, creating one of the best shot black and white films of
all-time. The photography is magnificent (Barnes also winning an Oscar for the
film). Along with
John Ford’s
Stagecoach, Rebecca was one
of the films that
Orson Welles
studied intensely before directing
Citizen Kane (introductions of Mandalay
and Xanadu are very similar in each film). With war breaking out in Europe,
Hitchcock felt uneasy working in Hollywood while England was engaged in a
life-or-death struggle. For his second American film,
Foreign Correspondent, he made
a spy thriller that would sympathize with the plight of the English and garner
support from Americans for the British war effort (though, the Production Code
would not allow him to directly reference Germany or Germans – the most
effective of these ‘propaganda’ films was
William Wyler’s
Mrs. Miniver, which Winston
Churchill said ‘had done more for the war effort than a flotilla of destroyers’).
In 1941, Hitchcock made his first film as both a producer and director with
Suspicion
(his second film with Fontaine, who won an Oscar for Best Actress, and first
with frequent collaborator
Cary
Grant). While the film works well as a thriller, it also has a great sense
of humor and is very funny in many places (it is my second favorite Hitchcock film
after Rebecca). Hitchcock would then make a two picture deal with Universal.
The first was
Saboteur. Most
Hollywood films at the time were shot on studio back lots, but Hitchcock did
extensive location shooting in New York for the film, incorporating the Statue
of Liberty. His second for Universal was
Shadow of a
Doubt with
Teresa Wright
and
Joseph Cotton, which is
considered to be his first true American film (and his personal favorite), with
extensive location filming in the small town of Santa Rosa in Northern
California. Next, for 20
th Century Fox, Hitchcock adapted a script
that
John Steinbeck had
written about survivors of a German U-boat attack.
Lifeboat is an extraordinary
piece of directing, as the whole film takes place on a small lifeboat and yet
is thrilling and engaging throughout. After taking a break in England, and
working as an advisor to the British Army while they were producing a
documentary on the Holocaust, Hitchcock worked again with Selznick on 1945’s
Spellbound
with
Ingrid Bergman and
Gregory Peck. The film explores
psychoanalysis and is best remembered for its dream sequences designed by
Salvador Dali (the film also
features wonderful cinematography from George Barnes and an Academy Award
winning score from
Miklos Rozsa).
Selznick was set to produce Hitchcock’s next film,
Notorious,
as well but due to financial troubles on his film
Duel in the Sun, he sold the
package of Hitchcock, stars Bergman and Grant and the script to RKO. The film
went on to be a huge box office hit and one of Hitchcock’s most critically
acclaimed films. Hitchcock consulted with Dr. Robert Millikan of Caltech about
the development of an atomic bomb as uranium would play a role in the
narrative. Selznick thought that the idea was science fiction and did not like
it. However, he was left with his foot in his mouth after Hiroshima and
Nagasaki in August of 1945. The FBI even had Hitchcock under surveillance
briefly after his use of uranium in the film. His last film for Selznick was
The Paradine Case with Gregory
Peck, a courtroom drama that was not too well received. Next, Hitchcock made
his first color film – 1948’s
Rope
with
James Stewart (along
with Grant, the only star to appear in four Hitchcock films). Like Lifeboat,
Hitchcock wanted to experiment with suspense in a confined space, as the whole
film essentially takes place in one small apartment (and more than that,
Hitchcock shot it to appear as if the whole film is one long take). The 1940’s
established Hitchcock as one of Hollywood’s premier directors both with box
office success and critical acclaim (I highly recommend Rebecca, Suspicion,
Shadow of a Doubt, and Notorious as must-sees).
The Master of
Suspense, 1950s:
The 1950’s are considered to be
Hitchcock’s peak years. His first classic film of the decade came with 1951’s
Strangers on a Train, which combines
many of the elements of Hitchcock’s earlier work – specifically two people
talking about the perfect murder (crisscross!). The film also marks the initial
collaboration between cinematographer
Robert Burks and Hitchcock.
Burks would shoot many of Hitchcock’s greatest films (twelve in all, and most
of them in the 1950s). Hitchcock’s next three films would star
Grace Kelly. Hitchcock noticed
Kelly after she did a screen test for MGM in 1950 and cast her in his film
Dial M for Murder. During
filming, the two formed a special bond, and he became a mentor of sort for
Kelly, who was relatively new to Hollywood. The film was also the first
Hitchcock film to feature 3D photography (only in one scene), but the public
had grown tired of 3D by 1954 and it was rarely screened with the 3D effect
intact. It also featured Hitchcock’s return to Technicolor productions (which
would be a keystone of most of his work in the 1950s and 1960s). Hitchcock then
took a deal returning to Paramount Pictures. His first film under his new deal
was
Rear Window with Kelly
and Jimmy Stewart. Hitchcock again explores suspense in an enclosed space, as
Stewart’s character is confined to a wheelchair and the whole film is shot in
one room and only from Stewart’s perspective. The film also has a very
voyeuristic element to it, as Stewart literally spends his days spying on his
neighbors. This was the first Hitchcock film (and first Grace Kelly film – who
is stunningly beautiful and elegant in it) I saw, and it blew me away (and I
had loved movies all my life). I immediately went out and rented or bought
every Hitchcock film I could and he has been my favorite director ever since
(saw it in 1999, my freshman year of college, on Turner Classic Movies). His
final film with Kelly was 1955’s
To
Catch a Thief, which also stared Cary Grant (who would later say that Kelly
was his favorite co-star). The film is one of Hitchcock’s lighter stories, with
great witty dialogue and chemistry between its stars. Cinematographer Burks
also won an Oscar for his photography of the French Riviera. He also made
The
Trouble with Harry in 1955, about a dead body that turns up outside a small
town. While it may not be among Hitchcock’s canonized masterpieces, it is among
my favorites and features beautiful cinematography specific to the changing
colors of Fall in New England (it was filmed in Vermont). It is also the first
collaboration between Hitchcock and composer
Bernard Herrmann, who created
many of Hitchcock’s most iconic scores (they worked together nine times, and he
also scored a few episodes of
The
Alfred Hitchcock Hour). Hitchcock then remade one of his own early films in
1956 with
The Man Who Knew Too
Much. It stars Jimmy Stewart and
Doris Day (who sang the song
Que Sera, Sera for the
film). It has a magnificent score, and the ending sequence at Albert Hall is
among my favorites (in which composer Herrmann makes a cameo conducting the
orchestra). For his next film,
The
Wrong Man, Hitchcock returned to the theme of mistaken identity, this time
with
Henry Fonda starring in
a film-noir style story based on a real case from 1953. Hitchcock’s next film
was 1958’s
Vertigo, starring
Stewart and
Kim Novak. Much
to the surprise of modern film fans, when the film came out it was met both
with negative reviews and poor box office numbers (despite being considered a
masterpiece today). It was the last time Stewart would work with Hitchcock.
Honestly, watching it now, it is hard to imagine what critics then thought was so
wrong with it. The story is interesting, the acting is good and aesthetically
speaking it is phenomenal, revolutionizing many techniques that are popular
today (like zooming in while pulling the camera back). Hitchcock’s last film of
the 1950s was
North by
Northwest. It stars Cary Grant in yet another mistaken identity narrative
(some even think it is a loose remake of The 39 Steps); it co-stars
Eva Marie Saint and
James Mason. It was Grant’s
final film with Hitchcock (one of the last of his career as well – Hitchcock
called Grant, ‘the only actor I ever loved in my whole life’), and maybe his
best remembered. Featuring many of Hitchcock’s most memorable sequences, the film
was a hit for the director. His films of the decade and TV show
Alfred Hitchcock Presents not
only made Hitchcock a critically acclaimed director, but also made him a star
in his own right, being one of the most recognizable personalities in Hollywood
(especially among non-actors – for his films from the 1950s I highly recommend
Rear Window, The Trouble with Harry, Vertigo, and North by Northwest).
A Great Career Coming
to an End, 1960s:
Hitchcock began the 1960s with
two of his most memorable films of his career. 1960’s
Psycho is probably his most
famous film, due to its critical acclaim, iconic score and memorable villain.
He made the film for almost no money. It had a tiny budget, leading to the film
being shot in black and white, Hitchcock using his Alfred Hitchcock Presents
crew and on a spare set at Revue Studios (where the TV show was shot), after
Paramount had twice refused to fund the film (it was the final film of his
contract with Paramount and they wanted him to do a different film – originally
he was to make No Bail for the Judge with
Audrey
Hepburn, but she became pregnant and the film was scrapped). Hitchcock
financed the film himself, making a deal for Paramount to distribute by taking
a big directing fee and 60% of the profits. The film also had more violence and
sexuality than any of Hitchcock’s previous work (due to the erosion of the
production code), and seemed much more graphic. Psycho set the tone for his
work for the rest of his career.
Janet
Leigh and
Anthony Perkins
star, but Hitchcock did all the publicity himself, for fear of plot details
being leaked. His next film was the first of two with
Tippi Hedren starring.
The Birds, a story about birds
attacking people, features hundreds of shots featuring actual birds and
animated sequences. It is his 49
th film, and widely considered his
last classic. After his troubles with Paramount, Hitchcock moved to Universal.
His second film with Hedren and first for Universal was
Marnie (which also stars
Sean Connery). While critics are
mixed, many consider it among Hitchcock’s great films. Marnie is one of the
first three Hitchcock films I saw (along with Rear Window and The Trouble with
Harry), and thus it holds a special place for me (as I was discovering this
wonderful director). Plus growing up with Connery’s Bond films, I had an almost
instinctual love of the film (as it was made the same year as
Goldfinger).
Due to failing health, his output declined substantially. His next film came in
1966 with the Cold War spy thriller
Torn Curtain. He initially
wanted Cary Grant to star, but Grant had just retired with the birth of his
daughter. So, Hitchcock cast
Paul
Newman (who was right in the middle of his career peak) to star alongside
Julie Andrews (a budding star at
the time, coming off
Mary
Poppins and
The Sound
of Music). Newman, coming for a different generation of actors than Grant
and Stewart, did not get along with Hitchcock. He was a method actor,
constantly asking what his motivation should be and complaining about the
script. Also, the chemistry between Newman and Andrews was never really there.
Thus, the film is considered to be a failure compared to Hitchcock’s earlier
output. Though in the minority, I still like the film, and find many of the
sequences to be fantastic (especially the scene in which Newman’s character
goes out to an isolated farm to meet his contact). His final film of the
1960’s,
Topaz, is another
Cold War spy thriller that is not very good at all. The 1960’s saw Hitchcock
make two of his most famous films, and a decline in his work towards the end of
the decade (form this decade I highly recommend Psycho).
Last Two Films,
1970s:
Hitchcock only made two films
during the 1970s. In 1972, he returned to London to make
Frenzy
(which some call a loose remake of The Lodger). The film again focused on the
theme of ‘the wrong man’, as
Jon
Finch plays a man mistakenly arrested as London’s Necktie Murderer.
Hitchcock had always pushed the boundaries of censorship during the Production
Code era, but with Frenzy he produces a film that is graphically violent and
features nudity and profanity (both taboo previously). It is not universally
called a masterpiece or considered among Hitchcock’s best films, but in recent
years it is beginning to find its place among his canonized work. Personally, I
think it is among his five best films and expertly directed. Here is a
director, making his 53
rd film in his fifth decade of his career,
and he makes a film that better utilizes the style of 1970’s auteur filmmaking
than most of the other great directors of the decade. I think it is one of the
ten best films of the 1970s. Hitchcock’s last film came in 1976 with
Family Plot, a sort of
theist/con-artist thriller. It is decent, but not nearly as good as most of his
work. He did begin work on another film, only getting into the scripting phase
before abandoning it due to poor health (I highly recommend Frenzy).
Alfred Hitchcock
Career Highlights:
2)
The Lady Vanishes (1938) – director (
Blu-ray,
DVD)
8)
Foreign Correspondent (1945) – director (
DVD)
16)
The Trouble with Harry (1955) – director (
DVD,
Streaming)
17)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) – director (
DVD,
Streaming)
*Editor’s picks
