Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock- The Master of Suspense

Alfred Hitchcock was an English film director and producer, who pioneered many elements of the suspense and psychological thriller genres. Hitchcock's aim was to have fame and fortune and the right to make his own art in his own way; and on the way he wanted to create a world as strange as his own personality, intertwined with glamour and thrills. Hitchcock beloved that he was quote a simple man, when in reality he was "rather complicated, extremely complicated", said his daughter, Pat Hitchcock.

Hitchcock describes his films as a mixture of "murder, mayhem, violence, sex, lovely costumes and a joke or two". In a documentary I watched, a man called Hume Cronyn (actor/friend of Hitchcock) said that Hitchcock had a very "narrow, prejudice, lower middle class, tough upbringing". He also states that Hitchcock was frightened by police men, though he didn't quite remember what he did, his father sent him to the police station with a note and then he was locked up in a cell for 5 minutes. That's when he was told, "that's what happens to naughty boys". A friend said Hitchcock told the story until people were sick of hearing it; it's said that this story inspired most of his films.

An interviewer once asked him, "What are you afraid of Mr Hitchcock?" and his response was:

"I'm afraid of policemen, the wrong side of the law, authority descending upon me, putting its heavy hand on my shoulder and making his stomach turn over in fear." 

Drew Casper (film lecturer) said Hitchcock went to college at the age of 11 and the college told him and the other students that 'you have to be very cautious in life because you have evil in you and so do other people'. Casper then finished with, 'good and evil aren't separated but they are bound'.

Samuel Taylor (screenwriter and friend) recalls Hitchcock going to a restaurant for dinner when at school, dressed 'proper', and ordered a 'proper' lunch' and had a cigar afterwards.

"The element of suspense is giving the audience information"- Alfred Hitchcock 

Hitchcock stated, two people could be sat talking to each other and then suddenly a bomb explodes from beneath them and both them up, however if you tell the audience that there is a bomb beneath them in which is going to explode in 5 minutes, the audience is then anxious and put under enormous amounts of stress. Suspense was the key to a Hitchcock thriller and when working with screenwriter Charles Bennett, he turned suspense into an exact science.

Jay Presson Allen (screenwriter) said Alma Reville was really smart and extremely knowledgeable about film. Alma and Alfred were so close, they were a pair, they read each others minds. Alma was afflicted with a disease when in school, which lead her to miss two years, in which was a real shame as she was a really bright woman. It was at this time when Alma went straight into the picture business as a film editor. Hitchcock didn't dare to ask Alma to be with him until he had officially become an assistant director.

Aurther Laurents (screenwriter) remembers if Alma didn't like someone, you would know it  and so would Hitchcock. She was a woman with opinions that she voiced.

Hitchcock discovered that the meaning in a film can be conveyed by the dynamic juxtaposition of images, a technique known as 'Montage'. Also, "in a montage sequence, acting then becomes a matter of stylised gestures expressions which become significant only when placed aside other images. It's a principle that Hitchcock would apply throughout his career to the dismay of many of his actors".

"The medium of pure cinema is what i believe in, the assembly of pieces of film to create fright is the essential part of my job"- Alfred Hitchcock

The Russians used cinema as a form of propaganda,they believed they could make the audience thing and feel a certain way,they thought they could manipulate the audiences opinions, and this is what Hitchcock wanted o interpret into his films. He liked the idea of bringing the audience to a high and then down to a low, making them scream, and making them laugh. From this, Hitchcock took Ernest Lehman (screenwriter) to dinner and began experimenting with chords on the organ, discovering that one chord could make an audience scared and another chord can make them laugh.

Ronald Neame (assistant cameraman) recalls finding a woman named Annie Ondran in which was to play the character of a little London girl, however she was from Czech Slovakia and had a very strong Czech accent, though it was too late to change the actress as she had already been photographed too much, therefore Hitchcock got another young actress (Jone Barry) to sit on the side with her own mic and Annie, the Czech girl mouthed Jone Barry's words. Blackmail was another Hitchcock success, though after this Hitchcock seemed have lost his way.

Linden Travers (actress, The Lady Vanishes) said Hitchcock reminded her of Buddha, "he was quite remote and self-contained".

Roy Ward Baker (assistant director, The Lady Vanishes) said when on set, "there was no other authority, there was no where else to look, he was it".

Hugh Steward (editor, The Man Who Knew Too Much) said Hitchcock knew exactly what he wanted and he remembers one instant where "he walked on the set on the very first day, held a script in his hand, placed it down and said another one in the bag".

Hitchcock was most interested in "pure cinema" and his thrillers gave him an international reputation, so by the end of the 1930's, he was ready for the biggest move in his career so far.Hitchcock had his eye on Hollywood for years, as he was tempted by all the resources the big American studio had to offer. It was in Hollywood that he met producer, David Selznick (1902-1965, died at the age of 63).

Marcella Rabwin (David Selznick's secretary) said Selznick was always a principle type of man. Rabwin recalls Hitchcock and Selznick would fight about scripts and he demanded the dialogue must come straight from the popular novel, that the setting should match the descriptions just as they are in the book. Selznick and Hitchcock agreed the film should have a $947,000 budget and a 48 day shoot, however in the end it took $1.28 million and 63 days to complete the film.

Arthur Laurents (screenwriter, Rope) said Hitchcock was a "curious homebody who enjoyed his work, that was his life, his wife and he was mad about Pat (his daughter)".

Timeline of Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock

1862- Father of Alfred, William Hitchcock is born and he later became a green grosser

1863- Mother of Alfred, Emma Jane Whelan

1890- Brother of Alfred, William Hitchcock junior is born

1892- Sister of Alfred, Eileen Hitchcock is born

1899- Alfred Joseph Hitchcock is born, August 13th in Leytonstone, London, England, UK, in the family high street shop.

1915- Alfred got his first job outside the family business as an estimator for Henley Telegraph and Cable Company, where he met Alma Reville.

1920- Hitchcock's hobby took him to a former power station in North London, where an American company came to London to open a studio so Hitchcock decided to apply for the job role where he could design titles, as this was in the silent film days. The titles were an important part of a picture.

1923- Director of the film 'Always Tell Your Wife' fell ill, Hitchcock was named the new director to complete the film.

1923- Directed his first film beginning to end, 'Number 13', though the production wasn't finished due to the studio's closure. However, it was later remade and completed as a sound film.

1924- Strike was released

1925- Hitchcock received the education of a lifetime, he was sent to work in a studio in Berlin (German expressionist cinema) where he learnt about shadow, camera angles that were unconventional, off center framing, shots from above and shots from below.

1926- The Lodger, recognised as the first Hitchcock masterpiece even though his film and career was still very new born. Unfortunately, when the film was finished, two distributors sent two representatives to view the film and when they came out of the film, they said it was "awful" and that it was a "dreadful picture". However, it was two months after this when they decided to show it after all, and critics said it was the "greatest British picture every made".

1926- The Mountain Eagle was released

1927- The year that he married Alma Reville (2nd December). Alma wasn't born a Catholic, but she became one once she married Alfred.

1928- Alma and Alfred's only child, Patricia, was born July 7th. Pat, later said that her mother, Alma, was a wonderful, forceful character

1929- Blackmail was released and Hitchcock was a natural choice to direct the first talking picture, Blackmail.

1933- Waltzes from Vienna was released. This was Hitchcock's first and only venture into the music genre. It was this year that producer, Michael Ballken, saved Hitchcock and he was the man that gave Hitchcock his first break as a director.

1934- The Man Who Knew Too Much was released, and this was the first of the thriller cycle (6 films in 4 years he made for Gaumount British Studio). It was after this Hitchcock earned his name "The Master of Suspense" with 20 films to his credit.

1935- The 39 Steps ( Gaumount British) was released, and Madeleine Carrol was named as one of the Hitchcock blondes.

1936- Sabotage (Gaumount British) was released, it was a thriller set in a world of street markets.

1937- Young and Innocent (Gaumount British) was released

1938- Hitchcock made the film 'The Lady Vanishes'. This was also the year that Hitchcock signed a 7 year contract with David Selznick ("obsessive, pill-popping workaholic") , in which he was to make 10 films.

1939- Hitchcock and his family left England for Hollywood and his first American film was was to be 'Rebecca', based on the popular novel by Daphne Du Maurier. Therefore, later on in 1939 Rebecca was released (Selznick International).

1940- Rebecca was Hitchcock's most popular pictures, so much so that it won the Oscar for best picture. However the Oscar when to David Selznick, the producer.

1942- The film 'Saboteur' pushed Hitchcock's fame as a director

1946- Hitchcock's 7 year contract with Selznick was running out, though Selznick urged him to renew it, but Hitchcock was already planning on something else; Transatlantic Pictures Co. An independent company set up and run by Hitchcock and producer, Sydney Bernstein and they had a 5 million loan from an American bank.

1948- Rope was released

1949- Under Capricorn was released, Hitchcock said that this film was going to be a "flop" before it was released and then he disappeared for a while.

1954- Rear Window was released

1959- North by North West  (MGM) was released

1957- Vertigo was released (Paramount Studios), this was Hitchcock's "most haunting films" and some even claimed it made them feel car sick when they watched it.

1960- Alfred was referred to as 'Alfred Hitchcock's ...' E.g. 'Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho' (the year where 'Psycho was released'.

1963- The Birds was released.

1972- Frenzy was released. This was also the year that Alma Reville fell ill from a paralysing stroke which made her unable to walk very well.

1976- Family Plot was released.

1979- March 7th, Hitchcock is awarded AFI Life Achievement Award. Then later in 1979 he was knighted.

1980- Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock died from heart and kidney failure.