Alfred Hitchcock Master of Suspense 36 Club Organisers

AH was an artist, film-making being his genre. His style of art was not immediately appreciated in Great Britain and he spent much of his life, learning the skills, initially in Germany and then mainly worked in the USA. It was thought that his Knighthood, awarded in 1980, was long overdue, but rejecting a CBE in 1962 perhaps did not help the selection committee! Regrettably, he was too ill to travel from California to London to receive the big K, and died four months later.

But AH was recognised within the film industry as a genius of his craft, and while a painter will leave his mark on a painting, AH left his by including himself in very small ‘walk-on’ cameo roles in almost all his films. His early films were in the silent era, and when creating ‘Blackmail’ in 1929, Elstree Studios converted to ‘sound’ and the film was re-worked, with the star, the Czech Anny Ondra (who spoke no English) being dubbed. This became the first British ‘talkie’.

Using three films as examples of how AH created his art, we can also guess at AH’s fixation on blondes –which, along with beauty, sex and murder, became his main themes. Dial M for Murder (1954), starring Grace Kelly, was a classic ‘love triangle’, with one of the men inevitably going to get murdered. As in all his films, AH gives clues to the audience, but maintains tension and suspense as to the ‘how’ and the ‘when’ it will happen. He used filming techniques that are subtle and others that are blatant. For example, Grace Kelly is filmed in her allwhite bedroom, wearing a white slip (and little else) to emphasise her innocence in one aspect, but does not exclude her from suspicion of being the murderer.

In Vertigo (1958), James Stewart follows Kim Novak by car through the bustling streets of San Francisco, but then, in contrast, walks alone down a dimly-lit narrow street, enters through a black doorway into a dark storeroom, each stage creating suspense. Through another door, he sees Kim Novak in a

flower shop. AH uses a mirror to capture on camera a voyeur ’s view of her. AH diligently used clothing to identify the same actors in different roles in the same film. It was also the first film to use ‘dolly zoom’, a camera technique that distorts perspective to create disorientation, an effect which nowadays is called the ‘vertigo effect’.

In Psycho (1960), which AH funded himself, Vera Miles’ s role as a pretty thief, drives off with the loot, stops at the motel on a rainy evening. AH uses the rain, the darkness, the lights of passing cars and the remoteness of the motel to generate tension. Remember too, that the film was made in Black-and-White. Camera close-ups of VM’s face add her anxiety to that of the audience who are left to decide if they favour the girl because she is pretty, or to condemn her for being a thief. Inside the motel, framed paintings on the walls give clues about what will happen. One picture is removed by Anthony Perkins to reveal a spy-hole, into VM’s bedroom. Another clue! Within her room, VM decides to ‘go straight’ and destroys what she has stolen and flushes it down a lavatory. Suddenly, the audience can take her side; she has become ‘loveable’. Next, camera shots make it clear that VM is taking a shower, but nothing ‘inappropriate’ is seen and all is left to the audience’s imagination. Censorship did not allow too much flesh to be seen in 1960; more importantly, it does not distract from the mounting drama.

With regard to censorship at the time in America, the inclusion of a lavatory in a film was rejected by the Film Board. AH had to argue to include the shot as it was proof of VM’s change of mind. And as for artistry, the whole ‘shower scene’ was only three minutes long in the film we saw, but it included 77 camera angles to arrive at that compilation.

Some film critics labelled Psycho as the greatest film of all time, an acknowledgement to AH’s adhesion to his concept of how he wanted the final film to be. As with many artists of all genres, he displayed his imagination in his art. He knew what he wanted and also how to get it.

Submitted by Geoff Morgan - following a lecture at the Arts Society de la Frontera by John Francis in January 2020