Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, also known as ‘Hitch’ and ‘The Master of Suspense’ was born in Leytonstone, England on 13th August 1899. He was raised a Catholic and often described his childhood as being very lonely and sheltered, a lot of which was to do with his obesity. He attended Catholic schools until the age of 14 when his father died, and then went on to study at the School of Engineering and Navigation. Following his graduation he became a draftsman for a company called Henley’s, and it was here that he first began to dabble creatively. When a company publication The Henley Telegraph came about in 1919 he began to submit short articles which soon became one of its main features. All of these were short stories, sometimes comical but always with a sadistic twist of some kind. It was during this period that he gained an interest in photography and started working in film production in London working as a title-card designer for the London branch of what would become Paramount Pictures. In 1920, he received a full-time position at Islington Studios with its American owner, Famous Players-Lasky and their British successor, Gainsborough Pictures, designing the titles for silent movies. There he learned scripting, editing and art direction, slowly working his way up until he became a film director five years later.
His breakthrough film was called The Lodger (1926), a typical example of a classic Hitchcock plot where an innocent protagonist is wrongly accused of a crime and becomes involved in trickery and deceit. In the films that followed, he slowly introduced explicit links between sex and violence, which became another of his conventional themes. In 1936 Hitchcock directed Sabotage and Secret Agent, both of which gained much credit, however these two films highlighted some of his flaws as a director which were later acknowledged and learned from. Hitchcock’s theory was that “suspense is developed by providing the audience with information denied endangered characters. But to be most effective and cathartic, no harm should come to the innocent as it does in both of those films”.
He then went on to direct several more films before being signed to a seven year contract with David O. Selznick at the end of the 1930s when the Hitchcock’s moved to the USA. His first American movie was Rebecca (1940), an adaptation of the novel by Daphne Du Maurier, and was set in the United Kingdom, as were many of his films that followed, showing his love for his homeland. It became apparent that Selznick and Hitchcock had problems when working together as Selznick imposed many restrictions on Hitchcock when directing so the films could be as he wanted them. There was much conflict over the making of several films. Hitchcock’s second American movie was set in Europe and was a thriller named Foreign Correspondent (1940) and was nominated for Best Picture that year. It highlighted the fact that Hitchcock felt uneasy living and working in Hollywood knowing his home country was at war, leading to his making the film in support of the war effort.
His films during the 1940s were very diverse ranging from romantic comedies Mr & Mrs Smith (1941) to a courtroom drama The Paradine Case (1947) to the dark and disturbing film noir Shadow of a Doubt (1943). During this decade the film Suspicion (1941) marked his first film as both director and producer - this being another film set on an English coastline. In 1942 he directed Saboteur, one of two films Hitchcock made for Universal, a studio where he would continue his career in later years.
His films all show tendencies of the same themes and devices. It has been suggested that the main themes are as follows: (source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Themes_and_plot_devices_in_the_films_of_Alfred_Hitchcock)
- Images of birds
- Suspense
- Making the audience ‘voyeurs’
- The ‘MacGuffin’ – a device which incites curiosity, driving the plot and motivating the actions of characters within the story but whose identity is unimportant
- Using an ordinary person amongst the extraordinary circumstances, for more believable viewing that the audience can relate to
- Mistaken identity of characters
- ‘The double’ – when two characters have the same desire but only one of them takes action
- A likeable criminal
- Staircases – influenced by German Expressionism which often featured hazardous staircases
- Trains, often used as a sexual euphemism
- Mothers
- Transference of guilt
- The consumption of brandy – known to calm nerves
- Blonde women – due to his own preference as he believed an audience would be more suspicious of a brunette
- Silent scenes – Hitchcock viewed film as primarily a visual medium
- Number 13 – a superstition held by many
- Tennis ??
- Sexuality – sexual feelings are associated with violent behaviour
- Falling from high places
- The perfect murder – murder is treated as an intellectual puzzle with a focus on the craft of such an event
- Violence in a theatre
Some of these devices are purely down to personal preference and perhaps unintentional, however I may use some of the ideas such as the superstition surrounding the number 13 and the use of symbolism such as the
staircase representing a fear or danger.
Below are some additional links to further information about Alfred Hitchcock which I found very useful and interesting.
Here is a link to a website dedicated to his life: http://hitchcock.tv/
Here is are the links to a two-part interview from the 1960s (part one) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydvU64L758c&feature=youtube_gdata_player
