THE WORLD ACCORDING TO HITCH
Sir Alfred Hitchcock
(August 13, 1899-April 29, 1980) The American director, a ‘master of the sinister,’ helmed more than 50 feature films in a career spanning six decades.
First break:
His first solo credit for direction was for the melodrama, The Pleasure Garden (1925). The next year, he married film editor, Alma Reville (above). Their daughter, Patricia Hitchcock, acted in films like Psycho.
Beginnings:
Hitchcock was born in east London at the end of the Victorian era. His father, a disciplinarian, was a greengrocer. His mother helped him manage the shop.
Getting a job:
Hitchcock wanted to be an engineer. His talent in drawing helped him get a job designing title cards (which silent films required) for an American film company.
Numerous collaborations:
He worked with Ingrid Bergman (Spellbound, Notorious), Grace Kelly (Dial M for Murder, Rear Window); James Stewart (Rear Window, Vertigo) Cary Grant (North by Northwest), Tippi Hedren (The Birds, Marnie)
Entering Hollywood:
Hitchcock left England to join Hollywood with the film Rebecca (1940), based on a Daphne Du Maurier novel. Rebecca was a property produce David O. Selznick had acquired at much cost. This was to be his passion project after the production of the Vivien Leigh and Clark Gablestarrer, Gone with the Wind (1939). He gave Hitchcock a star-filled cast: the melancholic Maxim de Winter hiding a dark secret was to be played by Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine was to be his demure bride and Judith Anderson was to play the creepy Mrs Danvers. The film was a huge success both commercially and critically.
Success:
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) was his first international success and the start of the Hitchcock brand. It was a story of a married couple on holiday who become enmeshed in a plot to assassinate a diplomat. It won Doris Day an Oscar for Best Song.
Classics:
39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes, Rebecca, Shadow of a Doubt, Notorious, Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, The Birds. avourite film: n an interview to ew Wave director rancois Truffaut, a reat Hitchcock fan, itchcock said that part f why he considered Shadow of a Doubt to be his favourite film was that he loved the idea of bringing menace to a small town. Shadow of a Doubt is a 1943 psychological thriller directed by Hitchcock, starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten. Signature style Hitch would try to trick the audience into wrong paths by using a main character to champion the villain’s innocence (Shadow of a Doubt); fuse a crime story with an investigation story where the man pursued by law is the ‘wrong man’ (North by Northwest); paranoia and voyeurism and an obsessive quest are also what drove Hitchcock’s plots. He also loved to make cameo appearances in his own films and did so in 39 of his 52 major films. These were mainly in non-speaking parts. He could be seen boarding a bus, crossing a road, standing in front of a building or in an apartment, or even appearing in a newspaper photograph. Honours:
Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940) won the Best Picture at the Oscars but not Best Director. He won only one Oscar in his life — the Irving G. Thalberg Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1968. He is believed to have given one of the shortest speeches in Oscar history. He said “Thank you” into the mic and straightened up, but bent down a second later to say, “very much indeed.” He was knighted in 1980.