OLLI: Spring 2012: BRITISH HITCHCOCK

 

Hitchcock's American Films with British Settings:

 

1940    REBECCA: mostly set at Manderly, Maxim de Winter's English estate, but

            filmed primarily on the Selznick lot in Hollywood; the opening shot, with     

            Hitchcock's moving camera winding along the path as Joan Fontaine's voice

            narrates "Last night I dreamed I went back to Manderly again," was filmed on          

            a beautifully constructed miniature set

 

            FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT: although studio-bound, London locations

            like Westminster Abbey feature prominently in this propaganda film made   

            before America's involvement in WWII

 

1941    SUSPICION: set in England, but filmed at RKO Studios in Hollywood;

            Hitchcock said, "You might say SUSPICION was the 2nd English picture I made     

            in Hollywood [after REBECCA]: the actors, the atmosphere, & the novel on            

            which it's based were all British."

 

1947    THE PARADINE CASE: Hitchcock's last picture for Selznick, made at the RKO

            Studio in Hollywood, is set in the UK, where location shots were captured by a        

            second unit

 

1949    UNDER CAPRICORN: set in Australia, but filmed in London by Hitchcock's        

            Transatlantic Pictures (formed with his British partner Sidney Bernstein);    

            Hitchcock said he wanted to hire Ingrid Bergman & experience the ego-boosting     

            thrill of "returning to London with the biggest star of the day"

 

1950    STAGE FRIGHT: Hitchcock returned from Hollywood to his native London to

            film this backstage murder mystery; at the time, his daughter Patricia was taking      

            acting classes at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts; she appears in the film

 

1953    I CONFESS: when Hitchcock needed a deeply Catholic environment to make this

            story of a priest riddled with sexual guilt and bound by the rules of the confessional,

            he headed north to Canada, filming in French QuŽbec, around the narrow streets of

            the old quarter

 

1954    DIAL M FOR MURDER: adaptation of Frederick Knott's play is set in London,    

            but was filmed at the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank

 

1956    THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH: extensive location filming in London,

            featuring the 1st climax (there are 2) at the Royal Albert Hall

 

1972    FRENZY: Hitchcock returned to London for the 1st time since THE MAN WHO

            KNEW TOO MUCH in 1956, this time to the old Covent Garden fruit and

            vegetable market of his youth; London locations abound