OLLI:
Spring 2012: BRITISH HITCHCOCK
Hitchcock's
British Collaborators
Film Production:
Michael Balcon (Sir Michael Balcon)
(1896-1977): English film producer:
partnership
with Victor Saville led to formation of Gainsborough Pictures:
1920s:
gave young employee Hitchcock 1st directing opportunity
1930s:
at Gaumont Films: Balcon produced sting of successful films:
including
most of Hitchcock's "spy thriller sextet": 39 STEPS, etc.
Charles Bennett (1899-1995): English
playwright & screenwriter:
1929:
BLACKMAIL: Hitchcock's 1st sound film: based on Bennett's play
1930s:
association with Hitchcock continued:
Bennett
wrote some of Hitchcock's most
famous films:
TMWKTM
(1934) / 39 STEPS / SECRET AGENT / SABOTAGE / Y & I
1940:
worked with Hitchcock on 2nd US film: FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT
Sidney Bernstein (Baron Bernstein)
(1899-1993): British media baron:
1954:
founded Granada TV; collaborated with AH during his US career:
after
WWII: returned to Hollywood: worked in partnership with AH:
with
Hitchcock: formed production company Transatlantic Pictures together:
produced:
ROPE: 1948 / UNDER CAPRICORN: 1949:
2
of AH's least financially successful films
John Buchan (1st Baron
Tweedsmuir) (1875-1940):
Scottish
novelist, historian & Unionist
politician
1915:
published his most famous novel: The
Thirty-Nine Steps: spy-thriller:
key
ingredient in formulating Hitchcock's "spy thriller sextet"
Jack Cox (1896-1960): English
cinematographer: DP on many Hitchcock films:
FARMER'S
WIFE / CHAMPAGNE / MANXMAN / BLACKMAIL / MURDER! /
JUNO
& THE PAYCOCK / THE SKIN GAME / THE LADY VANISHES
Graham Cutts (1885-1958): British film
director: leading director in 1920s:
Hitchcock
was assistant director on Cutts' 1923 films:
WOMAN
TO WOMAN / THE WHITE SHADOW
Hitchcock's
relationship with Cutts at Gainsborough: marked by tension:
Cutts:
started whispering campaign vs. THE LODGER before release
eventually:
young director usurped Cutts' position as "house director"
Angus MacPhail (1903-1962): English screenwriter:
known for work w/Hitchcock:
BON
VOYAGE / AVENTURE MALGACHE / SPELLBOUND / WRONG MAN
coined
term "MacGuffin": favorite device of Hitchcock's for driving story:
goal
or object that's pursued: hero will sacrifice anything to get it:
but
otherwise it's completely unimportant to plot
W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965):
English
playwright, novelist & short story writer:
1928:
published Ashenden: Or the British Agent:
collection of stories:
key
ingredient in formulating Hitchcock's "spy thriller sextet":
1936:
SECRET AGENT: based on 2 stories in collection
Ivor Montagu (1904-1984): British
filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, film critic:
helped
develop vibrant intellectual film culture in England in interwar years:
1925:
animating spirit behind The Film Society: London:
interest
in developing art of film
international
art cinema & documentaries screened
did
post-production work on THE LODGER: changed very little
associate
producer on 1st 4 films of Hitchcock's "spy thriller sextet"
Alma Reville (Lady Hitchcock)
(1899-1982):
assistant
director, screenwriter, editor: met when she & Hitchcock worked together:
Paramount's
Famous Player's studio: London; Alma: more experienced
the
woman behind the man: Hitchcock's collaborator & sounding board:
mother
of Hitchcock's only child Patricia
Eliot Stannard (1888-1944): English
screenwriter & director: Hitchcock films:
PLEASURE
GARDEN / MOUNTAIN EAGLE / THE LODGER / THE RING /
DOWNHILL
/ EASY VIRTUE / FARMER'S WIFE / CHAMPAGNE / MANXMAN
Actors:
Sara Allgood (1879-1950): BLACKMAIL /
JUNO & THE PAYCOCK
Leslie Banks (1890-1952): THE MAN WHO
KNEW TOO MUCH (1934) / JAMAICA INN
Carl Brisson (1893-1958): THE RING / THE MANXMAN
Madeleine Carroll (1906-1987): THE 39 STEPS / SECRET AGENT
Cary Grant (1904-1986): SUSPICION /
NOTORIOUS / TO CATCH A THIEF /
NORTH
BY NORTHWEST
Edmund Gwenn (1877-1959): THE SKIN GAME
/ FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT /
THE
TROUBLE WITH HARRY
Lillian Hall-Davis (1898-1933): THE RING / THE FARMER'S WIFE
Ian Hunter (1900-1975): THE RING / EASY VIRTUE
Isabel Jeans (1891-1985): EASY VIRTUE / SUSPICION
John Laurie (1897-1980): JUNO AND THE
PAYCOCK / THE 39 STEPS
John Longden (1900-1971): BLACKMAIL /
JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK / THE SKIN GAME /
YOUNG
AND INNOCENT / JAMAICA INN
Peter Lorre (1904-1964): THE MAN WHO
KNEW TOO MUCH (1934) / SECRET AGENT /
2
episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV show
Miles Mander (1888-1946): THE PLEASURE
GARDEN / MURDER!
Herbert Marshall (1890-1966): MURDER! /
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT / 2 episodes of
Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV show
Anny Ondra (1902-1987): THE MANXMAN /
BLACKMAIL
Nova Pilbeam (1919): THE MAN WHO KNEW
TOO MUCH (1934) / YOUNG AND INNOCENT
John Williams (1903-1983): THE PARADINE
CASE (uncredited) / DIAL M FOR MURDER /
TO
CATCH A THIEF / 10 episodes of Alfred
Hitchcock Presents TV show